Nobody expects humour on the editorial pages of Toronto’s Globe and Mail. The old and creaky building on Front Street has never had time for humour while reporting on the financial health of the nation. And it will never do to set the nabobs of Bay Street laughing. And that
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: Running for the Roses.
The horses have rounded the final curve and it is a straight run to the finish line. It is a time when jockeys whisper, whip or whine to encourage their mount. It is when the handicappers close their eyes and shudder at the possible outcomes of their folly. That damn
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Dan Gagnier did nothing wrong.
As was explained by Babel-on-the-Bay a few times, Trudeau campaign co-chair Dan Gagnier was an unusual choice for a campaign management team. Yet we regret that he has chosen to leave the Liberal campaign under suspicion of a conflict of interest. He has always seemed to be an honourable person.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Hair needs the Fords?
Recently we were writing about bumper-sticker campaigning. Nothing seems to say this better when six days before the election, the Ford brothers come out to help the Hair campaign in Toronto’s Etobicoke. And it is hard to say who is joining who at the bottom of the dumpster? There is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: They promise to be interesting times.
The supposed Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times” is neither Chinese nor really a curse. Many of us revel in a hectic and exciting life and we would have it no other way. And we are quite likely to get our wish in the next few years as
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The only poll that matters.
The rollercoaster ride in this federal election has been the provided by the pollsters. They are guilty of creating more confusion, consternation, calculation crises and constipation than at any time in history. The only consolation seems to be that as their polls get wilder, they are also cheaper and frankly
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: With thanks to the Hair.
This has been the weekend for firming up the opinions and decisions on our federal election in Canada. We are in the last week of a long and exhausting campaign. And it is all thanks to the Hair. He set the election date. He called for the writ early in
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It’s been a bumper-sticker campaign.
Recently a reader accused Babel-on-the-Bay of using ‘bumper sticker’ arguments. The truth is that the simpler you make your arguments the more people listen to them. In these days of dumb-downed English, dull headlines and drab writing we are all racing to the bottom of a well of simplicity. And
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: From here, you can smell the fear.
There was a candidates meeting the other evening for the federal election candidates in the local electoral district. It was this national election in microcosm. The event in a church was sponsored by the Simcoe County Alliance to End Homelessness. Like this election, the candidates’ answers to homelessness were too
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: We are standing on guard.
Canadians can vote today. You can see the end of the longest federal election campaign in modern history. You can vote throughout this weekend. You can also give thanks. And we Canadians have much to be thankful for. If you do not vote this weekend, you can get into the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Where do the nice gals and guys finish?
Canadians have always recognized politics as a blood sport. There is no quarter given. Nice gals and guys finish last. And in a campaign this year more noted for its mistakes than its strong points, analysis of the results might take some time to sort out. From what we know
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Is it the Trans-Pacific Profit Protection Pact?
There is a disquieting trend emerging in all these trading partnerships that are being negotiated around the world. Who do they benefit? The right wing talks about all the potential jobs but what guarantees do we get as to where those jobs might be? That seems to be left out
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The blatant bigotry of the Hair.
The Hair had the support of the Bloc’s Gilles Duceppe in promoting bigotry the other evening. In the last of the badly arranged debate sessions of the 2015 election, Canadians saw their prime minister backed by a separatist asking for votes from bigots. It was probably the most tragic display
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Nostalgia for the era of the monster rally.
As the ground game became more important in Canadian politics during the second half of the 20th Century, the monster rallies for the major parties lost their importance. The work involved in mounting the rallies took too much away from the ridings that needed the workers at the voters’ doors.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What editing standards at the Toronto Star?
It has always been an understood thing that the editing standards in the sports section of a large newspaper are often more relaxed than those of the general news. The editors tended to give the jocks in sports a looser rein. And it now seems that the Toronto Star—touted as
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: They say all politics are local.
That might not be the way Americans say it but Americans do not worry much about syntax (such as the use of a plural verb with a plural subject). This thought occurred to us the other evening while sitting in a very uncomfortable students’ chair in a lecture hall at
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: That kinder, gentler Canada is bunk.
It used to be amusing that Americans thought of Canadians as being more liberal and more polite. They would puzzle over our accents and did not pretend to understand how we are governed. Lately they have been considering having a northern wall across the top of their country to keep
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Turning the corner on the 2015 election.
There are many wonderful readers of Babel-on-the-Bay. The other day one of our stalwarts sent an e-mail saying how warming it was to read that the Harper government is toast. Obviously some of the Conservative readers caught a bit of a chill in the words but so far nobody has
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Premier Wynne’s toughest sale: Liberals.
The Ontario Legislature is back in session and Premier Kathleen Wynne seems to be having little trouble with the whiny little boy from Barrie now heading the provincial Conservatives or his provincial NDP counterpart Andrea Horwath. Where Wynne is getting the hard shots is from Liberals across Ontario who cannot
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The friends of Stephen Harper.
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
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