There must be a dearth of honest work for lawyers these days. It seems more and more of them are devoting billable hours to being published. It must be part of their contract to get their firm noticed and to attract real lawyering work. One such example of this phenomenon
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: We needed to hug Trump’s ‘Deplorables.’
In the heat of last fall’s U.S. election, Hillary Clinton foolishly claimed that half of Donald Trump’s supporters belonged in a “basket of deplorables.” These were the obvious Trump supporters who were vocally responding to his speeches that pandered to racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic or Islamophobic mind sets. Instead of
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The proud pomposity of the Toronto Star.
There are few things funnier than a Toronto Star editorial that lambastes the Ontario government for all the wrong reasons. And nothing deflates the pomposity better than getting their facts wrong. We are looking at the Star editorial demanding an end to the proposed increases in community college presidents’ salaries.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: As the world wearies of Trump.
This is a bad sign. A world becoming wearied of President Trump already? It signifies an acceptance of something abnormal and dangerous. When the king seats his fool on the throne, is the fool now king? And if you accept the largess of the fool while the fool sits on
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Myths of Ontario’s cap-and-trade system.
An associate professor at McGill wrote an interesting op-ed last week in the Toronto Star seeking to answer the four major myths about the Ontario-Quebec cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gasses. The only problem with Christopher Ragan’s column is that most of the myths he attempts to debunk are answered
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: In debate with a demagogue.
The signs around the White House should read: Danger, Demagogue in power. And yes, there is no denying that President Donald Trump is a classical demagogue. Rational debate is now passé. It is a time of alternative facts. Facts as only President Trump perceives them. And Prime Minister Trudeau and
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: When a leader betrays a Canadian legacy.
There was a time back in the Pearson-Trudeau era when tensions ran through English-French relations at the usual flash points in Montreal and Ottawa. And those of us not fully bilingual were the bruised. It is sad to tell of the disappointments suffered from those you had supported so fiercely.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: On Bastille Day in America.
Watching the self-indulgent speech by President Donald Trump at his inauguration, it was as though he believed that his promises to the people of America were unique in world history. He was wrong. The same speech could have been made as the Bastille fell in Paris in 1789. But the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Sometimes the answer is in plain sight.
Writing about the problems the Barrie Liberals face in the 2018 provincial election recently, we should have stated the obvious answer. It has been there for the past seven years. The problem is that there will be two electoral districts covering Barrie for the 2018 provincial election. These are identical
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Let’s have a truce for Mr. Trump’s day.
It all becomes real today. That person will become President of the United States of America and there is nothing we can do about it. We can share our shock with the rest of the world. We can ridicule the corrupted system that allowed it to happen. Finding fault is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Even an elite Senate needs direction.
It seems you cannot keep a newspaper person from writing. Even with a sinecure such as a guaranteed salary for sitting in the Senate (until age 75) former La Presse editor André Pratte keeps writing. The past week it was a piece he wrote for the Toronto Star on why
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Who is worried about Patrick Brown?
This advice is just for Ontario Progressive Conservatives. They are the ones who need to worry. The reason for this is the statement made last week by Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown’s good friend and campaign chair Walied Soliman. He is reported as saying, “We know that the Liberals are
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: When a friend gives a friend a lift.
This is not the prime minister’s problem. It must be the ethics and conflict of interest commissioner’s problem. This commissioner acts independently and reports to parliament on those issues that might involve the ethics or any conflict of interest on the part of federally elected persons. We hear that she
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Premier Wynne: Colour her gone.
It seems more and more likely that Premier Kathleen Wynne and her Ontario Liberals are on the slippery side of the slope. Nothing says it more emphatically than the situation in which we find ourselves here in Babel. (You know Babel as Barrie, Ontario.) We are less than two years
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Butt out Ms. Fonda.
While it is so very nice of actor Jane Fonda to lend her celebrity concern to the rape of the environment for tar sands in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canadians should certainly say ‘Thank you.’ It all helps, but celebrity endorsements and support can come across as self-serving and really do
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Put in a word for us when you see the PM.
So, what are you going to tell the prime minister? He’s coming to see you. You just need to contact your Liberal M.P. to get an invitation. He is not coming to our riding. We lost to the Conservatives by 86 votes. And please do not ask the PM if
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Concern for Canada’s Conservatives.
If we did not have Canadian Conservatives, we would have to import some from the U.S.A. Admittedly these are not the best of times for Canada’s Conservatives. This coming week we will watch their federal leadership contestants mangle the French language trying to measure up to Maxime Bernier and Steven
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Culling Canada’s Cabinet.
Cabinet making and cabinet tending are different requirements of a prime minister. Those were sunny days in late 2015 when Prime Minister Trudeau chose his first cabinet. Change can come quickly at busy times. What we have to realize is that his perspective on the need for change is quite
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Let’s march to our own drummer.
It was hardly a surprise when the Prime Minister’s Office said he was not attending Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington next week. Frankly, the Canadian prime minister would just be in the way. It was more of a surprise that he would not be attending the concurrent world economic conference
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Meet the Elites: Business.
Now let’s talk about the real aristocracy in Canada. These are the nobles. They direct the troops that dig our mines, produce products, market the goods, merchandise wares, account for our monies and provide services that all add up to our gross domestic product. It is the chief executives that
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