Author: Peter Lowry

It has been 12 years since I launched Babel-on-the-Bay.com. Initially a frequent theme was Barrie’s city council. They were often humorous digs at the mayor, with city councillors relegated to the chorus. There was a gap in the commentaries when I decided to help my ward councillor become mayor.  It

Nobody ever said that democracy is perfect. It is just expected to be better than any of the alternatives. After more than a few years of trying to understand democracy, as we practice it in Canada, I find it frustrating that people do not give it the thoughts and inspection

There you go Mr. Trudeau. You have your reading on the voting intentions of Canadians. The byelections in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba proved, once again, that some ridings tend to vote consistently for one party. I hardly think NDG-Westmount in Montreal has ever voted anything but liberal since Justin’s father

The idea of Barrie’s mayor being given undemocratic powers by the province is hilarious. In a poll to determine the least competent mayor in Ontario, our mayor might be, at least, a close runner-up. This is the guy the local conservatives sent to Ottawa as an MP by some 86

Why are all the grocery stores bragging about their higher profits? And why is the government not taxing those excessive profits at a higher rate? It wouldn’t do anything to help the consumer, but she would at least have the satisfaction that the grocery chains aren’t gaining as much by

This is an important time to be an Ontario liberal. It is not just the time to take on a new leader, it is a time to pick the direction the party will take into the near future. It is the time to decide what kind of a party the

It seems every time there is someone of note jumping into this or that political race, we get the morning line in the media with the new entries. The other day in the Toronto Star we got a news page headline reading “Crombie leads Liberal pack.” When you read the

You would think that once in a while Bell would blame their failures on their own incompetence. This is a company that bought CTV thinking it was just another way to make money. Their failures in this enterprise have been loud and often. The Bell Board neither understands the complexity

It is classic conservative strategy. The Ontario government has been caught banking $20 billion that they claim is a reserve fund. What they are really doing is telling the public that they are going to spend the money on problems brought to their attention. And then they just put the

They are not going to have former conservative leader Erin O’Toole MP to kick around any more. He gave his farewell speech to parliament the other day. Let’s face it, the conservative party of Canada is going to hell in a handbasket—as the expression goes. And O’Toole doesn’t want to

Reading a future in politics for finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland is challenging. She is a strong individual but I think her career in politics is about over. She is not a leader. It is not her style. She is an activist. Freeland’s focus seems to be

If it was up to the leader of the opposition in Ottawa, we would throw all mass murderers in maximum security prisons. He also wants to have a bill passed through parliament dictating that this should be the law. No doubt many Canadians would agree with him. And maybe that

It was not realistic to expect David Johnston to resign as special rapporteur. It was always an option and I considered what it would imply once the conservatives made him their primary target to get at Justin Trudeau. I honestly expected the former governor general to be made of stronger

We won’t have Ontario premier Doug Ford to kick around much this summer. He will be up polluting the air in Muskoka on his gas-guzzling water craft. Before he fled the legislature, he left us with a few ‘bons mots’ about how successful his government has been for the province.

When you have a political party of climate change deniers, what can you say about climate change? I once asked a very conservative lady why she wanted to leave the question of climate change for her children. Her answer was, “So it’s their problem.”  She seems happy with conservative leader

There was no way the peace would last. Surely the late Hazel McCallion must have warned her replacement, Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie, about that pissant Patrick Brown in Brampton. Mayor Brown of Brampton gave fair warning at the opening of the province’s plan for Peel that he would contest any

Our Ottawa castle keep turned out in all its pomp, glory and pageantry this past week to see former governor general David Johnston in the lists to joust with Poilievre’s partisans. It was not too sad to see the partisans of the right fall to the well tuned lances of

When Adolph Hitler sent his Brown Shirts to the Bundestag in the Weimar Republic elections in the 1920s and 30s, their purpose was not to govern but to obstruct. It is with some concern that we hear that conservative leader Pierre Poilievre thinks he can threaten the Canadian parliament with

There is no sadder thought to consider than Toronto with a mayor named Olivia Chow. And the fault would be blamed by some on the first-past-the-post voting. I deny that. It just serves to prove that you should not have first-past-the-post voting without run-off elections. How can you accept anyone

It is obvious that there is little expectation of Doug Ford earning another go at governing Ontario. His failing foray with the conservatives is attracting more candidates to the leadership of the Ontario liberals, to be decided in December this year. The latest candidate prepared to slap down $125,000 in