When a leading Liberal thinker such as Pierre Trudeau’s former Principal Secretary Thomas Axworthy challenges us on how to make the new independent(?) Senate of Canada legitimate, workable and effective, we need to pay attention. The only problem is that in a think piece for the Toronto Star on March 26, Tom writes that Justin […]
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: Party conventions are always about money.
The first thing learned about political conventions is that it always has to be at a profit. The second is that if there is nothing contentious, create something. You always have to fill the hall. And filling the hall does not seem to be a problem for any of the three political party conventions planned […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Impatient for democratic reform?
The federal Minister of Democratic Institutions Maryam Monsef must have the easiest job in Ottawa. Sure, she is new to the job and has lots to learn but so far, she has had it easy. Even her announcement of the Senate of Canada appointment process was made easy. She made it last December along with […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: In Ontario there is the Brown Way.
Last weekend Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown was in Barrie to stoke the local loyalties. He reminds us of the busker with the sticks and plates. This is the entertainer who can keep more and more plates spinning on sticks. And if he makes it look too easy, he just adds more sticks and […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Don’t bet your pay cheque on this budget
To be honest, Finance Minister Bill Morneau, you did nothing wrong. Listening to your preamble on the budget the other day, you said that hope is possible. You talked about the years after the Second World War when the middle class emerged in Canada. We were strong. We were confident. And yet in the 1970s […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: But this is not about oil!
Companies exploiting the Athabasca and Cold Lake oil sands and the pipeline public relations people must be proud of themselves. They have gullible business media writers, television script writers and others in the news business talking about oil. They have all found it easier to talk about oil rather than to explain bitumen. Just last […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Did Le Pen expect rose petals?
What did Marine Le Pen president of France’s Front National Party expect? Canadians are hardly about to strew rose petals in her path when she decides to come here and tell us what we are doing wrong. We are open-minded people but we are not particularly interested in people who spread bigotry and fear. Who […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The death of journalism.
We are told that journalism is dying. It was supposed to have chronicled centuries. Journalism, as we knew it, was born in the 19th Century, came to fruition in the 20th Century and is staging an ugly despairing death in the 21st Century. Canadians bear witness to this death on a daily basis and pay […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Pay politicians what they are worth?
A friend made the suggestion the other day that we should pay politicians according to the contribution they make. While there was an immediate acceptance of the suggestion, we realized that there would have to be a minimum base to allow the individual something to live on. It is just that we have known too […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A guaranteed income for Canadian elites?
That was a firm step backward in time for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday. He gave jobs to people who had no need for another job. He gave the title of senator to people who had no need for further titles. He made a mockery of much needed reform. This is elitism at its worst. […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “There will be rioting in the streets.”
It is terrible that Donald Trump cannot seem to find a better playbook for his campaign than that of the Weimar Republic of the 1930s. He is raising spectres that were thought to have died more than 60 years ago. He is causing comparisons with tactics that might have worked in the past but have […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Wandering in the wilderness with the NDP.
Leader Thomas Mulcair is hardly the only New Democrat with something to prove at the party’s Edmonton Convention April 9 to 10. Sure, he needs to justify his leadership but the real question is where Canada’s New Democratic Party is headed? It is obviously not the direction that Mulcair chose for the last federal election. […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Time for a guaranteed income for Canadians.
It is surprising how often the suggestion for a guaranteed annual income system for Canada comes up. While scoffed at by the political right wing, they need to realize how much money it would save. Liberals and left of centre parties have long been advocates of this major change. An annual guarantee would eliminate the […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Doing Ontario up Brown!
To this long-time political apparatchik, it was an interesting example of the art of remaking a politician. Ontario viewers of Global Television Sunday morning had an opportunity to see the training effort in action. It was almost a before and after—that might have been recorded hours apart. It was new Ontario Conservative Leader Patrick Brown […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Choosing a new leader for Canada’s Tories.
The date has been set: May 27, 2017. That is when the Conservative Party of Canada chooses a replacement for former leader Stephen Harper and Acting Leader Rona Ambrose. Looking for an abbreviation to use on the calendar, we call it ConCon. We have no idea where ConCon will be held or what form it […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Waiting for Minister Monsef.
Canadians have heard from the Conservatives and more recently the New Democrats about electoral reform. Voters are getting the impression that the Conservatives are vigorously opposed and the New Democrats very much in favour. Yet we seem to be hearing more from Liberal House Leader Dominic LeBlanc about this government initiative than the minister responsible. […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Morning Line on Trump: 25 to 1.
We are not saying that it is impossible but it is quite unlikely that Donald Trump could make it all the way to the American White House. The odds of 25 to 1 are not only a long-shot bet but realistic. Mind you, the serious loser in this race is the Republican Party. And it […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It’s a slippery slope for Ontario Liberals.
If it was just the arrogance of the Wynne Liberals, maybe we could be more forgiving. It is the piling on of confusion and corruption that makes them so different from the Trudeau Liberals in Ottawa. The Trudeau Liberals are progressives. The Wynne Wimps are regressive. Canadians have a fairly good handle on where Trudeau […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “Stoop and Scoop” on the White House lawn.
Canadians visiting the White House in Washington need to remember to never piss on the president’s rug and carry a plastic bag in your pocket for your errors in protocol on the White House lawn. While we most often criticize the Americans for their brashness in business and international relations, it is really Canadians who […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The skinny on Bell Canada’s skinny basic.
Bell Canada has given the finger to the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). And while the finger is in the erect position it is also providing a free pseudo colonoscopy for those customers who want cheaper television service. The $25 skinny basic television package from Bell Canada is a travesty. This ridiculous skinny basic offer […]
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