Source: Edmonton Journal We will soon be having a provincial election and I for one, do not want to return to the dark conservative backwater Alberta languished in for some 40 odd years. We have a New Democratic Party Government that, when situated on the political spectrum, comes up centrist
Continue readingTag: Provincial Politics
Babel-on-the-Bay: Dougie did it!
There is an explanation for this. I have a younger brother whose name happens to be Douglas. When we were young, the standard answer to a bloody nose or a broken lamp was always “Dougie did it.” I can admit now that if the fresh blood was mine, I could
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A relentless push for change.
As best as I can follow the Google Analytics information about readership, there is a consistent and steady stream of world wide web users visiting the Democracy Papers. I wrote these papers in 2007 for the provincial referendum on voting in Ontario. It looks like more than 30,000 individual readers
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Cost of challenging climate change.
The bills keep rolling in. Dougie and the Deplorables should take their show on tour and give things a rest at Queen’s Park. This provincial government, that ran on promises of saving us taxpayers money, ran up bills over the summer that make the previous liberal regime look like pikers.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Can Canadians live with this?
It is more important than we knew. We are talking about the environment. Our environmental poster boy Justin Trudeau has made too many promises that he has no way of keeping. Our Pollyanna environment minister Catherine McKenna makes promises she cannot keep and quotes government policy that will never happen.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “Never trust anyone over 30.”
Hearing from readers in attendance at the recent Ontario liberal gathering, most were impressed by the numbers of younger attendees. Those are the ones to rebuild and revitalize the party. What they hardly need is us greybeards. We have had our day at the helm. Use us for cannon fodder
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Can Ontario liberals renew their party?
You can hardly package a new political party along with decaying fish and hope to win plaudits. And that was what it must have felt like last weekend when the Ontario liberals gathered to lick their wounds and look hopefully into the future. The first task was to understand what
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: How do you like Premier Ford so far?
When you throw a question such as that into the general chatter today, you can really stop people cold. Recently, I threw the question to a group of fellow poker players in Toronto with whom I have been playing for more than a quarter century. Back at our game in
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Legault’s likely legacy?
Back in August, Babel-on-the-Bay ran a column discussing the anger of the electors that can result in poor choices in politicians. At the time, only Donald Trump was discussed but it was assumed readers could see how the disease is spreading. A few readers questioned me at the time as
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: “What fools these mortals be…”
Just to show how consistent we humans are, we can use the words of William Shakespeare to describe more recent events. What brings this to mind was a recent Ryerson University democracy forum. Chaired by Martin Regg Cohn of the Toronto Star, the debaters were campaign heads for the three
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Perchance, a prophet’s pipeline pays profits?
If there is bad news among the brochures delivered in the post this day, is the bad news to be blamed on Canada Post? And should a government encourage the building of a pipeline for the transmission of natural gas to replace more seriously polluting coal-fired plants to produce electricity?
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Climate Action hits a wall in Ontario.
To our chagrin and horror the Province of Ontario has turned its back on climate action. In a to-the-point report, environmental commissioner Dianne Saxe made her report to the legislature at Queen’s Park on Tuesday morning. We hear that nobody from the conservative caucus attended. In the afternoon, the environmental
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: No, Dougie isn’t done.
One of the Toronto Star’s better political writers wrote last week that Doug Ford’s motive (for interfering in Toronto’s civic election) might not be pique. That could be right. Doug Ford’s vendetta with certain people in Toronto politics goes way beyond ‘pique’ or even annoyed. And is Dougie done? Not
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: …Now, where were we?
It seems to me that we left off when premier Ford of Ontario pulled a rabbit out of his hat and told Toronto council hopefuls to stop running for 47 council wards in Toronto and just run for 25. Since people had been campaigning for weeks for the 47 wards,
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Could Quebec go with Legault?
With less than two weeks to go to the Quebec election, it comes across as a spiritless event. At least the Couillard liberals have not laid down their arms and surrendered to François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec. Why would they? Is there any logical reason for Quebecers to vote for
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Doing doctors a disservice.
There is growing disgust with the medical specialists who have a stranglehold on the Ontario Medical Association (OMA). What is really needed is a way for doctors to ensure that their representatives are really representing them. What is sucking all the value out of the OMA these days is the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Carpetbagger Brown.
In politics, the carpetbagger is a figure of derision. The person is considered an unscrupulous opportunist who is seeking to exploit some real or imagined opportunity among local voters. No politician in Ontario better fits this description than Barrie’s Patrick Brown. Or should we now call him: Brampton Brown? In
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Not your father’s Tories.
Back in the years when I was a frequent visitor to the legislature at Queen’s Park, the conservatives there were a different breed. There is no way we can compare to-day’s incumbent in the premier’s office to someone such as premier Bill Davis. In relations with Bill and his staff,
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: That train is dead on the tracks.
We are talking about a serious problem. A train dead on the tracks is a hazard for following trains. And an idea promoted by the Wynne government is hardly going to appeal to the Ford government. That leaves us with another progressive idea as an orphan. I have always been
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Left is the lonely lane.
I have never felt so alone in politics. The left, the progressive, the social democrat is a dying breed. Even the federal New Democratic Party is struggling with fund raising and direction as it sluggishly moves to the right. All political parties have felt the shifting of the sands. But,
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