There are times when we have compared politics to the game of Snakes and Ladders. The political edition is deadlier than the children’s game you remember. Just ask former liberal justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould about the ride when you slide down one of those snakes? But right now, we are
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: A shadow from the right.
On behalf of the Right Honourable Clarence Decatur Howe, I object. There were many assumptions made about the man when he was alive and many more after his passing. My problem is with what the C.D. Howe Institute does in his name. He does not deserve the presentations of the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: ‘Super-agencies,’ been there; done that.
Health care in Ontario is a machine of many parts. It seems the Ford government wants to start collecting those parts into one super agency. The only problem with this is that there once was a super agency responsible for health care in the province. It was called the Ministry
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Forget the Queen, save the Magna Carta.
If the Brexit-related events in the next few months get ugly, the Brits have a plan in place to keep the Queen and her immediate family from harms way. We can only hope that these plans are somewhat better than prime minister Theresa May’s ongoing revisions to Brexit. And frankly
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: ‘Dirty Thirties’ solutions for Ford.
Ontario premier Doug Ford must admire the past. His government keeps reaching back in time to the solutions of the 1930s. The latest is to return to those times when a landlord could hire thugs as bailiffs and physically remove a tenant. They would toss impoverished tenants and their pitiful
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A nation in a state of stasis.
A nation in stasis is a state that can neither move forward nor back as the forces in play remain equal and opposed. And this is the State of the Union as reported by American president Donald Trump. His report of exaggerations and lies and threats was of a quarreling
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The meaning of Milton.
Watch out Lisa Raitt. The liberals are coming. As conservative MP for Milton electoral district, Lisa Raitt has a long, hard fight ahead of her to try to hold on to the riding this coming Fall. Milton is not only a change riding but it is a win needed to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Lies, hyperbole and alt truths.
What has happened to politics? And what has happened to the decency that it used to have? We all know that U.S. president Donald Trump creates his own truths but we also know that he is not really a politician. He does not know any better. Justin Trudeau knows better.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A Feisty Fedeli files on Brown.
If I had ever written a proper review of Patrick Brown’s tell-all book on his political take down, I would have paid far more attention to his relationships with the Tory caucus at Queen’s Park and particularly Vic Fedeli the MPP from North Bay. Fedeli, now Doug Ford’s finance minister,
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Senate of Canada sleeps on.
It was surprising. A regular reader who frequently agrees with Babel-on-the-Bay has changed his mind about the undemocratic anachronism of Canada’s Senate. Now he thinks he likes the elitist appointments. He met a Senator he likes. I used to know a lot of Senators I liked. That hardly means that
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Di Iorio does district a disservice.
Nicola Di Iorio M.P. for Saint Leonard-Saint Michel in Montreal has finally resigned his seat in the House of Commons He has been missing from parliament since last September and had been talking about resigning since April before that. By the time, a new Member takes over after the October,
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Out in the open with ‘Chuckles’ Scheer.
It’s time. Canada’s conservatives can no longer keep their leader a secret. Bloggers and broadcasters, reporters and speech writers are all digging into his history to find something to say about MP Andrew Scheer. He has been hiding in plain sight in Ottawa for the past year and a half.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Politics in anxious times.
If prime minister Justin Trudeau had his druthers, he would not want an election this year. It is simply bad timing. Canadians are anxious. It is not any one thing. The world is just not behaving as it should. Not even the weather is acting as normal. People are concerned.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Brown bounces back.
This is not a contrite political Patrick Brown bragging about his comeback from being a nobody. This is a brazen Brown bragging that he has bested the best. Comfortably ensconced in the mayor’s chair in Brampton, Ontario, he has four years to choose his next steps. And he expects CTV
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Potholes on the Yellow Brick Road.
While the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion are still planning their trip with Dorothy to the Emerald City and the October election in Canada, it is best to check for potholes. Peering into one of these potholes the other day, I saw Canada’s former ambassador to China sitting
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: First pick a direction.
It is ridiculous that people are speculating about the possible leaders of the Ontario liberal party so soon. We do have a choice. And the old adage says, we can decide now and repent at leisure. As we have mentioned before, we first want to figure out where the party
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “Keep your enemies closer.”
Born in Chicago in 1901, my mother never did entirely lose the biases of her upbringing. She was something of a traffic hazard the way she drove her walker in the seniors’ residence in downtown Toronto where she spent her final years. I remember one time she was proudly telling
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: John McCallum is no diplomat.
Canada’s ambassador to China never was a diplomat. He is a politician. Maybe he has always been too much of a neoliberal to my taste but he finally did what Justin Trudeau could not. He told the truth about the situation of chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou of Huawei. And
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Ford follows Forrest.
Remember the famous line from the blockbuster film: Forrest Gump? It was “Stupid is as stupid does.” The point was that stupid people keep on doing stupid things because that is what they are. But if the Economic Club of Canada audience gave Ontario premier Doug Ford a standing ovation
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The dynamics are different.
When talking about dynamics in politics, we are talking about what will influence the political outcome. And in looking at the upcoming by-elections in three federal electoral districts on February 25, we have to deal with each district as a separate entity. Reading the tea leaves for the three by-elections
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