Who can you trust? If a giant, well-respected firm such as Germany’s Volkswagen can be found out to be lying to us, is it the only one? When contaminated meats are distributed by some of the largest meat processors in Canada, who is at fault? When an unattended train kills
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: Mulcair flogs a dead plan for the Senate.
When you know that you cannot possibly achieve your objective, why try to sell it? Obviously New Democrat Leader Thomas Mulcair is no salesman. A good sales person knows that when something is impossible, you start investigating possible work-arounds to address the issue. Mulcair is lying to Canadians that he
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Jason Kenney is showing his fear.
Any political apparatchik has to handle his or her share of losses. You can keep winning for a while and then you have to take one on the chin. It is how you handle that loss that shows what you are made of. That is why we have come to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: And the Hair in his Niqab.
When covering one’s face becomes a pivotal question in an election campaign, you know that Canadian politics has arrived at an all-time low. Thanks to the Prime Minister, we have reached out to include bigotry in the federal election. The Hair had this subject at the ready for the first
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Candidate: What it is all about.
Part 10 of our series for Canada’s federal candidates. Do you want the good news or the bad news? The problem is, the news is the same either way. Ready or not, voting starts in two weeks. Advance voting starts on October 9 and you have to be ready for
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: If you care about Canada; you hate the Hair.
Adding an adhesive strip with just the name Harper to stop signs is defacing the traffic sign but it is a poignant plea to fellow Canadians. It also shows the extent of the anger that is part of this election campaign. It might also show the error made by Toronto
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Hair as a hawk.
It could not have been better news from Justin Trudeau. He came out flatly saying that he would stop wasting money on the development and procurement of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth fighter for Canada. It was the kind of decisive statement that you expect from a Trudeau. What is even
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The problem is still Quebec, Justin.
It was obvious from the beginning of this extra long federal election campaign that the advantage was to Liberal Justin Trudeau. Here we are down to the last four weeks of the campaign and he is the Energizer Bunny—still fresh and eager—while Stephen Harper and Thomas Mulcair are wilting. There
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Closer to home: Barrie-Innisfil.
In checking out the two gerrymandered federal electoral districts in Barrie, we find that one riding is about as badly off as the other. Each riding is about two-thirds urban and one-third rural. Every one thinks those rural voters are all die-hard Conservatives. The surprise is that they might not
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Time for a new navigator at Queen’s Park.
The other day Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa was quoted as saying “We are trying to navigate through this thing.” He was talking about selling beer in grocery stores. Frankly if he is still trying to navigate this seemingly thorny issue, the Ontario Liberals need a new navigator. It might
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It’s the overage that should worry you.
At one time in a varied career, we were trained in grocery store management. It culminated in being a very young district manager for a large group of stores. This is mentioned as groceries were one of the last all cash businesses and the smart manager watched the cash registers
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: ‘Well, look,’ Mr. Harper.
Just when you are hoping that politics in Canada will not sink any lower, you get an evening of politics even worse. It started innocuously with the evening news on Shaw’s Global National with Dawna Friezen. Every newscast today seems to have its own panel of experts ready to tell
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Taking lessons in pandering.
In an otherwise pleasant evening the other day, we attended a Canadian Association of Retired People (CARP) meeting to hear the local political candidates. Since Barrie has been split in half for this federal tryst, we had to listen to the candidates from two ridings. It certainly was not double
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Who is hiding under your bed?
Canada’s ‘tough on terror’ prime minister wants you to be afraid. He wants you to believe there might be a bogeyman jihadist under your bed. It is the reason for his anti-terrorism Bill C-51 that his majority government forced into law before the election. It is a bad law that
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: If you fail to try, you are guaranteed to fail.
While watching from the catbird seat in Barrie, Toronto is still our city. We were both born in Toronto. We wept for the Leafs through the 70s and 80s. We were there for the Jays in their first World Series and the repeat. We bet on John Tory as mayor
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Closer to home: Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte.
When first viewing the boundaries of the new federal electoral districts that now divide the City of Barrie, the reaction was ‘Why would they do anything that silly?’ It was when the Ontario Commission came to town that the term ‘Gerrymander’ came to mind. It was also after listening to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Are they damning democracy?
It is appalling the number of Canadians who say they want voter reform without bothering to research or understand the subject. Sitting in an audience recently with apparently a high percentage of New Democrat supporters, it was surprising how eager they are to reform how we vote. The speaker made
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Who is under the bus?
The reason political campaign buses are so big is that there have to be enough people to be used as scapegoats when things go wrong. And in all campaigns, winning or losing, things will go wrong. The infamous Murphy of Murphy’s Law rides on every bus. A critical measure of
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Building better bigotry.
Growing up in Toronto after the Second World War, we always had ready lessons in the problems faced by the children of refugees and immigrants. The children were the rapid adapters of the language and culture they found. They sought acceptance by their peer groups among native-born children. And, in
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Morning Line: Liberal Party 3 – 1.
Despite the less than accurate opinion polls showing all three major parties in a statistical tie, the trends are moving in the correct directions. There is no question but that the Conservatives are barely going through the motions, the New Democrats are falling off from their peak and the Liberal
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