The reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I have spent the past three weeks in hospital. I remember waking up after an operation to put my ankle back together. I was completely disoriented but conscious of the need for a washroom. I remembered where I was when a
Continue readingTag: Conservative
Scripturient: Whatever happened to conservatives?
It’s hard to believe these days, but in many nations, conservative political parties were once actually the defenders of the nation’s interests, of the greater good, of the public, and of the state. They weren’t always the corporate shills, protectors of billionaires, privatizing libertarians, lobbyist puppets, Talibangelist lapdogs*, and racists
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Never confuse Kenney with Trump.
One of my favourite writers wrote in a Toronto Star op-ed the other day that she thought Alberta premier Jason Kenney is the closest thing Canadians have to Donald Trump. As much as I hate to argue the case, Ontario’s premier Doug Ford holds those honours. Neither Ford nor Trump
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Justin’s ‘Turn to Bow’.
Yesterday’s show from Ottawa reminded me of a small book produced by Maclean’s magazine for the 1972 federal election: Their turn to curtsy – Your turn to bow. It told you all the magazine thought you needed to know to be a knowledgeable voter. Maybe that was the intent of
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Liberals whistle past the graveyard.
While it might be foolish to buy stock in Trudeau and Company in Ottawa, you have to ask who is going to gain in an election? It is a serious question. It would be necessary for the opposition to get together and bring down the minority liberal government in late
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Longing for leadership.
Sometime, after August 21, the conservative party hopes to announce the winner of the party’s national leadership. The big question though is does anybody care? What possible difference would it make if Erin O’Toole beat Peter MacKay? It is the same old, same old conservative dogma. It would mean promising
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Ford follows mentor Trump.
From the low of being booed at the Raptors’ celebration in Toronto last year, Ontario premier Doug Ford feels it is time to hear some applause. After all the exposure he has gotten from the pandemic, he is ready to go on the road again. Like Donald Trump in the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: And a sneer from Scheer.
It was difficult to assess all sides of the discussion last week to the finance minister’s snapshot of Canada’s financial position. To be fair, minister Morneau is not a dynamic speaker. You needed time as he droned on to grasp the dimension of the how far this pandemic has taken
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Jason Kenney is ‘All In’ on Keystone XL.
Alberta premier Jason Kenney just went ‘all in’ against a stacked deck. Most of us thought Jason Kenney was smarter than that. He seems to be betting that Donald Trump will win a second term as president of the U.S. in November. It would be the only way that the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: When you can’t press the flesh.
Thinking about political leadership campaigns, it occurs to me that the constraints on the candidates today are not only catastrophic for the candidates but impossible for the party faithful to judge. How can you expect the party members to make a reasoned choice? When meetings cannot take place, you have
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: O’Toole should cool it.
It is a pity to waste good political advice on conservatives but MP Erin O’Toole’s current hissy fit with Peter MacKay’s leadership organization could cause irreparable harm in Canadian politics. And rather than being amused by the lack of political smarts of the Erin O’Toole leadership organization, most knowledgeable politicos
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Dougie has “lost the plot.”
A chap from ‘Ole Blighty’ was talking the other day about the United Kingdom’s prime minister Boris Johnson. He said “Bo-Jo has lost the plot.” The description fits too many politicians today. Johnson is just one of many. America’s Trump certainly fits the part. The Donald seems to have never
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A pandemic is no time to be Tory.
You need to be considerate of your conservative friends in these troubled times. You might even think kindly of inviting some conservatives into your circle. Share the lottery of covid-19 with them. They are suffering the conviction of their politics. Their American hero Donald Trump is scraping the nether regions
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The new Ford is still a Model T.
Not to be confused with products of the Ford Motor Company, today’s comment is about Ontario premier Doug Ford. It harks back a hundred years to that time when you could have any colour of Ford Model T, as long as it was black. And you need to face facts
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Please Justin, get a haircut.
We hear through the grapevine that Justin Trudeau and his liberals are thinking election. Since I am supposed to have an opinion on this proposal, I will need to reach deep into my conscience to see if I could support such foolishness at this time. The one thing that is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The future is ours.
As the song asks, “How ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm, after they’ve seen Paree?” That was a song that many believed after the First World War. It is also a lament for those politicians who think they can give the public greater freedoms and then expect to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Can Chuckles make a comeback?
The conservative party and the news media have written off acting conservative party leader Andrew Scheer much too soon. When he resigned late last year, the unwritten proviso was that the party thought they could get someone better. There might be four or five people vying for the honour of
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: When our world is on hold.
Every morning when waking up to this pandemic, I challenge myself to remember what day it is. I never realized how confining a person to their home could be so cruel. I work hard at keeping alert and interested in our world. Some days the newspaper crossword is a challenge
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Who will bell Ford?
Before you bell the cat, you had better learn something of its habits. This is not an animal that has been de-clawed nor rendered toothless. Nor has Ontario premier Doug Ford. You have to remember that Ford is a bully and a braggart and there are no Marquess of Queensbury
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Facing facts for Ford’s fortunes.
So, you think Ontario premier Doug Ford is riding the white charger towards a 2022 election victory? You are probably deluding your self. Much can happen in the next two years. And there is more than enough of the old-Ford poking through the current veneer to convince us that he
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