There is a television advertisement running these days of Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne running. It should have a warning on it to tell kids not to try this at home. Maybe the Premier can close county roads for her run to be recorded. Try running like that in the city
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: Any idiot can play blackjack.
Periodically Babel-on-the-Bay tries to be helpful to Ontario gamblers. It is not that the rules are all that different but in Ontario you have two strong government ministries fighting over which one really rules gambling. It can also be fun to write about something you know about. The one firm
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Prince Charles as a senior citizen.
At a time when most wage earners are retiring Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall is still waiting to do the job he was supposedly born to. He and his lovely wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, celebrated his birthday number 65 this week in Sri Lanka. Charles
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Rob Ford needs his fishing buddy Stephen Harper.
There is no better form of bonding between men than fishing. It is a quiet introspective time that you share with a true buddy. And what better buddies could there be than Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford? There are not many people who have been invited
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Stephen Harper’s scorched earth plan.
It was in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Halloween convention speech and we failed to recognize it. It is there in his disdain for Ottawa and its elites. It is there in his lack of a forecast for the future. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has just two years left in Ottawa
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Does Tim Hudak really have a strategy?
There was a Toronto Star exclusive story the other day about a document that might be Ontario Conservative Leader Tim Hudak’s secret strategy for the upcoming provincial campaign. The Lord knows that Timmy needs all the help he can get. Yet if he follows the plan as described, he will
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Rob Ford news is now officially boring.
It took a lot of excruciatingly boring repetition and alarmist claims in the news media over many weeks but we can now declare the Mayor Rob Ford affair to be officially boring. It took time. It was more than some people could handle. It has finally been resolved. Official boredom
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Canadian crash of 2016.
It will be former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s legacy. Forget free trade with Europe. Forget the adulation and fawning over him by the G8. Stephen Harper will be remembered for causing the greatest economic crash in Canadian history. Canada’s economy started to crumble when the Chinese state oil company CNOOC
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: More on wooing Toronto-Centre.
How about giving your leader some help here Chrystia Freeland? As Liberal Candidate for the November 25 by-election in Toronto-Centre, you should not leave all the heavy lifting to Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. As a politician who wants to make a major contribution in Ottawa, you need to assert yourself.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Tommy takes on Justin in Toronto.
If you think the fight for the Toronto-Centre by-election on November 25 is between two outstanding candidates—Linda McQuaig and Chrystia Freeland—you are wrong. The real battle is between their party leaders. Liberal Justin Trudeau is in a rough and tumble fight with New Democrat Thomas Mulcair. And it looks like
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: In wonder of Wynne’s Whigs.
There was a picture in the newspaper the other day of Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa. He was looking so smug and self satisfied as though all was great in the sphere of provincial finances. It seemed to contradict the forecasts that Ontario’s economy is struggling and we are at
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The toils of Tough Tommy.
There was a very telling news clip on the television news the other day of Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair asking a question of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Both speakers had their wall of supporters behind them. Parliament appeared full for Question Period. It was the usual sham. If there is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Is Chief Blair Mayor Ford’s doppelganger?
That spectre that comes for you as your life flashes before you in death is your doppelganger. It seems totally fitting that the wraith Toronto Mayor Rob Ford should see is Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair. And remember, your doppelganger does not appear as others see you but as you
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: This business of Canada’s Senate.
Surely many Canadians are aware of the Prime Minister repeatedly saying that in any business, people who are reputed to have falsified expense reports would have been fired. We should not rush to agree with him. Mr. Harper is comparing Canada’s Senate to a business and he knows that the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Has the NDP’s Horwath lost control?
It is one thing to argue with your party leader but it is entirely different to have a profanity-laden screaming match with her in the Ontario Legislature. That was what happened between Hamilton New Democrat Paul Miller and his fellow Hamilton MPP and party leader last Thursday. While New Democrat
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Conservatives constantly challenge change.
At the Halloween convention of the Conservative Party in Calgary, there was often more of interest behind the scenes than at the microphones. One of the most unusual pieces of Conservative literature noted was an attack on proportional representation. It made the unusual claim that “Our country was founded on
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Harper wastes his bully pulpit.
When U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt coined the term ‘bully pulpit,’ he was talking about the White House. He said that it was a pulpit to which people have to listen. Lacking an institution such as the White House, Canadian politicians have to work to chase their pulpits and a bully
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: How green are Premier Wynne’s Green Bonds?
Did you hear about Premier Kathleen Wynne doing another stand-up for the media the other day? It was to promote Green Bonds for transit in Ontario. It could be an interesting talking point if most people already know what a green bond is all about. Just in case there is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Stephen Harper is counting coup in Calgary.
It is Halloween and the Conservative Party of Canada is gathering in its spiritual home of Calgary to pay obeisance to its liege lord and to drink of the wine of power. The keynote speech will now be Friday evening. Prime Minister Stephen Harper will take the floor sometime after
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Voters hardly deserve our governments.
It is a mindless statement of politics that the voters get the government they deserve. That is such a false statement that it should be declared illegal to even say it. What we most often get across Canada at all levels of government is the government that is the least
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