One of the very first lessons of politics is to understand that the average voter does not relate to discussions involving millions of dollars. What people relate to is coffee money. If Torontonians, for example, could just think of the billions their city needs for an upgraded transit system in
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Babel-on-the-Bay: First: Think like liberals.
It should be the first order of business at the Liberal Party Convention February 20 to 23. How else can we be having a policy convention if we do not know what it really means to be a liberal? We need to define who we are and where we want
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: There is a fourth option for Premier Wynne.
Yesterday, we discussed the branding problems of Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. In the discussion, the fourth option for her was deliberately left off the table. The fourth option, under current political conditions in Ontario, requires its own discussion. The premier is fully capable of ignoring those who are telling her
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The branding of Premier Wynne: Loser.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has a problem with Ontario voters. They have taken her measure. She has been found wanting. It is not her politics. It is not her demeanour. It is not her sexual orientation. She simply fails to lead. And she has put the voters in a hell
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Quebec Premier Marois bobbles bigotry.
Quebec Premier Pauline Marois appears to want to have a provincial election based on the bigotry of her charter of values. She sees it as creating conditions for separatism from the rest of Canada. That is an illusion. There might be as many as three or four strategies that could
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Tory immigration minister threatens Canadians.
If Conservative Immigration Minister Chris Alexander does not like this blog, why does he not say so? Here we always thought it was just fair political comment. Given time though, Alexander hopes he can strip people such as the writer of their Canadian citizenship. Despite being born here, sworn allegiance
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A tale of the Hair and the hog.
The Hair and hairdresser are heading for Mexico next. It will be a meeting of the three heads of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Prime Minister Stephen Harper will hardly feel the love that he did in Israel. President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico has every reason to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: And the best of luck in Thornhill.
Today, February 13 is hard lesson day for Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. Despite the reasonably good turnout at advance polls, there is no rationale for neophyte Premier Wynne to anticipate anything good from her ill-timed, ill-considered by-elections. She can probably write off the previously Liberal electoral district of Niagara Falls.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A mean and meaningless federal budget.
The arrogance of the Harper Conservatives knows no bounds. Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivered a budget with such a thin veneer of civility yesterday that he could do nothing more afterwards but say wait until next year. This 2014 budget was cynical, shallow, untruthful and an insult to the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Who does Canada Revenue Agency work for?
It is law that you cannot be a registered charity and indulge in strictly political activities. Back when that law was passed by a Liberal government, it was met with laughter in some quarters and the charities just carried on as before. With most health charities, it was easy to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: John Tory, ready to rumble in Toronto.
It is now obvious that broadcaster John Tory is going to jump into the Toronto mayoralty. He gave up the news on Global Television’s Focus Ontario over the weekend. And he had no need to answer host Alan Carter’s snide introduction as “Soon to announce for the Toronto mayoralty, John
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Let the games begin. Please.
What do ballet, the opening ceremonies at the Sochi Winter Games and Russian winters have in common? They are too long, too dreary and too boring. You almost expected to see a camera shot of President for Life Putin fast asleep. And the silliest expectation was the Russians giving the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: These shoes aren’t made for budgets.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty bought new shoes the other day. It is part of the traditional run-up to delivering a federal budget. Somehow, he found one of the last companies in Canada still making shoes. He bought an inexpensive pair of steel-capped safety shoes. He is going to need them
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Ontario’s Beer Store fights back.
There was a robocall from The Beer Store the other day. The cheap bastards would not spend a nickel to call in person. They sent a recording to do a man’s job. (That is not sexist, it was a man’s voice.) They want to talk with Ontario beer drinkers and
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: No support here for Royal Victoria Hospital.
They must be Babel’s most successful thieves. They are the parking meters and parking lot gate machines at our local hospital. The amount hospital visitors have to pay to park is disgusting. It is nothing more than a tax on our health and love and caring. It is bad medicine.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Tories seek to subvert Elections Canada.
Having crossed swords with Elections Canada in the past, it is easy to understand the Conservative disdain for the bureaucrats of Elections Canada. What we should question is the desire of the Harper government to add another layer of bureaucracy to what is already glacier-like policing of elections. Instead of
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Saving the NDP—and the Senate?
It took some digesting. Long-time New Democrat Robin Sears tried his hand in the Toronto Star the other day at damning Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau while hoping to rescue NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair. As a long-time Liberal Party apparatchik, we can only admire Sears’ pluck in taking on the task.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Are we just self-appointed hall monitors?
It takes years of writing a blog to realize what you are really doing. You do not want to be a nag, but you are. You are not just a writer desperate for an editor—but oh how you need one! You sat down at the computer this morning with the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Revving up the Keystone pipeline controversy.
It is called doublespeak. Bureaucrats use it to leave themselves open to whatever their political bosses prefer to do. They have not said yes and they have not said no. The American State Department issued its Final Environmental Impact Statement on the last day of January and leaves everyone in
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trashing the tacky of tradition.
Speaking of mixed metaphors! Thinking of trashing Conrad Black over his recent bereavement brought to mind both the BBC’s Downton Abbey series and musical Fiddler on the Roof. It really takes both to put Conrad Black in perspective. Downton Abbey is a period piece despite the fact that it was
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