The other day, Premier Kathleen Wynne defended a $100,000 fund-raising dinner for the Ontario Liberal government. She said that fundraising such as this is all part of democracy. What it is, in fact, is a corruption of democracy and should never be allowed. It is indefensible. The money should be
Continue readingTag: Provincial Politics
Babel-on-the-Bay: What is Wynne doing in politics?
Did you see the announcement of Kathleen Wynne’s new super committee to solve all her problems as Premier? If you wait long enough, you too might find yourself on one of her growing lists of committees. The only membership requirement appears to be that you should not be mistaken for
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Ontario’s patchwork Premier at Play.
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
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: 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 readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Internet Surveys: Bad Data, Bad Science and Big Bias
Back in 2012, I wrote a blog piece about internet polls and surveys, asking whether internet polls and surveys could be – or should be – considered valid or scientific. I concluded, after researching the question, that, since the vast majority lack any scientific basis and are created by amateurs
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: Wynne’s Whigs sell us short.
What did we say the other day about half measures by governments that have no idea where they are going? Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne seems to have fallen into that trap. Obviously somebody got to her and told her she needed to be seen doing something about how we sell
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Tilting at Toronto transit troubles.
Who won what? How do you compare $660 million from the federal government to $1.4 billion from the province and say Toronto Mayor Ford won? What did he win? And for someone to win, you have to assume somebody lost. Who lost here? And as a former Scarborough resident, you
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Putting the LCBO out of its misery.
Limp half measures by people who have no idea where they are going seem to be the action plan for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). What else would you expect from an organization run by a bunch of lawyers and has-been politicians? Who else would you expect to
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What it takes to turn out the Tories.
Toronto Star columnist Martin Reg Cohn advises us that there will be no regicide (the act of murdering the king or leader) at the Conservative convention in London, Ontario this weekend. Darn it. He is spoiling all our fun. We were counting on Opposition Leader Timmy Hudak at least sweating
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Who speaks for atheists in Quebec?
It seems to always be columnist Heather Mallick at the Toronto Star who gets the tough assignments. The other day she wrote, as an atheist, in opposition to the Quebec Charter of Values. That is one really tough assignment. After all, who has the right to speak for atheists? Since,
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Babel’s MPP mentioned in dispatches.
When ‘mentioned in dispatches’ it means a Brit or Canadian soldier has been written up by a superior officer for conspicuous bravery in the face of the enemy. We mention this (somewhat sarcastically) as our Member of the Provincial Parliament (MPP) had a jolly extensive write-up this week in the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Marois builds bigotry best!
Quebec Premier Pauline Marois is using us all. She is using the ingrained bigotry of Quebec to turn Quebecers against fellow Canadians. She is using the liberal multiculturalism of Canada to insult Canadians. She is scratching at wounds on both sides of the Canadian language divide. Her Charter of Values
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Mme Premier, do you know where you’re going?
The Ontario Legislature met yesterday. Premier Wynne was in the white of a bride to launch the fall session. She had already told the opposition that they will need to cooperate or she will call an election. If that is a choice she is offering, we respectfully choose an election.
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Reflecting on our successes this term
With just over a year left to go in this term, I’d like to take a few minutes to consider all the accomplishments of this council over the past three years. They are not inconsiderable, and worth celebrating, I think you’ll agree. Most recent are the two new state-of-the-art recreational
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Political survival for party leaders.
Reading a political survival strategy for Ontario Conservative Leader Timmy Hudak proposed by Bob Hepburn in the Toronto Star the other day, it seems that what he says applies at all political leaders—and not even just in Ontario. Mind you, Ontario has been without leadership for some time now and
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Marois sells inferiority.
Quebec’s sovereignty soliloquists believe they have a free hand to sell separatism to their captive audience. Quebec Premier Pauline Marois bragged to the media recently that her Parti Québécois are planning a campaign for sovereignty without a referendum in sight. It is like an uncomfortable rash on our country’s backside
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: What is a councillor’s role?
A question was asked of me recently about the appropriateness of the Deputy Mayor being at a meeting last summer to discuss the possible purchase of the new recreational facility structures. From the question I inferred that the asker did not approve of a politician being there. I disagree, and
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