Some wonder how the time of the British Royals to visit the colonies is allocated across the British Commonwealth of Nations and other friendly countries. What if this was all funneled through a call centre at Buckingham Palace in London, England? Imagine a recently recorded call at the North American
Continue readingTag: Federal Politics
Babel-on-the-Bay: The myth of being Liberal.
One of our respected progressive bloggers from British Columbia wrote recently something less than a paean (song of praise) about the Liberals in that province. His thesis is that B.C. Liberals are just Conservatives in sheep’s clothing and now the federal sheep have joined them. He insists that the Liberal
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Is Justin the adult in the school yard?
Has Prime Minister Trudeau been getting advice from psychologists on how to handle a bully? It is certainly to his credit that he is keeping his cool. Donald Trump continues to lob his ignorant taunts over the longest undefended border in the world and Canada’s prime minister just says, “We
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trump’s ‘Milk of Human Kindness.’
“Once again unto the breach” (sorry Mr. Shakespeare) President Trump jumps into a situation of which he has absolutely no understanding. He is making a habit of it and this time he is trying to skewer the Canadians. He has pitted the free market, unfettered Wisconsin dairy farmers against what
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The saccharine sweetness of Andrew Scheer.
After watching Conservative Party leadership contender Andrew Scheer M.P. on Global’s West Block program last Sunday, it felt like you were coming down from a sugar high. You wonder if that guy can ever rid himself of that grin. The wife liked him at first but after a full six
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: An equal and opposite reaction.
Maybe we are talking about different sciences here but you would think that politics and energy would have some similar characteristics. What we are thinking of here is the tendency of the politics of the left to react to the actions of the politics of the right. For example, if
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Conservative schism becomes a chasm.
And you used to wonder why Prime Minister Stephen Harper was always flying off with his hairdresser to other parts of the world? It was obvious to many that he was under the constant pressure of keeping his disparate party under some semblance of control. It was during his third
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Conservatives in the back stretch.
At most race tracks today, the race fans are offered television views of the back stretch. It helps them follow the race, recognizing that most of the positioning moves in the back stretch develop the story of the race. It is the same in a political race such as the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Resuscitating Canada’s New Democrats.
You really have to laugh at Ed Broadbent’s attempts at resuscitating the moribund federal New Democratic Party. He seems to be the only person who believes you can do mouth-to-mouth life saving through a microphone. Ed’s modestly named Broadbent Institute had a conference for Canada’s leftists last week in Ottawa.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: And you want their names spelled right too?
Henceforth it is resolved that we will post our commentaries after our second cup of coffee. Despite how much we try to ignore the Conservative M.P. for our neighbouring electoral district of Simcoe-Grey, we really should spell her name right. And you would think one of our loyal readers would
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Teaching Trump ‘The Art of the Deal.’
The first thing Canadians should do is stop sweating over renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It has never been a really fair deal and it became overly complicated when Mexico joined. Given the opportunity to renegotiate, Canada could improve its position. The only problem is that we
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: They are by-elections for goodness sake!
You just love it when the government has to call some by-elections for seats in parliament that have become vacant and people want to analyze the results. Why? We knew the likely results when the by-elections were called. If you want to see hotly contested by-elections, come back when there
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Elizabeth May: The last liberal.
Elizabeth May M.P. is the leader of a party that never was. She is the only Green Party member in parliament and therefore is deprived of real recognition of that leadership status. She also appears to be the only real liberal in the House of Commons. That must be the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Alibiing elitism 150 years later.
If there was just one institution in Canada that could be changed this year, many Canadians would choose the Senate. They are tired of the elitism shown by the prime minister and his elitist friends in choosing Canadians to serve in this anachronistic reminder of Canada’s British beginnings. The Senate
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: When in doubt do nothing.
Is this the new political mantra? At all levels of government, we are seeing variations of stalactites and stalagmites frozen in their political positions as the world revolves around their caves. From their superior position hanging down from above, the stalactites in Ottawa are the most obvious. With the government
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The constipated Conservative contest.
Back on March 11 and 12, Babel-on-the-Bay published its morning line for the current Conservative Party of Canada leadership. We are somewhat surprised that nothing has changed. With two more months to go at the time, candidates’ teams needed to assess their strategy and make their changes for the home
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Pot is coming. Pot is coming.
How come the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation gets the best media leaks? We have been informed by the People’s Network that we will be able to celebrate Canada Day 2018 with legal marijuana from sea to sea to sea. Wow! The plans—skillfully guided for the federal Liberals by former Toronto police
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Budgets and other eulogies.
Seeing finance minister Bill Morneau finally get to his budget last week produced a measure of disappointment and nostalgia. He brought back distant memories of the clean-cut young Anglican priest who came to our grade six class at Rosedale Public School in Toronto to try to entice us wayward kids
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Lies. And Trudeau-Trump lies.
You have come to expect it in the daily reports from the American White House. You know that the man in the White House tells lies. You just do not expect it from the guy in charge in Ottawa. And you already knew that the guy in charge at the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Kevin O’Leary meets a real reality.
Welcome to Canadian politics, Kevin O’Leary. You have brought a few laughs to an otherwise dismal contest for leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. Though you would think someone from reality television would know what to expect? Did you really think leadership races are run within some foolish rules?
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