During his years as Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau would often remind your writer that we were both members of an exclusive club. Its full name was the Get-Off-Your-Ass Group. It had one meeting in Peterborough, Ontario in 1967. It was a group of left-wing Liberal MPs and party people who
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Babel-on-the-Bay: The last angry Conservative.
The news media recently recorded a very angry Conservative supporter at a Stephen Harper campaign event. Since the Prime Minister was stonewalling the media anyway, they were looking for something to bring back to their news editors. The vulgar language the guy used might have indicated that he is no
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Aesop’s Fables and the Toronto Star.
On balance, the Toronto Star is a reasonably responsible newspaper. Its editors do go a little overboard though when attempting to make a point. Take the current election campaign. The Star’s editors expect that a campaign almost three times the length of normal will be dull as dishwater unless a
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Harper needs to take lessons from the Royals.
It is a good bet that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has not thought of this. His friends the Brit Royals also have trouble with the paparazzi. They do hound one so! No matter how much editors might pay for a picture of Harper without his hairpiece, the Royals have it
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Candidate: “Do you have anything to say?”
Part 9 of our series for Canada’s federal candidates. The sad demise of small town and neighbourhood journalism in Canada has led to a dearth of opportunity for local candidates to be heard during election campaigns. The corollary of that is: do any of the candidates have anything to say?
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Another NDP with inflated hopes in Toronto.
There is a probably apocryphal story doing the rounds about the newly appointed New Democrat candidate in Toronto’s Eglinton-Lawrence constituency. This guy is a former member of the legislature and cabinet minister from Saskatchewan. It seems in this story the chap once visited Scotland and came back with a bolt
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: When is selling a dozen beers news?
On a hot day in the summer, a good publicist can sell editors on some very thin stories. Take the other day when the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) introduced 12-packs of beer in some test stores. No longer does the veteran beer drinker in those neighbourhoods have to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: In the heat of the news media.
If you have seen carrion birds gather around road kill, you might have a small taste of how people feel in a media scrum. The media in full flight can be frightening, overwhelming and demonize you with their rudeness, intrusiveness, and unreasonable demands. That is how Nigel Wright, former chief
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trudeau’s stop-gap Senate solution.
Babel-on-the-Bay is only giving Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau a conditional pass on his proposed Senate solution. The truth is that Trudeau just does not want the constitutional problems that the Stephen Harper or Thomas Mulcair solutions will cause. He is not his father’s son in that regard. Pierre Trudeau was
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Welcome to an urban Canada.
In 1851 when they first set out to count people in Canada, they concluded that 86 per cent lived in rural areas and 14 per cent lived in urban villages, towns and cities. It then took 160 years for that to reverse. In the 2011 Census, it was determined that
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What do Trump, Ford, Harper have in common?
If you think the front runner for the Republican Party nomination for American President is a joke, you did not understand Toronto’s former Mayor Rob Ford either. And Stephen Harper has his own place in Hell next to both of them. All three show signs of being misanthropes—which means they
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What news from social media?
When giving candidates advice to use social media, it has never been the intent to use this as the primary campaign media. Social media is like a vacuum. It can suck up a lot of detritus but if you do not empty it occasionally, you really do not know what
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Tar Sands: Yours to Exploit.
It must be that on the eighth day that God created tar sands. They seem to be an afterthought. Tar sands are also causing a great deal of hypocrisy in this federal election. Just the other day one of our favourite authors and a New Democratic Party candidate stuck her
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Discovering Ontario.
When Babel-on-the-Bay publishes its Morning Line on the federal election in early September, much will hinge on Ontario. With more than a third of the seats in parliament at play in this one province, national parties worry most about their position here. And watching from Barrie, Ontario, we have the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Duffy is bound to be but a busker.
Justice grinds along as the federal election wanders to its ten-week conclusion. Nothing but a busker, Senator Duffy serves as a minor entertainment as we wait to record the verdict of a nation. Mr. Harper no longer cares about the future of the Senate of Canada. And if he could
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Bearding a bully.
Canadians watched a bully get his comeuppance last night. There were no knock-out blows or deathbed repentances but some solid points were made. In balance, the Greens’ Elizabeth May looked good, the New Democrat’s Thomas Mulcair was stuffy, the Liberal’s Justin Trudeau showed strength and the Prime Minister kept saying
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The election: A metaphor for manipulative media.
It is not a conspiracy. It is merely a collision of interests. It is a fight for survival, not by the politicians but by the news media. The politicians are but actors manipulated on the stage of a largely ungovernable country. And outmoded ideologies are the cliques that identify the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Barrie’s bashful bachelor wins over Wynne.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne must make her daily decisions with her Ouija Board. You would think she could make decisions and stick to them but no such luck. She has now decided that it is no skin off her nose if Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown has a by-election
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Will we let Mulcair destroy Canada?
It has been assumed for the last while that there are voters parking their votes with the New Democratic Party. That just means if anyone asks, they say they will vote for the NDP. And if they actually did that, this country would never be the same again. Sure, most
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: How long should an election be?
On a long weekend in the middle of summer, you should not have to deal with tough questions. You should be lazing by the lake with a suitable cold libation. You should be enjoying the laughter of children, the quiet tones of good conversation and the whisper of a cooling
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