Did you miss the announcement last week that Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has solved the problem with Ontario’s harness racing industry? You can just see her coming out of her Queen’s Park office at the end of the day, dusting off her hands and saying: “another problem solved.” The truth
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Babel-on-the-Bay: A government out of gas.
Listening to the budget reading by the Governor General yesterday was a sad occasion. It reminds you of one of your youngsters who had so much relaxing to do over the summer that he never did get around to that one school assignment. The government prorogued Parliament for an extra
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A letter to our Member of Parliament.
Dear Mr. Brown: This is to thank you for sending us the Brown Report, Fall 2013. There is little question that it is from you—in four pages, your picture appears 16 times. It makes one wish that you were a little more photogenic. What is of concern to us is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “The shape of things to come.”
One of the worst forecasts we ever saw was a Canadian-made, low budget science-fiction movie released in 1979. It was loosely based on H.G. Wells’ book by the same name. What was really wrong with it was that the 1936 version of the movie when the screen play was written
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Be it resolved to rebuild Canada.
Thanksgiving Day in Canada is a good day to talk about our hopes for renewing our country. To this end, we are taking Justin Trudeau at his word that he wants the Liberal Party of Canada to develop the policies that Canadians want. We have therefore contributed a resolution to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A wonderful story about ‘Zoo poo.’
Apropos a recent Babel-on-the-Bay story about our backward burghers of Babel who run our small city, there was a delightful story in the Toronto Star the other day about a different kind of poop. And if you think poop is poop, you have never wandered too far at the Toronto
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Meet Premier Marois’ pet pitbull.
There is little that is complex about Pierre-Karl Péladeau. He is as basic as the daily content of Le Journal de Montréal. He is his father’s son. He preaches conservatism and separatism without qualms. He is Sun Media. He is the pitbull of Canadian news media. He is making the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What’s a billion Premier Wynne?
No doubt Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne would very much like to close the books on the gas power plants in Mississauga and Oakville. It is just that there is a bad smell here that is something more than the rotten egg smell usually associated with domestic natural gas. And we
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Spying is all about business.
If the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) was supposed to be secret, they forgot to tell us. After more than 30 years of relaxed access to most aspects of government in Canada, the recent revelations about Canada’s spying are no surprise to this writer. As head of public affairs for
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Harper is dumb on diplomacy.
Here he has his own Airbus A310, his own hairdresser, a plane full of lackeys to do his bidding and Prime Minister Stephen Harper still gives the back of his hand to simple diplomacy. This guy manages to look stiff and stunned in a Balinese shirt and surrounded by beautiful
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: NDP’s Mulcair is looking for love.
Federal New Democrat Leader Thomas Mulcair has taken a shine to tar sands economics. He has joined with Stephen Harper’s Conservatives who seem titillated with the sexual suggestiveness of having big pipelines lacing our country. Tommy thinks that there is a compromise if we just refine all this potential oil
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Wynne and her woeful wannabes.
It is a waste of time to worry about public opinion polls months before an election. Watching Premier Kathleen Wynne working her political wiles last week also seemed like a waste of time. It was her reaction to an opposition question about a $1.89 cup of tea that worries us.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Energy East ads for nought?
This takes some analysis. TransCanada Pipelines is delaying the application for its Energy East Pipeline until next year. This is a major delay for the company. Even if TransCanada does nothing pro-active on the file for the year, it means costs are accumulating. And we are talking many millions. The
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Soul searching for solace.
For the first time in over a year, Babel-on-the-Bay skipped posting for one day last week. Readership plummeted. There was a technical problem. It was solved with the purchase of a new monitor. It seems those things die after eight or nine years. A computer nerd was also enticed (with
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Harrying the Hair on his holiday.
Is this fair? Here is the Hair having a relaxed prorogation vacation and he is being harried by his supposedly tame news media. Damn it all, you give the television network owners everything they ask for and they still do not control those pesky news people who work for them.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Gun lobby takes aim at Baird.
Do you remember the old children’s song If you go down in the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise? If you are expecting a teddy bear’s picnic, you will be wrong. Today, you are more liable to be shot. We live in a country where the government thinks
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Energy East: the unrelenting sales pitch.
Are you as weary as everyone else with the heavy-handed TransCanada Pipelines television commercials? All the company wants to do is convert its main gas pipeline to a heated, high pressure line for bitumen slurry and extend it across Canada to Saint John, New Brunswick. And if you think the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Explaining Canadian liberalism
It is the risk of appearing academic or pedantic (book-smart) that usually precludes any discussion of what liberalism is all about. It reminds us of an old friend—a law professor who was an authority on torts law—who wanted to entitle his most recent work: Fuck Torts. He thought it might
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: First you need principles, Ms. Wynne.
If you do not like the mess when racoons get into your garbage, you can tell Premier Kathleen Wynne about it. If you want to kill or at least discourage those pesky animals, the Premier will listen. She needs policies for the coming provincial election. She has even had the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Babel’s backward burghers blunder on.
Babel-on-the-Bay knows that our readers are not very interested in parochial items about our modest little city here on the shores of Kempenfelt Bay. We are only telling you this tale as fair warning. The jewel of Babel has always been our beautiful beaches and the joys of bikini watching
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