To: tmcmeekin.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org Dear Minister McMeekin: You must have missed reading Babel-on-the-Bay on March 26 this year. That was when one of the postings was devoted to Toronto council’s request to your Ontario ministry for preferential voting in that city’s municipal elections. The posting was about why this might not be
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: The two expressions of Joe Oliver.
This is not to imply that Canada’s Minister of Finance is two-faced. It is just that he seems to have only two expressions. One is that dour look that we have all come to hate. He uses it when giving financial news—which is usually bad news. The other expression is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Premier Wynne and the teachers’ Greek chorus.
If you have this Greek tragedy at Queen’s Park figured out, you might be smarter than the rest of us. It seems to be a battle of choruses. And you can only tell the players apart by the masks they present to the audience. We know that this current conundrum
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Simple solutions for simple minds.
It’s tough enough for politicians to get people out to vote in elections without confusing them. Yet here is New Democrat Leader Tom Mulcair telling people that they are being cheated by our First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) election system. That will certainly confuse them. What he wants them to do is to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Bashing Barrie is a provincial sport.
Queen’s Park dashed Barrie’s hopes for a university campus recently and nobody in the city is happy about it. You would swear that bashing Barrie could be made a sport as part of the upcoming Pan-Am Games. Barrie was again among the forgotten as the province announced that only York
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: If trouble comes?
We live a very peaceful life in Canada. It was surprising though the other day when in an interview on Global Television, Tom Clark asked Ottawa’s chief of the defence staff his major concern for Canadians. Without hesitation, General Tom Lawson said his main concern was a natural disaster. He
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It takes a politician to screw up a good war.
Listening to Defence Minister Jason Kenney doing the rounds of the news recap shows on television this weekend one thing was obvious. Kenney probably has not heard a word of what his military advisors are telling him. He set up Canadians as the biggest patsies of all when he sent
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Hair’s hopes in Quebec are fading.
The pundits are catching on. There are a paucity of votes for the Hair and his party among voters in Quebec. Mind you, there are even fewer for the Bloc. This fall in Quebec, it will be a head to head contest between the Liberals and New Democrats. The other
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Butter the edges, the middle will look after itself.
It is one of those old adages that you might have heard once or twice in grandma’s kitchen. We probably heard it wrong as research turns up no reference. It is just the simple idea that if you butter the edges of your slice of bread, you will find the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It’s the Third Law of Politics too.
Not all of us are trained in physical sciences but we seem to easily grasp Newton’s third law of physics. It simply makes sense that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It should come as no surprise that it also applies to other aspects of life.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It’s not in the cards for Tom Mulcair.
Whether you prefer to use a crystal ball, tarot cards, automated telephone calls or the entrails of a sheep, forecasting the results of the fall federal election in Canada at this early stage is a waste of time. And making up stories about New Democrat Leader Thomas Mulcair being the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Hating the Hair is not enough Mel Hurtig.
It was 22 years ago when this writer almost ran as one of Hurtig’s Hooligans. Do you remember when the Edmonton book seller, publisher and Canadian nationalist formed the National Party? A bunch of us Toronto politicos immediately started calling it the National Socialist Party. Mel was horrified but it
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Candidate: KISS the web site.
Part 5 of our series for Canada’s federal candidates. Yes, you have to have a web site. Yes, it better look like the party web site. Yes, you have to Keep It Simple Stupid. What you do not need is a web site that only a systems programmer can love.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Why is the Hair laughing at the TV Networks?
Do you really think the Hair is going to debate any of his opponents in this fall’s election? Not if he can help it! It just is not in the Hair’s DNA. After three national elections with debates staged on the major television networks, you have got to understand how
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It’s hardly like winning the daily double.
Back in March Babel-on-the-Bay commented on how sad it would be if Pierre-Karl Pèladeau won the Parti Quèbècois leadership in Quebec and Patrick Brown won the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership in Ontario. We need be more careful in what we do not wish for. Both these men are giants only
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It’s the icing for the ignorant.
Canadians do not have to be told how many millions of taxpayer dollars the Conservatives are spending on promoting themselves for re-election this fall. And they are doing it because they can. The same unethical, foolish waste of taxpayer money was going on during previous Liberal governments in Ottawa. Maybe
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It’s just not that funny.
The Ottawa Press Gallery felt that Elizabeth May let them down at their annual dinner. They usually just throw stale dinner rolls at the poor performers. They tend to get too many who try but do not measure up. They think the politicians are going to entertain them by being
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Get your program here for Barrie-Innisfil!
You hear the hawkers when going into any major sports event: Get your program here. How else would you know about the players and their statistics? We need the same for political events. The federal Liberals in Barrie-Innisfil electoral district have finally been allowed to call for nominations and the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Are your 15 minutes of fame finished Mr. Brown?
The new leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives must have been saving money on speech writing when he talked to the Ontario Legislature on Monday. If there was ever a time for Patrick Brown to be gracious that was it. It was a courtesy that he was asked to address
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: First-Past-the-Post debate ignites Brits.
A sudden influx of hundreds of readers can make any blogger’s heart go pit-a-pat. Since last week, Babel-on-the-Bay’s readership has reached new heights. It was not because of our sage advice on Canadian elections but something written eight years ago at the time of the Ontario referendum on voting reform.
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