Author: Peter Lowry

The Toronto Star is overdoing this opinion business. There was an opinion piece by a new democrat the other day that confused how we vote with gerrymandering. I can assure you that they are very different subjects. And it is too bad that the new owners of the Star are

The numbers game, as run by organized crime across the U.S., throughout the 20th Century, never really got a foothold in Canada. It looks like it has finally come today under the auspices of the conservative party of Canada. They have put together a numbers game that can outdo anything

Is Canada a land that tolerates demagogues and populists and bigots? And do we know one when we see one? Demagogues are politicians who tell you what they think you want to hear. A populist is a demagogue who appeals to the lowest common denominator among voters. And a bigot

From the first meeting with Patrick Brown some 15 years ago, I did not like him. He was a sallow-complexioned little man with a bad haircut. He wanted to shake my hand and I rudely pulled my hand back. I’m not usually so rude but I must have seen the

With a small rump of liberals in the Ontario legislature and no leader, Ontario’s liberals have an opportunity to rethink the future of their party. We can plan on a clean palette. We can attract a leader who believes in where we want to take our party. We can attract

There is a discomfort in seeing hockey stick-mounted maple leaf flags flying from pick-up trucks. Maybe the flags that simply say ‘F*ck Trudeau’ are a clearer message. In any case the flags that some politicians seem to be flying today differ strongly with the parties to which they tell us

We think of Canada as a free country. And it is in many ways. Yet, our Charter of Rights and Freedoms notes in its first paragraphs that our freedom is subject to reasonable limits. While there are different opinions about what constitutes reasonable limits, there are also reasonable ways to

It was a hundred years ago when demagoguery was being preached in Munich. It was six years ago when a demagogue won the republican party nomination in the United States. Canadians said it could never happen here. And what do you think is happening in Canada today? The greatest challenge

Watching the TV clips of prime minister Justin Trudeau’s recent travels, you have to wonder what good they are doing. His hobnobbing with the elites of the Commonwealth and the G7 is not solving Canada’s problems with inflation. We are not hearing better news from Ukraine. He appears to lack

It’s Canada Day, 2022, and never has Canada’s democracy been under greater challenge. While we try to lay to rest the vestiges of a pandemic, we find the burial sites of un-named aboriginal children from our time of colonialism. We face the anger and confusion of a convoy of truckers

With parliament paused for summer recess and the prime minister off, playing with prime ministers and presidents in foreign climes, we hear more bad news about our government’s favourite pipeline. It seems that the parliamentary budget office is now estimating the value of the Trans Mountain pipeline at minus $600,000,000.

When parliament broke for a summer on the barbeque circuit the other day, the MPs did not get high marks for civility or decorum. And to my surprise, one of the most boring people I have ever seen in politics was in line for criticism. It appears that the current

It never takes premier Doug Ford long to display his ignorance. I expect whomever in his office reads the comics to him had to explain the meaning of ‘nepotism.’ Giving newly-elected nephew Michael Ford a cabinet post was not just the same-old Doug Ford but it was a finger in

Our parliament is getting a bad reputation. I always considered Michelle Rempel Garner the exception to the rule on the conservative side of the house. She has always been picked by the media for having a great career ahead of her. The trouble is that potential seems to be eluding

They are at again in Alberta. The lunatic fringe is getting worked up for a new conservative leadership contest. And they are playing familiar tunes for the crazies. I guess Jason Kenney was just not odd-ball enough for them. I thought Brian Jean, playing his John Wayne Quiet Man role,

We spent most of the past week in the Ottawa area. We stayed with family in the middle of Carleton electoral district. We visited in downtown Ottawa and out past Carp. After two years of restricting ourselves due to the pandemic, it was wonderful to be with family of different

The most ridiculous statement from the boy conservative, MP Pierre Poilievre this week was the promise that he made about new legislation. He said that, if he was prime minister, he would introduce legislation to offset every dollar of new spending with a cut to old legislation. What he was,

The world needs a booming voice from on-high that can look down on pitiful humans such as Donald Trump in America and Vladimir Putin of Russia and tell them they have been found wanting. We will have to start with Donald Trump. He is the miscreant that courts can get

Welcome to the Empire Club of Canada—over 100 years of pandering to profit. It is where Canada’s finance ministers go to seek approval and deny progress. It is where the leaders of banking, business and industry gather in mutual admiration. I have always thought the Empire Club served as a

Is this what Ontario voted for? Over the next four years, the Ford government is going to spend more than a billion dollars getting things ready to start building Highway 413. And once it gets started—if it does get started—it will likely take another ten years to build. You could