There is an old saying that if you start out with a sow’s ear, you are not likely to be able to make a silk purse of it. The current attempts to remake Canada’s New Democratic Party are somewhat similar. You can put your bets on the socialists if you
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: Morning Line: Conservatives 10 – 1.
(Note: Your Morning Line is prepared for each race day to give the wagering public a starting point for their Totalisator bets on the day’s races. The Totalisator then computes the betting pool as bets are received until post-time and then computes the payouts for the win, place, show and
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trudeau: The Liberal’s Energizer Bunny.
The Liberal’s Justin Trudeau is turning out to be the potential survivor of this battle for the electoral island. With a third of an overly long campaign now behind us, there is little question that Trudeau’s youth is working for him. As much as the Conservatives have derided that youth
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Mulcair: Canada’s pseudo Johnny Appleseed.
Tom Mulcair’s role for Canada’s New Democrats seems to include wearing a forced smile and offering band-aid solutions to problems. Other than his strange arithmetic about day care, he is spreading seeds of programs rather than anything that might bear fruit in the foreseeable future. To most voters he remains
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Harper: Creating a Canada at cross purposes.
What Prime Minister Stephen Harper has never understood is that Canada’s diversity is its strength. It makes us strong. It also makes our country hard to govern. We do not fit easily into the strategies of an ideologue. Our provinces are of varying sizes, mixed topography, ethnic and language mixes
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Lessons from Simcoe North.
The Ontario Liberals did it to themselves last night. Premier Kathleen Wynne’s minions ran a pathetic campaign to let Ontario’s embarrassment have a seat in the legislature. Last we heard, Conservative Leader Patrick Brown had over 50 per cent of the votes cast in the Simcoe North by-election. It was
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Electoral reform appeals to losers.
It is hardly a surprise that no Canadian government with a majority supports electoral reform. Why would they? It could make them losers. That is why losers such as the New Democratic Party are such enthusiastic supporters. It is why a Liberal Party that ended up in third place in
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: In a country run by a failed economist.
What is a political party to do when they find their leader has feet of clay? The mantra of the party was that having an economist running the party, it could survive economic turmoil. What they never considered was that their dear leader could be the cause. While Prime Minister
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The silence of the pipelines.
There is not too much confrontation across Canada these days about pipelines to the sea. With real crude oil prices bouncing around $40 to $50 a barrel, there is not much interest in synthetics from the tar sands. We miss the railings of people such as our favourite closet environmentalist
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Go home Paul Martin.
Nothing grates a left-leaning liberal more than Paul Martin that skinflint former finance minister and briefly prime minister. Once a friend, Paul became a non-person when Prime Minister Jean Chrétien gave him the finance portfolio. He built his reputation for balanced budgets on the backs of the poor, the unemployed,
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Christine Elliott: Thank you for your service.
The Member of the Ontario Legislature for Whitby-Oshawa has resigned. Christine Elliott has served the riding well for the past nine years. She was a progressive in Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party. For the second time, she had lost the contest for the leadership of the party to an extremist. She
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Hair: Canada’s boy in the bubble.
In the Imperial Prime Minister’s Office of today, Canada’s Prime Minister is isolated and alone. Protected and guarded by the sycophants of privilege, his minions mind the doors. In this cloistered sanctuary, the Hair rules. There are neither naysayers nor critics allowed where the Hair travels. Audiences are vetted for
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: As the media Silly Season draws to a close.
Labour Day is now in sight and the real election campaign can begin. Not that we have been bored with August or eager for the clamour of the combatants but it does spell the end of the foolishness of the news media and their tame pollsters. Editors have not been
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: More with a whimper than a roar.
As the Ottawa trial recesses until after the election, the description of Senator Mike Duffy as a busker is more apt than we thought. A street entertainer such as a busker can hardly save his or her best stunts for the finale. You have to use those better stunts early
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It is really about leadership Justin.
Being more of a contemporary of his father than of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, maybe we can be excused for offering him some advice. Yes Justin, you have answered those stupid attack ads on your youth from the Conservatives. You have launched an aggressive campaign against the failing regime of
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Magdalen Islands do not an election make.
While always having great respect for reporter Chantal Hébert of CBC and Toronto Star fame, she cannot forecast an election based on visiting Iles-de-la-Madeline. And it is also far too early. Much has yet to happen before the votes are counted. Mind you, we can both agree that the Bloc
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: In the heat of an August by-election.
The wife is usually the reasoning member of this household. She is the peacemaker but not when it comes to Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown. She is no fan of his. When driving up to Rama Casino the other day for dinner, she saw the elections signs in Simcoe
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Mulcair moves on law and order.
Canadian voters are still trying to get used to a New Democrat leader campaigning to the political right of the Liberals. And they hardly expected Thomas Mulcair to play the law and order card. In a direct steal of a Conservative campaign promise in 2008, Mulcair has promised to renew
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Justin Trudeau: Meet the GOYA Group.
During his years as Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau would often remind your writer that we were both members of an exclusive club. Its full name was the Get-Off-Your-Ass Group. It had one meeting in Peterborough, Ontario in 1967. It was a group of left-wing Liberal MPs and party people who
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The last angry Conservative.
The news media recently recorded a very angry Conservative supporter at a Stephen Harper campaign event. Since the Prime Minister was stonewalling the media anyway, they were looking for something to bring back to their news editors. The vulgar language the guy used might have indicated that he is no
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