Susan Delacourt of the Toronto Star hit the nail on the head recently when she ran a commentary saying that “Trudeau doesn’t want advice from his dad’s friends. She ‘s right. When the wife and I first met the adult Justin Trudeau ten years ago, we both agreed that he
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Babel-on-the-Bay: When you can’t press the flesh.
Thinking about political leadership campaigns, it occurs to me that the constraints on the candidates today are not only catastrophic for the candidates but impossible for the party faithful to judge. How can you expect the party members to make a reasoned choice? When meetings cannot take place, you have
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: English is a living language.
Recently, former Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe appeared on Global Television’s West Block program with interviewer Mercedes Stephenson. While I rarely agree with the Bloc or any of its leaders, Duceppe has always amused me with his sly use of the English language. English might not be his first language
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: That horse has left the barn.
It was a presumptuous letter to the prime minister from some of our Canadian enlightened the other day about the Meng Wanzhou extradition case. There was a time when I admired some but not all of those signatories. They were people who added much to Canada’s reputation in law and
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: O’Toole should cool it.
It is a pity to waste good political advice on conservatives but MP Erin O’Toole’s current hissy fit with Peter MacKay’s leadership organization could cause irreparable harm in Canadian politics. And rather than being amused by the lack of political smarts of the Erin O’Toole leadership organization, most knowledgeable politicos
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Morneau: the angst of things to come.
Are you ready for the flip side of the pandemic coin? Finance Minister Bill Morneau has promised Canadians a financial snapshot of what the pandemic has cost. The bad news is to be presented on July 8. I wonder though if he will recognize the value we have been getting
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: In the Wild—West of Toronto.
Who knew? When Barrie’s Patrick Brown, was ejected from Queen’s Park early in 2018, he picked Peel Region for his comeback. Rejected by his fellow conservatives in the legislature, Brown’s instinct was to return to municipal politics. He knows little else. He had no idea though that he had picked
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A future built on nostalgia.
The measure of another person’s intelligence is often measured on his or her ability to agree with you. That was why I was delighted the other day to receive a proposal from a regular reader for electric high-speed passenger rail service across Canada. I have always felt confident that I
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Dougie has “lost the plot.”
A chap from ‘Ole Blighty’ was talking the other day about the United Kingdom’s prime minister Boris Johnson. He said “Bo-Jo has lost the plot.” The description fits too many politicians today. Johnson is just one of many. America’s Trump certainly fits the part. The Donald seems to have never
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: American Lemmings.
American supporters of Donald Trump only act like lemmings. Lemmings are rodents that live in northern tundra areas, are very stupid and have about a 12-month life cycle—even if they survive their natural predators. They are not necessarily suicidal creatures but have been known to fall off cliffs and into
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: CERB opens the door to a new Canada.
For all the weaknesses, errors and misunderstanding of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), the program is the solution to Canada’s future economy. And when the government extended the program the other day, it put the country on the road to build that new economy. What the government has done
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Grocers exploit the ugliness of capitalism.
Nova Scotia-based Empire Company is better known to Canadians as grocery stores under the Sobeys, Safeway, IGA and FreshCo labels. You might have missed the business news the other day about the company’s highly profitable fourth quarter and past year. Not many companies in the food business get to announce
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Lessons in Leadership.
New democrat leader Jagmeet Singh got himself thrown out of our socially separated house of commons the other day. He called a fellow parliamentarian a racist. That is not leadership. That is desperation. Jagmeet’s explanation of his obduracy on the subject was also wrong. How can he insist on saying
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: ‘Today I don’t feel like doing anything.’
That Bruno Mars song about being lazy is silly but seems to fit the ennui I am feeling about writing something today. We are all tired of the pandemic and tired of writing about it. At the same time, I am surprised at our foreign affairs people in Ottawa thinking
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A pandemic is no time to be Tory.
You need to be considerate of your conservative friends in these troubled times. You might even think kindly of inviting some conservatives into your circle. Share the lottery of covid-19 with them. They are suffering the conviction of their politics. Their American hero Donald Trump is scraping the nether regions
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The embarrassment of Justin Trudeau.
You do know, do you not, that in a time of pandemic, prime minister Justin Trudeau is quietly building an abomination of a pipeline across our magnificent Rocky Mountains. There is no excuse for this. It can hardly be to please those climate change-deniers in Alberta. They will hate the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The new Ford is still a Model T.
Not to be confused with products of the Ford Motor Company, today’s comment is about Ontario premier Doug Ford. It harks back a hundred years to that time when you could have any colour of Ford Model T, as long as it was black. And you need to face facts
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Please Justin, get a haircut.
We hear through the grapevine that Justin Trudeau and his liberals are thinking election. Since I am supposed to have an opinion on this proposal, I will need to reach deep into my conscience to see if I could support such foolishness at this time. The one thing that is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “The good is oft interred with their bones.”
So, let it be with Sir John A. Macdonald. How often must we decry the stupidity, the ignorance of those who want to destroy the records, the mementos, the reminders of the heroes of our past? Why can we not just recognize their accomplishments? Is there no forgiveness for the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The rumours of our demise…
It is good to be home. After months of quasi isolation, it is still a place of comfort during this pandemic. Being taken by ambulance to the hospital last week was a wake-up call. No, it was not covid-19. I knew that as soon as the hospital staff stopped wearing
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