New democratic party leader Jagmeet Singh is not going quietly. He caught some wind in his sails from that disgrace of an English debate this past week and is running with it. It was such a bad debate that Singh came out looking better than usual. And yet, it is
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Babel-on-the-Bay: Voting and Thanksgiving.
I am voting in Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte this weekend. And I am voting for the liberal candidate. My sense of this riding is that the green candidate is taking some votes from both the liberals and new democrats. That combination will give the riding to another do-nothing conservative. I expect that situation
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Another bad night for Canadian democracy.
When will we treat these election debates as what they are? When they told us that there would be six leadership hopefuls and five moderators for the one English-language debate, we knew trouble was coming. It would have been much better to drop some of the moderators and pay a
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: This Dismal Season
Sorry. I asked around. Couldn’t find anyone who bothered watching last night’s leaders’ debate. Not one. I suppose it has something to do with that “none of the above” attitude that permeates the general election this year. All but two were university grads, the sort who usually pay some heed
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Morning Line: 43rd Canadian General Election
Welcome to Babel-on-the-Bay’s starting point in understanding the coming election. Bear in mind that these are starting odds only. There will likely be changes by election day. Be sure you get full odds on any of your wagers. And, believe me, this is not a simple calculation. It has never
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Jason Kenney: Doug Ford’s understudy.
Every actor needs an understudy. It just seems appropriate for the much-detested premier Doug Ford in Ontario to have a truly obnoxious stand-in during the federal election. It is conservative leader Andrew Sheer’s good buddy, Jason Kenney, premier of Alberta, who was standing in for premier Ford this past weekend.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: TVA provides a forum for losers.
Making sense of the political sparring on Pierre Karl Péladeau’s French language television network, TVA, on Wednesday was easy. It was the time for Yves-François Blanchet of the Bloc Québécois and the New Democrat’s Jagmeet Singh to come on strong and hard. This was their first major chance to make
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Doug Ford: The man who isn’t here.
We hear that premier Doug Ford is low bridging this federal election. It is at the begging of his friend Andrew Scheer. Conservative leader Scheer did not want to be upstaged by his provincial supporter. Scheer’s handlers have enough trouble convincing voters that ‘Chuckles’ is not just a tool for
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Death by a thousand tax cuts.
Canadian voters are being nickel-dimed and conned by their politicians. Even Elizabeth May and her greenies have joined into the game of making promises, with funds, from where, they do not really know. It is a game that voters should not buy. Let’s face facts: Sheer is no savior, Trudeau
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Over-Analyzed Election.
It’s a circus on the hustings. It is like somebody tossed a cherry bomb into the outhouse. Everybody has an opinion to lay on you as to what is happening but not what will happen. There is more coverage every day from radio, television and daily newspapers. They tell you
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “How dare you?” Greta Thunberg.
Somebody must have explained to the 16-year old from Sweden that you have to be brash to get noticed in North America. She would be quite unlikely to say ‘How dare you?’ to her elders back home in Sweden. Yet it worked at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: They’re not your father’s conservatives.
What happened to the red Tories? Is the decency of Ontario’s once premier Bill Davis a memory of the past? Whatever happened to the conservatives with whom I could share a joke? I used to like many of these people. They worked hard for charities. They were good neighbours. They
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The timeless media tempest.
It seems as though this election is taking place just for the benefit of the news media. I am not sure of the right word for it but it is the most over-reported and over-analyzed campaign I have ever seen and it is only week two. I can only hope
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: So far, so what?
The dispatches from the front line of the current election strife are mostly about stupidity, compounded by incompetence. Despite the usual whining, scratching and digging up old pictures of each other, the kids are playing by the rules. Justin Trudeau and his liberals are establishing a traditional campaign ground game.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: We can do that ourselves, thank you.
This ongoing concern for foreign countries interfering with our federal election is more of a joke than a threat. It is not that it could not happen, but why bother? What would be the mythical country’s objective? Why would they, for example, prefer one of our leaders over another? This
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It’s Tory Tax Tuck Time.
We hardly got through the first week of the federal election before the conservatives brought out their usual election chestnut. It is time to promise lower taxes. It would hardly be a Canadian election without it. And, as usual, this bribe will not even pay for your drive-though Tim’s on
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Andrew Scheer woos the 905.
Meet Andrew Scheer, leader of the conservatives and ambassador to the 905 ridings of Ontario from the more peaceful, less frantic reaches of Prairie conservatism. The 905 region is also known as the Golden Horseshoe that wraps around the City of Toronto. It is also home to much of the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: They’re At Post!
Finally. This never-ending scrabbling for political position has a finite finish line. The free-for-all has focus and Elections Canada is in charge. Like with stewards at the track, there are rules to be observed. It is an election like no other in Canadian history. It is not the politicians who
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Our MPP is heard from.
It seems that the member of the Ontario legislature for Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte does visit Barrie occasionally, usually while on his way to or from his home up in Severn Township. Recently, Doug Downey M.P.P. even held a news conference in Barrie to discuss the problem of what he calls ‘Catch and
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: From Rae Days to Ford Years.
It does seem odd to think of current conservative premier of Ontario Doug Ford and former NDP premier Bob Rae at the same time. The other day Bob Hepburn of the Toronto Star tried to compare the two in an opinion piece. He failed. The reasons that Bob Rae failed
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