The streaming video from CBC News in Ottawa on Wednesday afternoon was a time of truth. There was absolutely no reason to disbelieve former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould. She was obviously under intense pressure in that job to take the well-traveled political road and save Quebec’s SNC-Lavalin from criminal prosecution.
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: An unscientific method.
On Global’s West Block public affairs show on Sunday, two of the Toronto Star’s remuda of political pundits voiced their opinions on the Monday by-election in Vancouver’s Burnaby South. They both picked new democrat leader Jagmeet Singh. If you were only going to guess at the outcome, that was a
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Jagmeet’s winning honeymoon.
Burnaby South electoral district is not your typical first choice for honeymooners. It is no resort. The electoral district is not even middle class, includes migrants from many countries and probably more like many of the heavily ethnic areas of Toronto than of any other Canadian city. Yet it is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Saving the Scenic Salish Sea.
To nobody’s surprise the other day, Canada’s moribund National Energy Board (NEB), once again, approved the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline. And once again to the barricades my friends to stop the tripling of the ocean-going tankers manoeuvring under Lions Gate Bridge, through Vancouver Harbour to the Second Narrows
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Senior civil servant says something silly.
The crazies are behind door ‘C’ and we turn them loose at our peril. And it is certainly not the role of Canada’s senior civil servant to open that door. To even suggest that somebody might be shot in this country, in this year of elections, is tantamount to an
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: When compromise is the problem.
Nobody should celebrate too soon about the compromise solution to paying Ontario’s doctors. After more than four years of arguments, back-stabbing and threats, nobody is particularly happy. The three-member arbitration board did not have to find the money, so they could be generous. And they were. The doctors got what
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Who quits for no reason?
Being principal secretary to the prime minister is no flunky appointment. It is a position of high trust and higher pay. I have known various people in the role, both liberal and conservative, over the years. From the time that Marc LaLonde kidded some of us insiders that all he
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Corporations can be citizens.
In last Sunday’s Toronto Star there was an interesting juxtaposition of two letters-to-the-editor on the SNC-Lavalin affair. It reminds me of the time I spent over the years lecturing business students at Ontario universities on corporate social responsibility. Despite the assumption by the public that you cannot charge a car
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Potholes on the Yellow Brick Road.
It’s the time of year in Canada. The roller-coaster of ice and snow, melting and freezing, leaves even a yellow brick road a minefield of broken and missing bricks. Dorothy and Toto and their three friends have to watch where they step. With the Cowardly Lion (Justin Trudeau) more familiar
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Who is running this circus?
It is usually best to stay away from political situations that you do not understand. While we have gone around the the rings in this circus a few times, we still do not know much. It really is too bad that we do not have a leader who can explain.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The ties of Trump and Toad.
It is doubtful that American president Donald Trump, has ever bothered to read Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows. Published in 1908 in the United Kingdom, it is a book that has delighted children everywhere for more than a century. What would surprise Mr. Trump today is how much he
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A Corrected Convention.
The seven liberal MPPs remaining at Queen’s Park are going to carry a lot of weight in deciding the when and how of the convention to replace Kathleen Wynne as leader of the party. Not only are there possible candidates among them but they will also want to ensure that
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Pathetic Pretenders.
Gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protestors are a particularly French phenomenon, as French law requires all automobiles be equipped one of those fluorescent vests in case of emergency. It made for a rather colourful, beehive-like mob scenes across France, when the emergency was determined to be the increase in taxes on
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Busted.
Oh, the shame of it. My last contribution to the Liberal Party of Canada was June 16, 2016. And the party has asked me if this is a mistake? Hopefully nobody has told Justin. He would be so disappointed with me. Luckily, I expect that only the computer knows that
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Ford Follies.
This entertainment is settling in for a long run. Ontario premier Doug Ford and his ensemble are enjoying their reviews. You cannot help but compare the show to the old 19th Century minstrel shows—without blackened faces, though Doug Ford does seem pleased in playing the role of Mr. Interlocutor. In
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: ‘Chuckles’ checks campaign conditions.
With the new democratic leader Jagmeet Singh tied up in a do-or-die by-election in Vancouver and the prime minister under steady fire on the SNC-Lavalin debacle, the conservative leader is out testing fault-lines for the coming election in the Fall. While Andrew ‘Chuckles’ Scheer is not particularly glib, he seems
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trump and Trudeau fail Venezuela.
Venezuela’s oil-based economy continues to collapse. The Americans are helping it collapse. And what the Canadian interest is, defies imagination. The corrupt and destructive Nicolás Maduro regime in the country, after the incompetence of the Hugo Chavez era, has created economic chaos. The world watches as China and the Russians
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The snake to the right.
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 readingBabel-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 reading