There has been another example of how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau can suck and blow at the same time. It took three federal cabinet members to burst the environmental bubble in B.C. They travelled from Ottawa unnecessarily to provide word that the government would allow the building of a gas
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: Another redneck heard from.
You would think in this era of instant communications and extensive broadcast media coverage throughout rural Canada, there would be little excuse for rural politicians to have so little understanding of their country. And yet, Leamington, Ontario Mayor John Paterson has joined Conservative MP Kelly Leitch in demanding that newcomers
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Lessons from the world of twits.
The first question for today: ‘Is there life after Twitter?’ Front-page news the other day at the Toronto Star was that columnist Paul Wells is boycotting Twitter. It is a form of protest. He will forego his 30 tweets per day and his 60,000 followers until Twitter gets its censorship
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Protecting public assets.
What government, municipal, provincial or federal, has not looked longingly to selling off public companies as a fast way to some ready cash? The government can promise to do nothing but good with the money. The only problem is that once the asset is gone, there is no more revenue
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Donald Trump: Ego Erectus.
The world was witness. Someone said yesterday that Republican Donald Trump would win the first of the presidential debates last night because he was experienced in using television. He obviously forgot everything he ever learned when he walked on that stage last night. He also forgot that it was not
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Oh, what wimps these Liberals be!
This would have run sooner if we had not written the weekend’s commentaries earlier last week. Have these Liberals learned nothing from watching former Prime Minister Harper over the years? Those hypocrites on the Conservative benches ridiculed the new and experimental House Leader who gamely tried to stick her fingers in the dike. The neophyte […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Dullness Reigns.
It was during one of the overly warm days in this past August that are often referred to as the dog days of summer. It had to be a dog day because a reporter with a major Canadian newspaper got away with comparing the royal offspring of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to pedigree […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Selling Canada or just selling PR?
Found in the pile on the desk today was an op-ed written a few weeks ago by a former communications director for Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. A quick re-read had us smiling. It reminded us too much of being a young public relations person almost 50 years ago. Back then Hill + Knowlton Canada did […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: How far Bill Davis’ party has fallen.
We can admit it now but could not when he was Premier of Ontario, Bill Davis is a decent guy. As much as he likes to pose as the bastion of the right, Bill has always liked people and is a caring, compassionate person. If he was much younger and leader of Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The pride in losing.
The submission by Fair Vote Canada to the special parliamentary committee on electoral reform recently claimed that 9 million voters in the 2015 federal election were unable to make their votes count. This assumption was made because they voted for losing candidates. And they did not even get a lollipop for their trouble. That is […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: No guts, no glory, no re-election.
Ontario’s Liberals have to stop whistling past the graveyard. That American idiom means that they are ignoring sure destruction. And nothing said it better than the recent rebooting of the Legislature with a joke of a throne speech read by the Lieutenant Governor. It was no throne speech. It was a stop-gap to oblivion. It […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What does electoral reform solve?
With one of the least experienced ministers in the government responsible for democratic institutions, you sometimes wonder what this special committee on electoral reform is supposed to solve. It seems to be a distraction. If there was a list prepared of the 100 most serious problems facing Canada’s democracy, it is likely that how we […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A rocky road for Trudeau.
Into every life a little rain must fall. And there might not be many sunny days this fall for the Trudeau government. After almost a year in office, it is time for some tough decisions. You can hardly please all of the people all of the time. And most of these decisions are landing with […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Division of Ignorance.
If you are black, is that license to call people racist because they are white? It seems the editors of the Toronto Star have stopped thinking when they accept op-eds from writers who just want to create racial strife. Desmond Cole, a regular contributor to the Toronto Star said in a September 15 op-ed article […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The School Mistress’ Lesson.
This lady does not beat around the bush about to-day’s lesson. She is from an organization called Leadnow.ca and she and her organization think that our present voting system is broken. That seems to be a common theme among the do-gooders who come out to talk about electoral reform across Canada. But fear not folks, […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Can you fight fire with fire?
Got an interesting complaint from a frequent reader: he disagrees with our Morning Line assessment of the Republican candidate in the coming Presidential election in the United States. He thinks the odds should be even between the two candidates. His reasoning is that Hillary Clinton has failed to answer Mr. Trump’s claims about her. Frankly, […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Update on Electoral Reform.
These electoral reform committee meetings are more and more boring. The special commons committee sitting over the summer was supposed to give us commentators something to write about. The only problem is that with the usual slump in readership over the summer, this has proved to be a yawn. It provides nowhere need the entertainment […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Labouring against logic.
Pundits are asking if the New Democratic Party is a labour party? Frankly folks, if you do not know the answer, nobody in the party is ready to answer it either. Even an authority such as left-wing writer Thomas Walkom of the Toronto Star is wondering where the party is headed. In a recent op-ed […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Winning ways for Wynne.
Ontario’s news media might be a little premature in wringing their hands and writing eulogies for Ontario’s Liberal government. With something like 30 per cent of the voters turning out for the September 1 by-election, the portent is nothing more than the local Liberals need to work a bit harder. But that also applies to […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Leitch and Brown Trump Ontario.
It is the unwise politician who adds to the silences of their eulogy. The silences are caused by those things you said or were said on your behalf for which apologies were demanded, delivered or denied. The smart politician knows where the line is drawn and keeps away from it. Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown […]
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