That line from Shakespeare’s Henry V is a haunting phrase that can give deep meaning to a legacy. The only problem for Canada’s failed and former Prime Minister Stephen Harper is his lack of a legacy. He united the right and rode that tiger into power. Yet he could never dismount. He ruled firmly from […]
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: A Richler’s epiphany on Toronto.
In a somewhat rambling op-ed for the Toronto Star the other day, Noah Richler tells us of his experience as a sacrificial lamb (candidate) for the New Democrats last year. He also explains (sort of) why Bombardier cannot seem to deliver Toronto’s streetcars. Being a Montrealer by birth, Richler’s decision to run in Toronto-St.Paul’s was […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Experience needed to do a Morning Line.
Just like the racing experts who produce a morning line for the day’s racing card, a morning line for a political race requires considerable experience. And nobody would be so foolish as to try to create one without knowing and studying the performance of the horses in the race. That is why we are a […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Bumper sticker solutions still work.
A fellow progressive once accused Babel-on-the-Bay of using bumper sticker solutions. What he did not realize is that the era of the bumper sticker is long gone. Maybe he had failed to note that automobiles no longer have real bumpers. Getting adhesive off a painted surface can be expensive. But what he was really complaining […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: An appropriate salute to Queen Victoria.
The following is a repeat of our 2013 salute to Queen Victoria. Nothing has changed. Enjoy your long weekend. Happy birthday Your Majesty! As children in Ontario, we used to set off fireworks to celebrate your birthday. It was a joyous occasion. It was wonderful to know that the sun never set on your empire. […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: My Green is greener than your Green.
You sometimes get the impression from Canada’s Green Party candidates that they want us to keep them as pets. They are too nice and they are always trying to prove how green they are. You would think they would check to see what other parties are offering to do for our environment. Maybe they would […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A line in the tar sand for Trudeau.
The ball is in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s court. A three-person panel of the Calgary-based National Energy Board has approved twinning the American-owned Kinder Morgan pipeline. The board panel has stipulated some 157 conditions related to it but the key is getting the Canadian Cabinet to sign off on the approval. That is anticipated later […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Taking the measure of Minister Monsef.
Last we heard, the former MP from Maryam Monsef’s Peterborough electoral district was still arguing over the length of his prison sentence. Former MP Dean Del Mastro, having failed to do the honourable thing by committing ritual seppuku after being found guilty of election fraud, has continued various appeals against his conviction. Maybe he likes […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Politics is for the rich in Ontario.
It seems the Ontario Liberals want to keep politics in Ontario as a rich person’s game. After all, how many of us can come up with as much as $7,750 in donations each year to our party of choice? And that is on top of the more than $2 per vote subsidy to be provided […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Welcome to our revolution.
Canadians seem to range from raging lassitude to constrained ennui. It is hard to get them excited or motivated over more than a hockey game. It is not that they do not care, they just consider their own lives more interesting. This concern came up the other day by way of a long e-mail from […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Overwhelming ennui on democratic reform.
Democratic Reform Minister Maryam Monsef must feel like Cinderella—left behind while everyone else goes to the ball. And here she was under the impression that the Prime Minister was asking her to do something important. We could have given her a head’s up but she ignored us. Even the chattering classes have been admitting in […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trudeau doesn’t know democracy.
One of the promises Justin Trudeau made to Canadian Liberals before becoming Liberal leader was that he would restore democracy in the party. He lied. He is now asking us to give up any of the rights we had as members of the Liberal Party of Canada. Justin Trudeau wants the Liberal Party to just […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Without it, how do you reform democracy?
Minister Maryam Monsef has been heard from. The maybe minister of democratic institutions has announced a committee of MPs will spend their summer studying changes to Canada’s election system. What the minister does not seem to understand is that changes in our democracy have to be done democratically. This is not a democratic committee. It […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Dumping on The Donald, does no damage.
It was not until finding out that American bikers love Donald Trump that we think we have come to grips with his appeal. This guy feeds on negative vibes. He is like top-selling sales persons who tell you that they are never really selling until somebody says ‘No.’ It is all beginning to come clear. […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Empathy for Alberta doesn’t include bitumen.
Having fought forest fires as a young man in our Canadian military, we well understood the serious concerns for life and property recently in northern Alberta. The rapidly shifting winds that suddenly endangered the 80,000 citizens of Fort McMurray and gave them so little time to get out of town were well understood. But the […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: We can also vote for stagnation.
Sometimes humans argue just for the sake of a good argument. It keeps us alive and alert. A friend in Barrie, for example, loves to argue in favour of proportional voting. He knows that we consider the idea backward and a poor solution for Canadians. His answer to our objections is to refuse to read […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trapped in terminal technology.
We have seen it many times over the years. It is government funded attempts at trying to take quantum leaps in technology with computer equipment. It is usually just a disaster in the making. Technology moves too fast. Computer equipment will often be out-of-date when delivered. And it can also be used as an excuse […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Tory’s terribly trying times.
It is hardly the best of times for Canada’s Conservatives. Their former leader has gone on to his reward: oblivion. Oh sure, the Hair is still around but he is now a nonentity. His temporary replacement, Rona Ambrose rode her horse out of the west to try to humanize her party but it seems like […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Dignity is needed in Death Bill.
Our parliamentarians need help with Bill C-14, the doctor assisted death bill. They should read On Death and Dying a book published in 1969. It was written by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and remains today as the principal textbook on the human reaction to death. As the times dictated, she did not dwell on doctor-assisted death. If […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Carbon Tax or Cap-and-Trade?
It looks like the carbon tax concept has been getting a bad rap. At a time when most people are unaware of the difference between cap-and-trade programs and carbon taxes, these two approaches to trying to control carbon emissions need to be better understood. The most important thing to remember is that the consumer pays […]
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