This is ridiculous. So far, this is not a race, it is more like a baby crawl. The conservative party of Canada, midwifed by Stephen Harper at the turn of the century, has fallen on hard times. And, so far, only one of the two candidates has ponied up his
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Babel-on-the-Bay: The greed that consumes Alberta.
It was at the end of December that Babel-on-the-Bay discussed the hopes of Alberta premier Jason Kenney for the Teck Frontier mine in North-East Alberta. The proposed open-pit tar sands mine, north of Fort McMurray, would be Canada’s largest and is planned to produce 260,000 barrels of bitumen per day
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: ‘If the system works; corrupt it.’
The carpetbagger from Severn, Ontario is certainly doing the job for Ontario premier Doug Ford. Those conservatives who resented the appointment of Doug Downey as conservative candidate in our riding of Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte would have to agree that he is jumping to his master’s bidding. Look at what he is attempting
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The metrics of higher education.
Ontario premier Doug Ford wants our colleges and universities to earn their way. He wants some measurement on their economic performance. He wants to put a dollar value on that cap and gown. And when the minister of higher education is a lawyer, he seems to believe that such measurement
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Big tents are hard to move.
If only we had a nickel for every time someone told us that Canada’s conservative and liberal parties are ‘big tent’ parties. Big tent parties are, as the name implies, large enough to accommodate many different views, as opposed to smaller, narrow interest parties. You can think of the big
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “Enter Laughing.”
So, you want to be an actor? And Canada is the theatre. Nova Scotian Peter MacKay, once more wants to be conservative leader. It reminds us of the semi-autobiographical novel by American humourist Carl Reiner. He turned the book into a successful movie in 1967 and launched his career in
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: ‘Unencumbered as I am by experience.’
Ontario education minister Stephen Lecce is no mystery. Politics is full of people like him. Their ability as a con artist is far more important than any particular experience or training. They are chameleons. Lecce was actually prime minister Stephen Harper’s discovery. He gave the handsome young man a job
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The gang that can’t sell pot.
It pains us to consider the lengths some cartel bosses would go to if it happened them. Imagine an outfit that cannot even make a profit selling marijuana. We are talking about the Ontario government here! After a full year in the business of selling the stuff, the government swore
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Politics of Oligarchs.
In an interesting opinion piece, recently, the Toronto Star’s Susan Delacourt said that both Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau had to reinvent their respective parties to win election. Neither liked the parties they were taking over in their search for power. Similar to Donald Trump in the United States, they
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Where is the vision?
In a recent commentary we complained about the lack of leadership of all Canadian political parties. What Canadians want from their leaders is vision. It is like the vision of Sir John A. Macdonald that ribbons of steel could bind this country together. It is our flag and the international
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Ontario offers the bland and the pit bull.
We are still a while from knowing the slate of candidates for the federal conservative party leadership, but there are two Ontario MPs lining up their teams. They are Erin O’Toole from Durham and Pierre Poilievre from Carleton. I think of them as the bland and the pit bull. Erin
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Defeating democracy, drilling down to dismal.
Are Canada’s conservatives making the same mistakes in their June, 2020 leadership contest as gave them Andrew Scheer last time? Some people never seem to learn. We are hearing that they are trying to defeat democracy again. In what should be a one-member-one-vote contest, we understand that they have declared
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: All federal parties need new leaders.
Canadians are going to be seeing a number of national political party leadership contests in the coming year. The conservatives are blowing smoke and fire as they warm up to their winner-takes-all contest in June. The greens are having another cup of green tea and considering who might replace the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Kenney warns “Canada oil, gas sector has no future.”
The Canadian Press quoted Alberta premier Jason Kenney recently on his pessimism about federal approval of the proposed Frontier mine in Northern Alberta. The proposed open-pit mine, north of Fort McMurray, would be Canada’s largest and could produce 260,000 barrels of bitumen per day for processing into synthetic oil. It
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: How much is too much, Mr. Trudeau?
Justin Trudeau has obviously not had a really wonderful 2019. As far back as September 2018, the prime minister asked his justice minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould to reconsider her position on not interfering in the upcoming prosecution of SNC-Lavalin for corrupt practices. Trudeau insisted that the intent was to save jobs
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Lest we forget, Charest.
It is likely to be a frosty Friday when Canada’s conservatives turn to former Quebec premier Jean Charest. They are just not that desperate, yet. It will be a while before the full field of candidates emerges for the race to replace Chuckles Scheer. Canada’s conservatives want a winner to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Stiffing Steel City.
Why does everyone take a swipe at Hamilton? It was over 100 years ago that STELCO was created and ever since, the city, the province and our country have benefitted by it. Its steel has helped create and defend our nation. Hamilton is a city built by steel. It was
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Bad government begets bad opposition.
They seem to go hand in hand. The more you loath the government of the day, the more you can loath their opposition. You have to admit that the Ontario government of premier Doug Ford is a disaster. So why does his opposition in the legislature have to be so
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Redefining conservatism: A zero sum game.
Our conservative friends are all in a tizzy. They think they are going to get to redefine their party. Fat chance, is the only answer for them. In a party that was defined by conservative Stephen Harper, 20 years ago, there are few progressives. Conservatism in Canada is where you
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Chuckles Chucks It.
We are going to miss Chuckles. Sure, it is customary to think of something nice to say about the guy now he has announced he is quitting as leader of the conservative party. The first problem with Andrew Scheer is to think of something nice to say. The hair looks
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