The saying goes…men and woman cannot be friends, they are bound to become lovers or fall apart. While it may seem like this has nothing directly to do with today’s meeting between Prime Minister Trudeau and President Donald Trump, the relationship between the countries they represent does relate to it
Continue readingTag: Trudeau
Babel-on-the-Bay: Waiting for Mr. Trump.
The reporters and pundits are causing unnecessary concerns. Does anyone really believe that Justin Trudeau cannot handle a meeting with Donald Trump? What is to worry about? Trudeau meets Trump; each takes a couple selfies; they ask about the respective families; tell each other, we’ve got to get together for
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Weep not for vote reform.
Among each successive generation there are those who seek to change how we elect our representatives to run our cities, our provinces and our country. Good for them. It is important that we think about it. We need to be sure we have the best system possible. And we do.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The fix in foreign affairs.
When Stéphane Dion was so unceremoniously dumped from foreign affairs by Prime Minister Trudeau, all most people could say was they hoped it worked. How would you feel if you were the new foreign affairs minister and the PM kept casting about for the advice needed to handle the situation
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: As the world wearies of Trump.
This is a bad sign. A world becoming wearied of President Trump already? It signifies an acceptance of something abnormal and dangerous. When the king seats his fool on the throne, is the fool now king? And if you accept the largess of the fool while the fool sits on
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: When a leader betrays a Canadian legacy.
There was a time back in the Pearson-Trudeau era when tensions ran through English-French relations at the usual flash points in Montreal and Ottawa. And those of us not fully bilingual were the bruised. It is sad to tell of the disappointments suffered from those you had supported so fiercely.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Even an elite Senate needs direction.
It seems you cannot keep a newspaper person from writing. Even with a sinecure such as a guaranteed salary for sitting in the Senate (until age 75) former La Presse editor André Pratte keeps writing. The past week it was a piece he wrote for the Toronto Star on why
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: When a friend gives a friend a lift.
This is not the prime minister’s problem. It must be the ethics and conflict of interest commissioner’s problem. This commissioner acts independently and reports to parliament on those issues that might involve the ethics or any conflict of interest on the part of federally elected persons. We hear that she
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Put in a word for us when you see the PM.
So, what are you going to tell the prime minister? He’s coming to see you. You just need to contact your Liberal M.P. to get an invitation. He is not coming to our riding. We lost to the Conservatives by 86 votes. And please do not ask the PM if
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Culling Canada’s Cabinet.
Cabinet making and cabinet tending are different requirements of a prime minister. Those were sunny days in late 2015 when Prime Minister Trudeau chose his first cabinet. Change can come quickly at busy times. What we have to realize is that his perspective on the need for change is quite
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Let’s march to our own drummer.
It was hardly a surprise when the Prime Minister’s Office said he was not attending Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington next week. Frankly, the Canadian prime minister would just be in the way. It was more of a surprise that he would not be attending the concurrent world economic conference
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Not everyone hates Premier Wynne.
It is too bad that Ontario Premier Wynne has no politically smart advisors or staff. Here it is the first week of 2017 and the foolish lady is deep in the do-do of her own making. By selecting the beginning of January to launch her ill-fated cap and trade program,
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: In the quiet before the storm.
It is the ho-hum time between New Year’s and the real reasons for having a January. In our area, that just means more damn snow. At least the ski hills are buzzing. But we want to talk about how we vote and who we vote for and what’s wrong with
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Who Will Decide Canada’s Policy on Israel, Barack Obama or Donald Trump?
When US secretary of state, John Kerry, proclaimed that Israel had to choose – it could be a Jewish state or a democracy, just not both, Washington’s abrupt epiphany must have caught Justin Trudeau and Steffie Dion with their short pants down. If Washington can say the emperor has no
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Ottawa’s Ghost of Christmas Future.
When Marley’s Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come came to see Canada’s Prime Minister, the ghost looked a lot like American President Elect Donald Trump. Justin Trudeau had many questions for him but the ghost never spoke a word. He just kept on twitting. The ghost took the Prime Minister
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The arrogance of Justin Trudeau.
Weighing the pluses and minuses of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first year in office was a tough job. He got off to a good start. How many refugees can claim they were welcomed to their new country by its Prime Minister? In person! And he kept his promise to fix
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The rocky road to electoral reform.
It seems obvious at this stage that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has still not gained any conviction on electoral reform. He hardly understood what he was promising when he said that the 2015 election would be the last federal election using first-past-the-post. He seemed to have no understanding of the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: A Primer for a Prime Minister
It’s almost impossible to discern how much our prime minister really understands about globalism and the neoliberal order. He claims he gets it but that’s far from clear. The prime ministerial confusion was manifest in his interview today in The Guardian.It was with some relief that I came upon a
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Relax. We’re a "Post-National State" Now. We Have No Core Values.
Sheesh, didn’t this guy get the memo from our first post-national prime minister, Justin the Liberated? I refer to Michael Doucet, executive director of Canada’s Security Intelligence Review Committee, the outfit that oversees our country’s spy apparatus and operations. Doucet questions whether Donald Trump’s espoused support for torture means Canada
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Oh Yeah, About that "Post-National" Business
Justin Trudeau has proclaimed Canada the “first post-national state.” In fact, we’re not the first country to be smeared with that label. In fact we may be the last. Justin’s world view is hopelessly outdated. …one of the paradoxes of globalization has been that, as cross-border travel, migration, and trade
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