One of the difficult dilemmas facing you when organizing a major political convention, is keeping the news media in their cages, fed, watered and occupied. As mother used to tell us, the devil finds work for idle hands. The media gather like vultures for the event. And the greater the challenge the party faces, the […]
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: In the City of Brotherly Love.
Philadelphia lends a panache to the Democratic National Convention this year that hard-scrabble Cleveland did not provide for the Republicans. The Republicans were hectored and urged to anger at their Trump Fest. Whereas Philadelphia can make history—as it once created a country—it can bring about a new reconciliation. And that is what America needs. It […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Going ‘All In’ on bitumen.
There were two stories in the Toronto Star the other day from Canada’s western oil patch. The major story was the one by business writer David Olive on Suncor’s gutsiest bet yet on Athabasca bitumen. The other story never mentioned bitumen. It is a Canadian Press story out of North Battleford, Saskatchewan where the city […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Brown tries outrage over Hydro.
It depends where you sit in the Ontario Legislature. The government benches mainly consider Ontario Hydro a golden goose. The opposition benches always consider it the government’s Achilles heel. And it seems the powers that be at all the disparate parts of Hydro think they can charge customers whatever they need to meet the government’s […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What has Trump left to say?
The party is over in Cleveland. The Republican Party is no longer the Grand Old Party. It is the party of Donald Trump. We endured his over-long rant on Thursday night and knew less when he was finished than was known when his daughter introduced her dear daddy. It was an hour and a quarter […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: There’s no business like no business.
Watching the events in Cleveland this week at the Republican National Convention you realize there are two stories unfolding. The first is in the convention hall itself where the strangest and most frightening political event of all is unravelling. While outside the convention, three trigger-happy armies parade and there is a danger of collision. But […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The madness of modern media.
Where do you get your real news? Canadians can still turn to the impoverished Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Canadian Press Services and its Broadcast News are sadly reduced versions of a trusted past. Television and radio are more and more faceless conglomerates while newspaper empires crumble. All news media are in a rear-guard action as the […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Trudeau honeymoon carries on.
It has been noted—with some surprise by certain observers—that the honeymoon with Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government continues. Why would anyone expect it to have ended? The major opposition parties are leaderless. There is no real competition on the horizon. And Justin is skating along very nicely, thank you. Our Prime Minister must have been watching […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The lost art of politics.
The other day, the question came up: What is wrong with politics? You have to figure there are several good books in that question so you are hardly going to answer it in a 400-word blog. If you boil it all down to basics, you have to say that people no longer want to compromise. […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It’s time for the Trumpet and his Strumpet.
Donald Trump continues to amaze Americans and the rest of the world. Yes, the Americans have failed to keep the Trump jokes to themselves. The entire world is watching. Particularly Canadians. Lots of them not only understand the strange American dialect but they share the same time zones. But this past week of hot summer […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A Canadian contingent for Trump.
Canadians need their own wall. It would hardly be fair for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to have a wall on the south without equal opportunity for the north. This conclusion seems to be necessary as you meet Canadians who think Trump is cool. Hard to believe, but true. Talking to one lady recently, it […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Conservative contest continues contrarily.
It was another step backward towards the abyss. Ontario’s Tony Clement must have found a hat somewhere to throw into the ring of the Conservative leadership contest. It was a pathetic pronouncement by a pathetic politico. It was no surprise. Tony has been on the list of likely losers in the Conservative contest for some […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: In the rush to reform.
It was amusing reading the editorial in the Toronto Star the other day that urged the Liberal government to “Go slow on election reform.” The ghost of Torstar founder Joseph Atkinson must have done another ceremonial spin in his grave. It sounds like a last gasp from an overly opinionated crowd down at One Yonge […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: When Referenda are Right.
It has to be more than 25 years since we last chatted with one of our favourite Conservatives. His name is Patrick Boyer and he is a gentleman of the old school. You rarely meet a Tory today with his charm and intelligence. A writer, a former MP and a scholar trained in international law, […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Sending cannon fodder to Latvia.
In 1941 Canada came to the aid of the British Empire and sent troops to Hong Kong. The Royal Rifles of Canada and the Winnipeg Grenadiers were supposed to be a deterrent to war. Of the 1975 Canadians who tried to help defend Hong Kong, quite a few less came home after War II from […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Vote Reform Primer: Liking losers.
The following is part of our on-going primer on vote reform that is based on our Democracy Papers of 2007. This is the sixth of the vote reform series. In the 2015 federal election there was an effort made at strategic voting. It was based entirely on the strong desire to get rid of the […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Trump – Thatcher triangle.
Trump finally did it. He lost it all over a mosquito. It was enough to make you wonder if the mosquito was real or imagined. And it was an example of the root cause of our society’s problems. Out of a 70-minute speech, social media lit up with 15-seconds of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: HOT highway lanes are hilarious.
Was that not a joke recently that Ontario is going to have a lottery to test paying for highway space on public highways? Was April Fools Day held over? That makes the Wynne cabinet the fools. High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes were just silly. HOT is stupid. And they think Ontario drivers are going to […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Jason Kenney ambles westward.
It is certainly not wedding bells that are breaking up the old Stephen Harper gang. Can you imagine Jason Kenney—Harper’s minister of everything—answering to the call of the West? It seems he is buckling on his six-guns and ambling west to have a shoot-out with Miss Rachel to decide who rules the Edmonton Legislature. To […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Vote Reform Primer: Causing coalitions.
The following is part of our on-going primer on vote reform that is based on our Democracy Papers of 2007. This is the fifth of the vote reform series. Democratic Reform Minister Maryam Monsef was quoted recently as saying that “Elections should unite Canadians and not appeal to narrow constituencies.” That statement was seen by […]
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