The Hair is on a mission. The Prime Minister thinks he can pull off a miracle in October and win a second straight parliamentary majority. While his strategy makes sense, his assumptions are faulty and his tactics are far too heavy handed. Strategically it is vital that he keep his
Continue readingTag: Federal Politics
Babel-on-the-Bay: Who, What and Why a Liberal?
If there needs to be one more reason to keep Justin Trudeau from interfering in local party nominations, his choices tell the story. MP Eve Adams? When that woman crossed the floor of the House of Commons, her 15 minutes of fame were already over. Police Chief Bill Blair? The
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Lessons learned in Alberta
Nobody trusted the pollsters. They were the only ones who saw what would happen to the Alberta Conservative dynasty in Tuesday’s election. Babel-on-the-Bay failed to judge the extent of the anger. Everyone conceded that NDP Leader Rachel Notley was coming on strong. Who knew that Albertans were so mad at
Continue readingMaple-Flavoured Politics: The Alberta Election’s Federal Implications
As I look at my Twitter feed today, May 6, 2015, the day after the Alberta provincial election, I see that some federal Conservatives are saying that the results of the Alberta election don’t worry them. I’m not surprised they are saying that. After all, it is literally the politically
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Harper endangers Canadians at home.
There was some interesting story positioning in the Toronto Star on Monday. The top story on page two was that the federal government will block any attempt to procure bail for prisoner Omar Khadr. The top story on page three was a full width picture of the prime minister being
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Candidate: The importance of social media.
Part 4 of our series for Canada’s federal candidates. This is a serious subject. Handle it with laughter and you will get the laughs from your opponents. If you think social media is free, you have no idea what you are doing. If you think the candidate creates his own
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: But who will pay for his hairdresser?
Seeing the Prime Minister striding arrogantly down the Hall of Honour with King Abdullah II of Jordan the other day gave us second thoughts on Stephen Harper’s future plans. He has run out of time to flee. With just days more than five months until the statutory call for a
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Building a better Bill Blair?
It seems that Bill Blair hopes to be forgiven almost everything. The former Toronto police chief is now a politician. And federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has officially welcomed Blair to the Liberal fold. Trudeau was actually reported by the media as saying: “I’m not going to Monday-morning-quarterback decisions made
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Bearing bad news for NDP’s Tom Mulcair.
George Lakoff is an American who thinks. The UCLA Berkeley professor was in Toronto last week. We missed a chance to meet him. He is reported to have told his audience there is no such thing as the political centre. That must have been bad news for the New Democrats
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: With Patrick Brown you get bupkis.
It seems we are supposed to do some sort of mea culpa in regards to Barrie’s MP Patrick Brown. Yes Babel-on-the-Bay originates in Barrie but we thought we had that covered by calling the place Babel. It just would not remain hidden. In writing the other day about the relative
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Two Tory budgets for the price of one.
It was Ontario’s turn this past week. How often do we get two Tory budgets at a time? On Tuesday, we had a laugh at federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver’s expense. And then, right on the heels, Thursday we had a budget redux from Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa. There
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Back to the Future with Joe Oliver
Finance Minister Joe Oliver brought Canadians his first budget yesterday. Instead of it being a budget for the coming fiscal year of our government, he tried to line things up for the next ten years. It was a very Conservative view of our future. And we can only hope that
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Hair’s ‘Politics of Division’
Asking a voter why s/he is going to vote for the Conservatives this fall can cause a rising anger. The anger is hardly directed at the voter. This person has been had. They have been duped. The anger can only be directed at the Prime Minister—he of the Hair! And
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Candidate: Pre-writ canvassing.
Part 3 of our series for Canada’s federal candidates. These spring days are golden times for canvassing. No political candidate worth the name can ever waste a single day without seeking out the opportunity to knock on doors. You can be relaxed, chatty and, above all, listening. This is when
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: ‘Diplomat’ Brown and his friend Narendra Modi.
What is wrong with Canada’s foreign relations is more than explained by the friendship of India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Patrick Brown MP. Yes, that is Patrick Brown, the most useless member of the Conservative back bench and the candidate for the leadership of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party. With
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Legislating Ideology.
It is when you listen to the federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver that you realize what a breath of fresh air the late Finance Minister Jim Flaherty must have been in Mr. Harper’s Cabinet of Inadequate Ideologues. You can also imagine how he would have laughed at Joe Oliver’s suggestion
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Candidate: That pre-writ lit.
Part 2 of our series for Canada’s federal candidates. There are many arguments about the literature required by candidates in the pre-writ period (the time between being chosen as the candidate and the election call being official). If the Prime Minister decides to wait for the chosen date of October
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What’s the Senate all about Hair?
There is something of a contest going on. The Hair might draw the line at taking off his stuffed shirt and streaking the tourists gaping at Ottawa’s Confusion Square but no holds are barred in distracting Canadians from the Duffy Trial. The Duffy Trial is the big show in Ottawa
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A time and place for political deals
Election day in Ontario in 1985. On the way into a candidate’s campaign headquarters, Liberal Leader David Peterson’s executive assistant was leaving and we stopped to chat. There was no pussy-footing about the situation. “First thing tomorrow morning, you have to arrange a meeting with NDP Leader Bob Rae.” He
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Candidate: “What do we do now?”
That question is never answered in the movie: The Candidate. It is the final line of the film delivered by actor Robert Redford. The bad news for any serious political candidate is that winning your party’s nomination is when the hard work begins. For all of those eager candidates being
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