Over the years we have realized that most of our regular readers of Babel-on-the-Bay are among the more progressive liberals. We certainly enjoy a healthy level of readership and get a good number of supportive e-mails from them. The practice of rabble.ca picking up some of our commentaries has also led to some very interesting […]
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Babel-on-the-Bay: Canada 2016: Love and Lemonade.
A new year and there are no complaints. The year is much too young and it offers too many opportunities to us. We want to think of 2016 as a lemonade year. Every lemon dealt to you is an opportunity to make better lemonade. Canada is such a beautiful country. It also has a Loonie […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: As the British Empire fades into history.
Despite Her Majesty’s annual message of hope, stiff upper lip and all, and her references to the Christian Bible, we see no future for the British Empire. Elizabeth II has been sending her Christmas messages to the diminishing British Commonwealth for more than 60 years. It is still an anachronism and of little or no […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Harper’s legacy left behind.
In thinking about the legacy of Stephen Harper’s years in the Prime Minister’s Office, you need to consider the people he left behind. Of the 99 Conservatives elected to parliament in the rout of October 19, there were only a few who had the temerity to even contest the interim leadership and former Health Minister […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The measure of Mr. Mulcair.
Like a motorist who has driven into a snow drift, New Democrat Leader Thomas Mulcair is standing at the side of the road hoping people will offer him a push. And, as he told Maclean’s Magazine recently, he is not going anywhere without a push. To get the push he needs, maybe Mulcair needs to […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A wrap for the Liberal’s wonderful year.
Watching Prime Minister Trudeau being interviewed on Global Television on Christmas was like adding spoonfuls of sugar to an already serious sugar high. It brought back to us the years when the Liberal Party’s brain trust among the advertising and public relations people in Toronto were in despair at trying to build a warmer, more […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Shaw wants Wind in its sales.
Shaw Communications is sailing into the dangerous waters of the big three telecommunications companies in Canada. It is acquiring Wind Mobile for a bargain price of just $1.6 billion. Shaw is joining Bell Canada, Rogers and Telus in what some refer to as the pillaging of Canadian consumers. In a country with the second highest […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Welcome to our Canada.
A recent e-mail from a regular reader in the Atlantic Provinces served as a reminder that Canada has not always been as welcoming as we are to the recent Syrian refugees. And when the minister of immigration said there will be more, we should realize that Canada needs ten times as many. Newcomers to Canada […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “The last election under first-past-the-post.”
That statement by our new prime minister is likely to be the one to haunt him for years to come. It is like many such statements in the heat of an election campaign—effusive, rhetorical, quotable and foolish. And to give the promise a reality would be a disservice to Canadians. First-past-the-post voting will serve us […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: TransCanada’s new billions for Energy East.
What is another $4 billion when you are TransCanada Pipelines? This is not just a pipeline, these people want to complete but a bulldozer to get Alberta tar sands bitumen to the sea. And all they can come up with in announcing changes in the plans is more money and the same old miss-direction. You […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Is there a Ghost of Liberals Future?
His late partner Jacob Marley promised Ebenezer Scrooge there would be three ghosts visiting him in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. In relating this tale to the concerns of Liberals past, present and future, the greatest difficulty is to come up with a Ghost of Liberals Future. This might only be a ghost of challenge. […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Ghost of Liberals Present.
When the second ghost confronted him, Ebenezer Scrooge was hardly convinced to mend his ways. In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, it was the spirit of the under classes that was highlighted by this ghost. In the same way, the ghosts of Liberals present can assure Justin Trudeau that maybe if he does not need […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A six-pack and a toke for Premier Wynne.
The publicity opportunities for Ontario’s premier come thick and fast with Justin Trudeau in the prime minister’s office in Ottawa. The other day Premier Kathleen Wynne got in on the act out at Pearson Airport welcoming Syrian refugees to Canada. And now that we finally have beer in a few Ontario grocery stores, she wants […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: On behalf of Liberals Past.
It was great fun reading Chantal Hébert’s requiem for the Liberal Party generations left in the dust by Justin Trudeau’s team. In the Toronto Star the other day, she told of how the old-school-Liberal insiders are unknown to these new movers and shakers. We also need to remember that Chantal went to the Magdalen Islands […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The bathroom builder blunders on.
This news flash is courtesy the Toronto Star. Campion-Smith, Star Ottawa bureau chief, and Benzie, Star Queen’s Park bureau chief, have discovered that Conservative MP Tony Clement from Parry Sound—Muskoka electoral district is thinking of running for Stephen Harper’s old job. This is the same Tony Clement who made sure nobody was caught short while […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Referenda have stature not status.
A reader took a few minutes yesterday to remind Babel-on-the-Bay that referenda are not legally binding on governments in Canada. And neither, for that matter, are opinion polls. But the point is that we live in a democracy and in a democracy where our representatives are chosen to rule for us, not to rule us. […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Electoral reform help is happening.
You have no idea how good it felt to see someone else carry the can for first-past-the-post voting the other day. It was a professor from Toronto’s Ryerson University and it was a weight lifted from our shoulders. Mind you, it makes you wonder where he was when we were fighting off Ontario’s attempt at […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Proportional politics for paranoids.
There are people who believe that first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting does not work for them. And they really do seem paranoid about it. Since paranoia can be a serious mental condition, we would like to propose a reasonable test of proportional voting for Canadians to see how it would work for them. It seems fair. What […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trudeau takes strike one on Senate solution.
He has to admit he was warned. The only people cheering the current dumb idea are the sycophants around him. Prime Minister Trudeau cannot use elitism to choose elites. Canadian senators need to be reasonably experienced politicos. And who knows politicos best but their own political parties. That is why the prime minister of the […]
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: By way of apology to our Barrie Whigs.
This is about as close as Babel-on-the-Bay can come to an apology. For the life of this blog, we have tended to disparage a faction of the local Liberals in Barrie. Calling them Whigs was not a compliment. (Whigs are Liberals about 100 years out of date.) This change of heart needs an explanation. It […]
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