The media seemed to see Justin Trudeau’s speech on Wednesday as contrition. It was not. Not in the minds of many liberals who worked to give him this second chance. And that is what it was on Monday night. It is a second chance to get it right. It is
Continue readingTag: Federal Politics
Babel-on-the-Bay: Nobody hates Albertans.
It has never been personal. A close friend of mine in the oil business always used to greet me with the comment. “Damn, you haven’t frozen in the dark yet!” Back when they lived in Denver, Colorado, the wife and I would drop off our kids with him and his
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Really, Ms. May?
There was a last shot fired in the federal election on Sunday that really disappointed me. I thought more highly of Elizabeth May of the green party. After all, where have you heard this line before? “Elect (this party) and this will be the last federal government in Canada chosen
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Go angry into the night.
Canada went to bed angry last night; a failed decision behind us. We had bought into distrust and grievance and discord. We set aside our normal fairness and caring. Greed seemed to be the only compromise. It was a failure in leadership and trust. The next election is not in
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “Mommy, It’s over!”
The sign-off for the Just for Laughs television show seems quite appropriate for this election. Though it was hardly just for laughs. There are still a lot of tears to be shed over this 43rd Canadian General Election. Having a green monster wailing to his mommy seems the right tone
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Regional Parties from another Region #nlpoli
The 2019 federal election in Newfoundland and Labrador is the tale of one of the most uncompetitive elections in recent memory. The advance poll numbers make the point. Newfoundland and Labrador Number of Electors Electors Percent Avalon 7,024 86494 08 Bonavista–Burin–Trinity 3,185 74116 04 Coast of Bays–Central–Notre Dame 4,317 77680
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Thoughts on a dystopian election.
It was not been pretty. These fixed elections absorb the politicos and the media for almost ten months. Before it can officially be called an election, we are tired of it. They are more about what could have been than what should have been. I felt like a lone voice
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Banking on the Bigotry of the Bloc?
When does la laïcité (the separation of church and state) become the political war cry in Quebec during a federal election? And why does it front as a cover-up for the institutionalized bigotry that exists in la belle province? Since the time of the ‘Padlock Law’ of the Maurice Duplessis
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Pot foils police and politicos.
After a full year of government legalized and regulated marijuana sales, nobody is making money other than the criminal element that has been in the business all along. These people know their market, look after their market and have no problem with undercutting government pricing. What the police and politicos,
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Watch out for the mathematics!
It was mentioned the other day that it is impossible to selectively elect a minority government. Before you think you are voting for a minority, you need to check your mathematics and your logic. I would suggest to you that if most people across Canada voted for a second-tier party
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: On the home straight.
We are in the final week and nobody really knows how this election will play out. We tend to confuse what we hope will happen with what is really happening. The pollsters seemed locked in secondary races and are ignoring the real one. Maybe green leader Elizabeth May is the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: And who is suing whom?
It came as a surprise to learn that the CBC has filed a complaint with the courts claiming that the conservative party has infringed on CBC copyright. I am not sure yet if I find it more amusing or concerning. In a career as a writer, I must admit that
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: On being progressive.
I have been wondering lately how we can determine if what we write is progressive? When does a tweet from Twitter become a blog? Maybe we progressive bloggers need to ask some serious questions about what constitutes a progressive, and what constitutes a blog? I, for one, appreciate the initiative
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: On sharing atonement and thanks.
Living in central Ontario, we see the changing of color in the leaves as Thanksgiving and Yom Kippur are celebrated. I have often thought that Christians and Jews should share those days as we all have much to atone for and much to give thanks. This year we might never
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Singh’s sendoff into the sunset.
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
Continue readingBabel-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 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: It’s time to deliver the profile.
No, this is not for that American television show. The profile we will be presenting one day this week is best described in horse race terms. It is called a Morning Line. It is commonly in the Racing Form, newspapers and shown on the track totalizers. It is simply an
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