Surprise, surprise: The jewel of Canada’s beautiful Pacific Coast is now to be a commercial port for supertankers carrying tar sands bitumen to the Orient. Did you think the exercise would end otherwise? When the Conservative government makes a mockery of democracy, ignores our environment, chooses the panel and reserves
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Babel-on-the-Bay: Why would Wynne want by-elections?
Obviously Premier Kathleen Wynne was not listening to the results of the last provincial by-elections in Ontario. She wants to stick her neck in a noose in two more. The lady is not a fast learner. The five by-elections in the summer left the Liberals behind and demonstrated the frustration
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: This must be why Harper holds on.
There have been conflicting opinions about whether Stephen Harper is going to stay on as prime minister to fight another election. In some cases, his expected departure might just be wishful thinking. While there is well reasoned logic as to why he might step aside at this juncture, the truth
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Jim Flaherty: one sick leprechaun.
The federal Finance Minister was spreading nothing more than germs at the Meech Lake meeting yesterday. He was probably high on amphetamines, his nasal passages completely blocked and one step away from falling down, only wishing he was dead. He probably should not have been there. It was not a
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Making it one simple idea.
An election campaign usually comes down to be one basic proposition. If the perception of this proposition is not obvious, the news media will often pick something. What most political observers agree on about this is that while the political parties would like to choose this one thing, they rarely
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Business as corporate citizens.
Do you know why Heinz closed its Leamington plant? Or why Kellogg closed its London, Ontario plant? The plants were old. They had been there for a long time. We are just not privy to the decision making process of a board of directors in another country. Why should they
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Making a sham of fair elections.
The third party advertising in Ontario has already gone too far. Now the Conservatives are proving it is a sham. And it is hardly to their credit. A new group, calling themselves “Working Canadians” has emerged to counter the so called “Working Families.” Neither group is particularly subtle in letting
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The squeeze on the political middle.
If the Liberal Party of Canada thinks it is going to please the middle class with its policy plans, it is deluded. The party cannot even define middle class. The Liberals who gather in Montreal for the party’s biennial convention and policy fest on February 20, 2014 have a single
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Time for the Tory backbench rebellion.
It is the last chance for the drones of parliament. They can either rebel now or fade away with their ill-fated Conservative Party of Canada. Those who have done nothing before or during the time of a majority have a last chance to stand on their hind legs and speak
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Conceiving a caring Canada.
Your country is like your garden. It takes care, cultivating, weeding and the approval of others to make it a source of pride. And if Canada is your garden, it is showing a serious lack of care and concern. And everyone has to care. There is no exception. No one
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: On getting e-mails.
There was an executive decision years ago when this blog started that there is little need to waste time editing comments from others. To be fair, your writer also does not waste time commenting on the inane ramblings of other blogs. You only need read the occasional blog to see
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Is Premier Wynne a temporary worker?
There seems to be good and bad coming out of Queen’s Park these days. It is nice to see that Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi’s proposed bill protecting temporary workers is being greeted with approval. At the same time Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli’s long term energy plan seems to be met
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: No wipes please, these asses are Canadian.
When does a biodegradable product not degrade? It seems that when the product crosses a border there are different levels of biodegradable. And it is causing trouble. It seems that the new wipes designed to replace toilet paper from companies such as Kimberly-Clark and SC Johnson are promoted as being
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Chong is challenging the Hair.
An e-mail a few days ago said: You gotta support Michael Chong’s private member’s bill to democratize Parliament. The initial response to the request was to ask why waste time on a bill that does nothing more than remind Members of Parliament of powers they already have. The fact that
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: It is easy to mismanage billions.
A person with just so much money to last until the next cheque, learns to manage money. They have to and they can become very careful and frugal. Conversely, persons managing billions of dollars can be very wasteful. And to make matters worse, these persons managing billions—who think they are
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Hair heads for the Holy Land.
What does Prime Minister Stephen Harper think he is? He sure is not the fourth wise man. Besides, the Hair and his hairdresser are not going to be in Israel until after Christmas. When the taxpayers are paying, why settle for Miami Beach? Harper is hardly the first Canadian politician
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Guilty of disrespect of Parliament.
There ought to be a law. In fact, there has to be. We cannot continue to allow these disrespectful scoffers to ridicule our parliamentary system of government. And that is exactly what Stephen Harper and his henchmen are doing. They are dragging the Parliament of Canada in the mud. And
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: He knows if you’ve been bad or good.
We are not talking about Santa here. We are talking about the Harper Conservatives. And they want more and more information about how you feel and what you think. Now they want real-time access to your social media attitudes and what you say in your blog. And if Babel-on-the-Bay suddenly
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Not all Liberals are liberal.
There was a bit of concern watching Wynne’s Whigs turning out to help in the federal by-election in Toronto-Centre recently. It was obvious at that stage that Liberal candidate Chrystia Freeland was a clear winner. The only thing left to do was to make sure the vote turned out on
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The tenacity of troglodytes.
It is probably disrespectful to our prehistoric ancestors to think of some people arguing about how we vote as cave-dwelling troglodytes. They seem to insist on going backwards instead of forward. They look for solutions in repressive countries instead of the progressive ones. They brutalize statistics and numbers to make
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