All parades need elephants.
It was great wrap to the Pride month the other day when Toronto’s Pride Parade made its way down Yonge Street. It was also good to see Canada’s Prime Minister…
Peter Lowry
It’s okay to pollute if you need the money.
Have you ever watched two avowed tree-huggers fight over who is the more devout conservationist? When they do it in your local paper you at least do not get whiplash…
Separatist threats are a Canadian custom.
It has always seemed that the more serious threats of separation in Canada come from the West. There have been times when you barely had to scratch the surface in…
The new and few principles of Mr. Brown.
Ontario’s provincial Conservative Party leader should have a clearly lettered sign on his chest saying ‘Help send this boy to the premier’s office.’ That way people would have a clue…
Electoral Reform: A “Road” to nowhere.
If you are old enough, you might remember the Dorothy Lamour, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope series of Road movies that cashed in on Lamour’s looks, Crosby’s crooning and Hope’s…
Did we cause a kinder Canada?
It was last year on Canada Day that Babel-on-the-Bay asked if we could consider a kinder Canada. We never said it was based on getting rid of Mr. Harper and…
Amigos, meet the elephant.
The so-called Three Amigos met in Ottawa this week. It was nothing more than a public relations exercise. Nothing substantive could be resolved. The American, Canadian and Mexican leaders simply…
Are referenda democratic?
It was a surprise twist in an otherwise boring CBC National News panel the other night. It was an argument over whether a referendum was really democratic or redundant in…
PSST, there’s cider at a few grocers.
The Province of Ontario slipped that in when we were not looking. They are allowing the few grocery stores selling some beer to also sell apple cider. And we are…
Scotland the brave will carry on.
You have to admit that there might just be more smarts in Scotland and Northern Ireland than in the rest of the United Kingdom. With a 62 per cent vote…
What’s Jason Kenney doing? And who cares?
Yes, the Conservative Party of Canada is having a convention in a year or so to pick a new leader. After all, the party could hardly allow temporary leader Rona…
Is there life after Brexit?
While Babel-0n-the-Bay was urged to produce a morning line on the Brexit vote, the decision was made that it was far too close to forecast. And it was. Along with…
On curiously confused commentary.
Not being a regular reader of the right-wing National Post, we are not as familiar with commentator John Ivison. He appears to be a believer in conspiracy theories. In his…
Donald Trump supporters discovered.
It has been written numerous times that the measure of a person’s intelligence is based on how much they agree with you. And having a political science professor agree with…
Pennies for a pension plan.
Did we all forget how conservative Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau can be? As MP from one of the most conservative electoral districts in Toronto, he is considered a Member…
BREXIT is not a breakfast cereal.
It is supposedly friendlier to call it “Brexit” than it is to refer to it as telling the European Union to “Get stuffed.” Yet it is amazing how the polyglot…
Vote Reform Primer: FPTP.
The following is an updated primer on First-Past-the-Post voting from the Democracy Papers of 2007. This is the fourth of the vote reform series. First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) voting is an electoral…
Donald Trump’s White House?
You might be tired of hearing about Donald Trump. That is understandable. He is definitely a Johnny-one-note. There are still miles to go before the November election. The one way…
If Canadians had their druthers on the Senate…
The delays are over on the government’s Bill C-14 on assisted dying. The Senate showed its true colours: cowardice. After one effort to help fix the flawed bill from the…
Who is reforming policing?
It seems everybody is in on the act these days. The Province of Ontario is reviewing the Police Services Act. The City of Toronto keeps appointing committees to solve its…