The kids are bruising for a fight but unsure of the outcome. The Ottawa liberals are tantalizing the conservatives with the prospect of an election. The only problem is that it could all be for nothing. If nobody can win, what is the point? And that is the real problem.
Continue readingTag: Federal Politics
Babel-on-the-Bay: The unindicted Bill Blair.
It took them a long time to start to redress the wrong and they still have not got it right. Here it is ten years down the road and the only people we are confident are being compensated to date are the lawyers. The G20 summit in Toronto in 2010
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Justin Trudeau did it wrong.
Thinking back to that lame throne speech that took so long and said so little, it is now clear that prime minister Justin Trudeau was wrong. He promised us a look toward the future and all he really gave us was more Covid-19. Instead of a positive look towards tomorrow,
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It would never win a ‘QCJO.’
Let’s face facts, you rush things and you screw up. Mind you, I also found it funny. It makes you wonder just how many Alberta voters made the same mistake. Did you think it was Alberta’s Jason Kenny(stet) who had become a husband and father? It is unlikely that we
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: They’re giving away seats in parliament?
Conservative Hugh Segal should know better. Liberal Greg Sorbara likely never knew better. And I have no idea who the NDP’s Zanana Akande might be. It was just that the three of them want to give away seats in Canada’s parliament. They have some silly idea written up in the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Democracy Defied.
Canadians kid themselves about our democracy. It is not by any stretch a true democracy. According to official records, it is a constitutional monarchy, where the governor general represents the monarch. In our faux House of Lords, we have the party in power appointing the senators. It is certainly not
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Democracy Denied.
Canadians should stop worrying about the fascist leanings of that guy in the American White House and worry more about the death of democracy in Canada. Every day, we see the continued erosion of democracy in Canada’s political parties as another brick in the wall closing down our democracy. I
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: O’Toole’s new hue of blue.
Erin O’Toole, the new conservative party leader brought a new hue of blue to parliament on his late arrival. Delayed by covid-19, the conservative leader brought a new approach to the minority parliament. Where catcalls and rudeness have prevailed for so long, the new leader brought reason, conciliation and understanding.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Dredging Down in Green.
Congratulations to the new leader of the Green Party of Canada. The party has selected a Torontonian named Annamie Paul to be its new leader. The party leader is a 47-year old lawyer. As in the recent conservative party election, it took considerable counting to arrive at a majority choice.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: This business of news.
From an early age, I was always fascinated by this business of news. Understanding news as a commodity is an essential background for people in the business. It helps if you are a fisherman. It is best you get the value for your product before it ripens. One of my
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What if we had switched the speeches?
Justin Trudeau short changed us. It was so obvious. The speech read by the governor general should have been for the United Nations. It was dull and obvious but better suited to the world body as it lacked enthusiasm, adventure, inspiration or drive. It was boring and so much of
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: But all we got was business, as usual.
It was supposed to be a reset. We were waiting for the grand scheme. Frankly, the Governor General’s speech was boring and really nothing we had not heard before. It took too long to read. It took little time to critique. And the prime minister wasted our time with his
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The ‘Right’ advice for Freeland.
It seems guaranteed that the liberals will introduce an extensive plan for child care on Wednesday. There are two factors pushing Chrystia Freeland in this direction. The first is the growing concern about a second wave of the pandemic and then the right-wing advice that she has been getting from
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Where does the Toronto Star get off?
What? The Toronto Star threw a grenade at the idea of a guaranteed basic income the other day. The paper had me choking over my morning coffee. It had to be one of their senior female writers. Toronto Star writer Heather Scoffield thinks the silver bullet needed today is more
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trudeau’s circle does it again.
It seems as though Justin Trudeau and his circle of friends are immune to learning from past mistakes. They no sooner manage to bury one of their gaffs and they come up with another. Now it is Justin’s good buddy, David MacNaughton, who has blotted his copy book. McNaughton was
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick…”
“We understand the value of wise and prudent fiscal management,” she told the news media and bankers last week. In telling them what they wanted to hear, our new finance minister, reminded me of the old English custom of newlyweds jumping over a candlestick to see if their first year
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Who listens to Canada’s bankers?
Canada’s bankers admit that there is no fixed limit to Canada’s debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio but they think everyone should follow them in their customary caution. It is probably why more and more cash-rich businesses are eyeing aspects of the banking field for future expansion. It is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The enemy of my enemy…
It came as a shock. I just found out that Toronto writer Tiffany Gooch and I agree on something. Neither of us is a fan of Mr. Trudeau’s public safety and emergency preparedness minister Bill Blair. This came as a surprise as I had written her off as a ‘black
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: This fails the smell test.
It must have been the final political straw for Bill Morneau. After taking some of the heat off the prime minister in the ‘We charity’ imbroglio, the former finance minister is still being criticized for his naiveté. Not only is he being pilloried by the opposition in parliament and ridiculed
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Doing what they do best.
It is time for the conservatives in parliament to return to what they do best: criticize. They are so good at it that they have more people lined up to criticize the liberal cabinet members than there are liberal cabinet members to criticize. It would be easy to just give
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