Because it is 2016, the question should be asked: Will we have thorough discussion on the question of electoral reform? Or will the questions be decided just by votes in parliamentary committee and parliament? And the question is important as the Trudeau Liberals are hoping they can find a solution that can be supported by […]
Continue readingTag: Federal Politics
Babel-on-the-Bay: You don’t get much for $300 million!
Inflation is an unfeeling brute. By the time the Trudeau government brings our six aging F-18s back from the Middle East, Canadians will have spent close to $300 million on the exercise. Obviously it is not cheap to maintain modern jet fighters half way around the world from home. The question is will they have […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Is that Alberta bitumen still flowing?
It will never have the panache of “Bombs bursting in air” but someone in Alberta needs to write a patriotic song about the products of Alberta’s tar sands. The current battle between Alberta politicians and Montreal area mayors is on that grand a scale. In a battle between Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre and TransCanada Pipelines […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Justin’s chorus demonizes first-past-the-post.
Nowhere in the Canadian voting handbook does it say that we are committed to voting for all the promises of the party we choose in an election. Even as a card-carrying Liberal, we have the right to tell the Prime Minister that one of his promises is foolish and should not happen. Specifically, his promise […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Will nobody come to Canada’s party?
Canada will be 150-years old next year. Even the Harper Conservatives were going to celebrate that. As it looks now, there might not be much of a party. “Hard times” we are told. The private sector wants to save its money. The public sector does not want to be seen spending money. So cake and […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Babel-on-the-Bay gets its share of comments.
Readers must have thought we were asking for comments the other day when we wrote about a “Path for New Democrat Mulcair.” The discussion of a merger of the Liberals and NDP is certainly a lightening rod subject. Mind you the first reader to contact us wanted to know the meaning of the term “promiscuous […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A path for New Democrat Mulcair.
This might generate more sour e-mails from annoyed socialists but it needs to be said: New Democrat Leader Tom Mulcair does have a role to play in Canadian politics. While Babel-on-the-Bay knew his mission to keep the NDP in second place in parliament was doomed throughout 2015, we hold to our suggestion of the time. […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Rosie jumps in where soldiers fear to tread.
The Toronto Star’s Rosie DiManno has all the answers about the war against the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Her advice to the new Trudeau government ran Monday in the Star. Keep our F-18s in the Mid-East she advises. She has little understanding of what that costs and the small amount […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: In defence of our nation’s capital.
Ottawa is a wonderful city. No it is not Paris. Paris is a city in its own right. France needs Paris because that is where the action is. It creates the culture. To most Parisians the location of France’s seat of government is irrelevant to their daily lives. And in some ways, you could say […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: O’Leary is out of his league.
If there was any redemption for the Dragons’ Den show on CBC television it was not financier Kevin O’Leary. He represented what we have always seen as the weakness of Canadian venture capitalists. He always seemed to represent the type of venture fund that demands to put their own face on the ideas of others. […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The charmed life of Justin Trudeau.
It started over morning coffee. The wife was lamenting the price of cauliflower. Frankly, she was the only one at the table who gave a damn about cauliflower. We had to listen anyway. And somehow the conversation got around to Prime Minister Trudeau. There was a front-page picture of him at Toronto City Hall. The […]
Continue readingBlunt Objects Blog: Will Kevin O’Leary become "Canada’s Trump"?
“Yes, Mr. Bond, I do believe I can take over Canada.”The news so far in this latter week has been all-a-chatter about Kevin O’Leary. First it was for his attempt to buy the resignation of the Premier of Alberta in a coup-d’etat attempt reminiscent of t…
Continue readingBlunt Objects Blog: Will Kevin O’Leary become "Canada’s Trump"?
“Yes, Mr. Bond, I do believe I can take over Canada.”The news so far in this latter week has been all-a-chatter about Kevin O’Leary. First it was for his attempt to buy the resignation of the Premier of Alberta in a coup-d’etat attempt reminiscent of t…
Continue readingMind Bending Politics: Supreme Court Says Get Out of Our Data to Trudeau Government
The Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court, Federal Court of Appeal, Court Martial Appeal Court and Tax Court are preparing to take the Canadian government to task on ensuring independence from the federal government regarding its data. Under the past conservative government, all these levels of the courts were to submit to a super-IT department as […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Blair gets to bungle the pot boondoggle.
Frankly, this writer could care less about legalized marijuana. That is by way of disclosure before commenting on former Toronto police boss Bill Blair taking over the pot file for Justin Trudeau and the Liberals. We suppose that if you really want something screwed up, giving it to Bill Blair to implement might be the […]
Continue readingMind Bending Politics: Canadian Government Could Benefit From Town Hall Public Consultations on Anti-Terror Bill
(Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale) During the election the Liberals heard from Canadians on the new anti-terror bill C-51, and promised to repeal sections of this bill that are problematic. We still don’t know exactly which provisions will be repealed. This past Friday, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale took to the airwaves stating that […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Saudis are not Canada’s friends.
If you wanted to find opposites in the world of international relations, you could not find countries as contrary to each other as Canada and Saudi Arabia. When people refer to the Saudis as the Kingdom, it is not a friendly term. It is reality. And a country such as Canada is anathema to everything […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Some sensible solutions for the Senate.
Justin Trudeau needs a shake. That elitist crap he keeps coming out with about the Senate of Canada shows he needs something. We well understand that he is afraid of anything that might smack of a constitutional change but he has to realize that there are many diverse audiences to satisfy before making any change […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Justin, what is wrong with FPTP?
Before the arguments about electoral reform get out of hand, everyone needs to back up and understand why we are arguing and what we are arguing about. The demand for a referendum at this stage is specious if we do not know what we are going to vote on or why. One thing for sure […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Celebrating the challenge of Canada.
That is so tacky. In the Toronto Star the other day a reporter decried the misery of the squalid life in Ottawa of 1867 when Canada became a nation. What might have surprised the writer was that most world capitols of the era were no less squalid. Cities were rarely created at that time with […]
Continue reading