Author: Peter Lowry

It was confusing the other day when the Toronto Star ran an opinion piece about artificial intelligence being discriminatory for black people. It was not until you read some of the story that it was clear that the article was about computer programs for facial recognition. This is not as

If you were wondering who else might support the Ottawa cowboy, Pierre Poilievre, as leader of the federal conservatives, you can certainly add the Wicked Witch of the West, Alberta premier Danielle Smith, to your list.  She is no Doug Ford. The Ontario premier seems a little lukewarm on the

The growing arguments about the practice of tipping for service deserve some decent airing. Having experienced the attitude towards tipping in Japan, I admit that I would be happy to see it banned in North America. It is demeaning to the people receiving the gratuity as it is for the

One of Justin Trudeau’s promises in the 2015 federal election was that it would be the last time Canadians would use first-past-the-post voting. And you know how far he got with that idea. His first error was to give the challenge of change to a minister who seemed to have

It is hard to believe that MP Pierre Poilievre has made it as far as he has. His summer travels seem to be a cross between Adolph Hitler’s rants in Bavarian beer halls and Donald Trump’s preaching to the ignorant in America. What we are hearing is lies, lies and

Why do we have government? When did we start praying to the government to “Give us this day, our daily bread?” Is this a democratic government? It is not God, that is for sure. And yet, if it is a democratic government, should it not look for ways to ensure

If there were a few things we learned during the coronavirus pandemic, one of them is how to have better computer to computer meetings. I’ve watched the progress in this field with great interest. We have come a long way since I was running national meetings with people connected to

When the Ontario Liberals last met in conclave in Hamilton this year, the attendees were told that the upcoming leadership vote would be one-member-one vote. No doubt many of us were delighted with that. I was not there for the announcement. As a senior, I could scrape together the $250

It was fun meeting with my local Nathanial Erskine-Smith committee (otherwise known as Team Nate) organizers earlier in last week. I did tell them I write this blog, so it should not surprise them if they see it. They might think of me as that cranky old man but I

It makes you wonder. I never answer phony polls like those your local member of parliament sends out. They are not real polls and even if they frame it as a petition, it rarely goes anywhere. But I am appalled that Pierre Poilievre made money off of his silly petitions.

It does seem strange that Ontario municipal affairs and housing minister Steve Clark’s chief of staff Ryan Amato is currently reported to be vacationing in Italy. He might have a reason to not be enjoying a ‘staycation’ in Ontario this year. It appears that his boss Clark and premier Ford

Canada lost both a staunch liberal and a much-loved conservative in the past week.  It is a rare situation when we wonder at how difficult it will be to replace either. I first met Marc LaLonde in prime minister Lester Pearson’s office in 1968. He laughingly referred to himself as

You hardly expect the conservatives at Queen’s Park in Toronto to go after their own government but premier Doug Ford will be hard pressed on this goof. It is right there in the playbook for a Laurel and Hardy short film out of the 1930s. Auditor general Bonnie Lysyk laid

Nobody worries about polls, this far between elections, but there seem to be a lot of questions about conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. The most serious is, if this guy is looking so good in the polls, why is his party so hell-bent on changing him? The first thing the party

In yesterday’s discussion of the Ontario provincial liberal leadership race, there was no dismissal of the part being played by the other three candidates. In any race of this nature, the political mind automatically sorts the candidates into their pole positions. While much of the news media attention is devoted

Sorry, there will be no Morning Line from me on the current liberal leadership contest in Ontario. The opinion piece in the Toronto Star by Bob Hepburn last week tended to sum up the situation. The timing of this race is awkward and over extended. And it will not end

It is often worth a minute or so to answer the polls run by our local Barrie Today Internet Newspaper. The publication hardly gives the Toronto Star or Globe and Mail any concern but is the most aggressive of the totally bad choices of local media here in Barrie since

This is something I complained about a year ago. These people who think they are doing something good by saying they are protecting Lake Simcoe and they want to stop the Bradford Bypass and block Highway 413 are a bunch of amateurs running in circles. Judging by their ill-thoughtout news

It hardly seems like Ontario premier Doug Ford’s summer is going as planned. The conservative populist is neither conserving much of what he rules over nor has he improved his popularity with Ontario citizens. And it just might be driving him to a point of showing signs of paranoia. And

You go after this subject with some trepidation. I have always been proud of our multi-racial Canada. I abhor racists and their writings. I have also been paying close attention to this current leadership of the Ontario liberals. I admired Yasir Naqvi when he was attorney general of Ontario. I