It is not as exciting as the meeting at the OK Corral. There is no shooting. And the only people shouting are the news media. They want Big Tech to stop stealing their work product. If our copyright laws where easier to enforce, it would not have even been a
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Babel-on-the-Bay: Going where no politico dares to go.
It always amazes me when some politicians will wade into subjects about which, they know nothing at all. It is what can get them in trouble, most of the time. Take Justin Trudeau’s supposed expertise in vaccines. It is like the other day when he was assuring parliamentarians that he
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: On the right with U.S. Catholics?
And we thought Donald Trump was a problem. What gives with those politically right-wing Roman Catholic bishops in the U.S? It turns out that those guys are criticizing their own Pope and, at the same time, their country’s new president. Is Pope Francis the last line of defense for Joe
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Did you know the campaign was on?
Jagmeet Singh has been heard from. He did not exactly come down from the mountain with tablets of stone. The new democratic party leader has decided that the low-hanging fruit of for-profit, long-term care homes was as good an issue as his party needs in the looming federal election. It
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Don’t believe it can’t happen here.
There seems to be some arguments these days about whether Canadians have to suffer through the same political mistakes made by Americans. We hardly seem to have to wait long to have our own version of Donald Trump. It is a toss-up whether Doug Ford of Ontario or Jason Kenney
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The lingering death of CTV.
There are some flash drives littering my desk behind this computer. Those memory sticks date from my last three computers. I started to search in them earlier and wasted hours in nostalgia. What I was looking for, was not found. It was the presentation I made to the Canadian Radio-television
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Congrats to the Disaffected Lib. Mk. II.
As a fan of the Mound of Sound, who writes a progressive blog as the disaffected liberal, I have been slow in congratulating him on the excellent update of his blog. It is a delightfully clean, attractive and well-organized website. And, as usual, written in a knowledgeable, crisp and erudite
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Constitution Conundrum.
It takes two things to fix Canada’s constitution. It takes ideas and leadership. Without suggestions as to how we will fix it or people to lead the parade, it is rather silly to take polls as to how people feel about our sorry mess. As it stands to-day, Canada is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The hypocrisy of the provinces.
If there was ever a reason to change Canada’s constitution, it will be the hypocrisy of so many of our provincial leaders. It also explains why I often preferred to drive to Ottawa from Toronto when dealing with some federal departments. It was because I could return to Toronto with
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Understanding Basic Income.
There are three sides to this argument. The idea of a basic income for all Canadians is an idea championed by progressive politicos. And then there are the regressive politicos (usually conservatives) who think it is a terrible idea and that what all those lazybones need is a little encouragement.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: You can’t do one without the other.
It was an amusing op-ed the other morning in the Toronto Star by Bob Hepburn. Not only is Bob late to the lists but his suggestion regarding our governor general would complicate more than it resolved. I certainly agree with him that the role of governor general is something to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Is it cruel to fool O’Toole?
Is finance minister Chrystia Freeland deliberately fooling conservative leader Erin O’Toole? It seems like she has more important tasks ahead of her. Maybe she is forging ahead with her plans and ignoring what O’Toole has to say. He accuses her of ideological and a reckless budgeting. She might be one
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Our failing democracy.
We are all responsible. We are failing to support democracy. We are making bad choices in leaders, bad choices in who represents us and failing to demand that they protect our democratic institutions and customs. And we can only blame ourselves. We need to face the facts: our political parties
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Where are you Jagmeet Singh?
Jagmeet Singh has a job as leader of the federal new democratic party. With parliament shut down, he has virtually disappeared. Canadians have forgotten about him. Only voters in Brampton, Ontario remember what he looks like. Mind you, he represents Burnaby South in B.C. these days. Maybe somebody there has
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Canadians are on to O’Toole.
Every time I look at conservative leader Erin O’Toole, he reminds me of cartoons of the bloated English capitalist. What makes me laugh though are his on-going attempts to create a conservative party more acceptable to the mainstream of Canadian voters. And I hardly think tossing Derek Sloan out of
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trudeau’s chance to kill TransMountain!
It’s no secret. If U.S. president Joe Biden can cancel the Keystone XL pipeline, why cannot Justin Trudeau cancel twinning of the TransMountain pipeline? The single line can still be used to ship fully refined petroleum products to the U.S. west coast states and to Vancouver. We should face the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What’s a billion Jason Kenney?
It was actually a billion and a half. It was the money from Alberta taxpayers that Jason Kenney put into the Keystone XL pipeline. It was not just a stupid move but one that he can spend the rest of his life regretting. I was hardly the only writer who
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Payette is Trudeau’s mistake.
It was ten years ago when I made the argument with Justin Trudeau that the governor general was an anachronism that we no longer needed. It was like he brought down a wall between us. I realised too late that he was afraid of questioning the constitution. Justin saw it
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Quebec racism is no surprise.
When people grow up with incipient racism, it is no surprise that they slip into it occasionally. This happened the other week when a news release from Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet was claimed by liberals to be racist. It should come as no surprise that someone born in Quebec
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The lies from the tar sands.
It was a brief remark our Canadian ambassador to Washington made on Global Television’s West Block show last Sunday. I was trying to remember where I had heard it before. Kirsten Hillman said that, as ambassador, she could tell the Biden administration that Alberta has already shown it can reduce
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