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Progressive Bloggers // Blogues progressistes

Author: Peter Lowry

August 18, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: A resourceful, resilient Rob Ford recovers.

Sometimes you have to eat your words. We said the other day that Toronto Mayor Rob Ford would not accept the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. He did—on his terms. With not so much as addressing the cause he was supposedly supporting, Ford pulled a number on the Toronto news media.

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August 17, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: Finding fair and impartial Conservatives.

We have discovered why the federal government cannot find enough people to adjudicate on its Social Security Tribunal. Murielle Brazeau, Chair of the tribunal, explains on its web site that the tribunal is fair, transparent and impartial. That must be why the Conservatives cannot find more people. There must be

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August 16, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: Why Ford and Tory skip the ALS Challenge.

This item has more to do with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) than the Toronto municipal election, so we are running it before our ban on municipal elections items is lifted. Known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, ALS is a terrible progressive neurological disorder that destroys the body’s ability to control the

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August 15, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: The political expendables also serve.

While it is never wise to disagree with a judge, we hope the superior court justice who tried the case goes easy on the kid blamed for the Guelph Robocalls. As much as you agree with how reprehensible the act might be, letting the perpetrators of the crime pick the

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August 14, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: Is Justin Trudeau peaking too soon?

With at least 14 months to go before the expected federal election, you would be wise to hold off placing bets. And it has little to do with the pollsters who see Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau leapfrogging his way ahead of both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and New Democrat Leader

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August 13, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: Fraser Institute spreads alarm on taxes.

There was a news flash from the Calgary based Fraser Institute the other day. Researchers there found that the tax portion of the income of an average Canadian family had gone up more than any other necessary expenditure since 1961. As the Fraser Institute only sends out tax information to

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August 12, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: Bad math trumps bad science in bitumen battles.

Following the battle over bitumen is like following a small car full of clowns. You never know what will happen next. The latest on bitumen is that a study published in the U.S. science journal Nature Climate Change has claimed that the U.S. State Department figures on greenhouse gasses from

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August 11, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: The Hair that roared.

For Prime Minister Harper is the Hair. Hear him roar! Can the Hair not roar at the Russian bear? Can the Hair not send a token planeload of supplies to aid the Ukraine in its efforts to assert control over its own country? Can the Hair not stand foursquare behind

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August 10, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: When the bitumen bubble bursts.

The last time Canada had a real leader, it was Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. The least understood and the most vilified of the actions he took on behalf of Canadians was the National Energy Program (NEP) of 1980. It was an attempt to ensure Canadian control, self-sufficiency and sharing of

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August 9, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: Scots, Wha Hae.

Even if your ancestors left Scotland more than 200 years ago, you can still rise to the skirl of the pipes, honour a haggis with other fans of Robbie Burns, sing along with old Harry Lauder recordings and dance the Gay Gordons at a ceilidh. What you cannot do is

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August 8, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: Look left, look right, go with caution.

North American politics has arrived at a major cross street and the traffic lights are not working. While realism says to come to a full stop and proceed with caution, it is only the foolhardy and the brave who can make their way through the intersection. There are many collisions

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August 7, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: Do Alberta schools teach a new science?

It started with an article in the Toronto Star. It was not only confusing but the choice of words tended to cloak the problems. Plus the locations are confusing. Judging by how the story is structured, it is obviously put together by a trained reporter. The reporter’s sources were also

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August 6, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: A potpourris of potential potshots.

You would think that this far into the summer, when many readers are taking a holiday from politics, that bloggers could also take a well-deserved (if not earned) break. It might not happen. Babel-on-the-Bay is still well supplied with ideas and sources for commentaries. The in-box regularly produces interesting challenges

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August 5, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: The dystopia of the CRTC.

One of our favourite movies from the 1930s was the British-made H.G. Wells Things to come. The movie starring Canadian Raymond Massey was considered dystopian at the time as it was the opposite of utopian in a pre-War II world. And yet it was the immediacy of the televised images

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August 4, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: Babel Conservatives have a candidate.

You have to admit, the Conservative Party of Canada makes it look easy. You want a Conservative candidate for the coming federal election? You get one appointed from Ottawa. It could not be simpler. No fuss, no muss, no lawsuits, not like the Liberal Party. Our new federal riding of

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August 3, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: They have finally fired Bill Blair!

Enough of this mealy-mouthed graciousness, already! They are getting rid of Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair and good riddance to him. It is surprising that he had the gall to ask for an extension to his tenancy at Police Headquarters. Enough is enough. Mind you, just letting him go solves

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August 2, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: If the gander’s grander, who’s the goose?

This is for our devoted Alberta readers. Yes, we know about you. Google tells all. It is time we discussed the cris de coeur over former Alberta Premier Alison Redford’s sense of entitlement. Is it not enough that the poor lady was turfed from her job by the jealous and

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August 1, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: Inquiring minds want to know.

The American penny dreadful National Enquirer must have been named before Fowler’s Modern English Usage encouraged people to say ‘inquire’ for asking and ‘enquire’ for an investigation. Or maybe not. Nobody cares about the proper use of English anymore. But something that caught our attention last week still has us

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July 31, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: The lies we sew come back to haunt.

Having at one time tried swimming off the government dock at Cold Lake, Alberta, we can assure you that the lake is accurately named, year ‘round. There is not much in the way of entertainments around the air base located near by and it did not take many ‘Dare yah’s’

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July 30, 2014 Peter Lowry

Babel-on-the-Bay: We need a broader ‘Do Not Annoy’ list.

If we can have a ‘do not call’ list, why can we not have a do-not-mail list? It does no good to put a ‘no-junk mail’ admonition on your mailbox but even if Canada Post is not very automated, surely it can handle a ‘Do not mail’ list. All we

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