There is supposed to be a little something for everybody and it turns out there is nothing overly impressive for anybody. It is a strange feeling going over this federal budget. Nothing is particularly surprising. Nothing impresses. What is with these Liberals? They are a big tent of neoliberals, right-wing
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Babel-on-the-Bay: Peaking early; Peaking late, in politics.
It is something like a fertility cycle. If you are too early or too late, that little sperm has lost an opportunity. It is like that time in a political campaign when unfertilized minds can be receptive to a particular message. It is only the entire costly campaign that is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Did they forget to tell Jagmeet?
It seems strange that the NDP apparatchiks around their leader Jagmeet Singh have forgotten to tell him something important. He certainly has enough French to understand that Québec Solidaire is a separatist party based in Quebec. It might share the orange party color and the left of centre politics of
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Comics in the Op-Eds.
I had a really good laugh the other morning when in the Toronto Star’s opposite-editorials page there was a headline saying: Brian Mulroney is our greatest statesman prime minister. I quickly checked the calendar. No, it was not April Fools Day. This guy might be serious. Since he might also
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The perils of punditry.
Despite putting the idea aside a number of times, I have made the effort to stay away from comparing Pierre Trudeau in 1972 to Justin Trudeau in 2019. I was sitting in the boardroom of the principal advertising agency for the liberal party that evening in 1972 when Pierre announced
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Watering the wine of Canadian politics.
Canadians deserve better. We are promised much but so little is delivered. Prime minister Justin Trudeau promised doctor assisted suicide to relieve people the pains of protracted death and all Canadians got was some comfort for the rich. He promised voting reform but had never thought it through. He has
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The storms on the Yellow Brick Road.
As we battle our way to the Land of OZ and the looming federal election, what we are hearing across the land is becoming more and more concerning. When normally respectful and erudite people vent with expletives, they are angry. When the prime minister of our country calls a public
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Yes, I have stopped beating my wife.
We took a mid-winter break in Toronto recently and unfortunately the wife slipped on some ice at one point and she came home sporting a rather colourful black eye. After a while, you get tired of telling people the real story and you just tell them you will not do
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: No Butts about it!
With the Trudeau government, even a recently-resigned principal secretary to the prime minister sticks to the talking points. Gerald Butts appeared before the Commons justice committee yesterday and tried valiantly to salvage what he could of the reputation of the liberal government. He danced a fine line between trashing the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Silence of the Liberals.
It is a time of quiet. Yet the storm is gathering. It is a time of assessment, we have little confidence of the future. The feeling of disappointment is real. We bought the early confidence. We reveled in those sunny ways. We cheered: the king is dead; Long live the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Because all politics really is local.
We are coming into the season when arguments for proportional voting will once again be heard throughout the land. We will hear tales of the ‘wasted vote’ and the supposedly undemocratic nature of first-past-the-post voting. At every election there is pressure on politicians to change how we vote. The problem
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trudeau takes on the Truth-Teller.
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 readingBabel-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: 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: 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: 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: 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: ‘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
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