Who speaks for Babel?
The question was posed the other day as to whom Ontario Premier Kathleen listens. She is very obviously getting very bad advice. From her first moves in cabinet building to…
Peter Lowry
Ontario needs a Dalton Camp.
When Dalton Camp died in 2002, Canada lost an intellectual giant and a giant killer. Dalton was always our favourite Conservative. He was fun as a person with whom to…
What ‘open nomination’ means.
Justin Trudeau is not only turning into a very exciting leader of the Liberal Party but he is also keeping his word. He has his reputation on the line in…
Who wants to fight an election on pot?
The Harper Conservatives must be chortling as they think of the coming federal election campaign being fought over legalizing marijuana. There are far more important issues but this issue makes…
Using the Lac Mégantic disaster.
The ultimate indignity in death is to be used to profit others. It was only when hearing Prime Minister Harper say it in Quebec City the other day that you…
Ford wins one for the PCs.
If you look at the positions of the three principal parties in the Ontario Legislature as an interminable game of Go, you would recognize that only New Democrat Leader Andrea…
At $12 billion, it’s no small lie.
TransCanada Pipelines announced its Energy East Pipeline yesterday. It has been in the plans for a while. For a $12 billion scheme, they gave it a few extra trumpet riffs.…
Is it Hudak-Ford or Ford-Hudak?
The Ontario Legislature feeds on the politics of Ontario municipalities. You have to get under the skin of a number of key municipal politicians before you can fathom the directions…
A submission to the National Energy Board.
Submission A51494: Commenting on Enbridge Pipelines Inc. Line 9B Reversal and Line 9 Capacity Expansion Project. According to the National Energy Board’s stated purpose, it is to promote safety and…
Wynne whistles for by-election wins.
Wishing for it might not do the trick for Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. She desperately needs to win at least three of the five by-elections in Ontario this Thursday. That…
Knee-jerks to Trudeau on pot.
Having listened to Liberals argue over legalizing marijuana for the past 50 years, it is important to understand exactly what Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said last week in Vancouver. He…
Helping hold on to Hudak.
You realize of course that any win for the Conservatives in these five current by-elections in Ontario is just going to encourage Conservative leader Tiny Tim Hudak. Is that fair?…
Why Chow should run for Toronto mayor.
It is the perfect scenario. Olivia Chow steps down from her job as MP next year. She runs for Toronto mayor. Chow loses. Toronto wins. Chow retires from politics. Toronto…
How can a liberal be a monarchist?
If it had just stayed on Twitter, nobody would have cared. Since only twits tweet, there is little point in reading them. Yet there is one particular writer of large…
Casting runes in the heat of summer.
Political polling has never been an exact science. It has always required an overview of common sense, mathematical probability, historical data, statistical smoothing and wishful thinking. Then, and only then,…
Parsing Noblesse Oblige.
Travelling around the world building linkages and creating cooperation in the world-wide research effort to cure multiple sclerosis was an eye-opener in terms of understanding charity. In North America, we…
When economic action plan advertising fails.
Somebody should get a bill for this. Babel-on-the-Bay has been telling people for free that the Conservative government’s well advertised economic action plan is a crock. Do they listen to…
Long to reign over us?
You have to admit, there is always that stoic admiration for the old Queen. Nobody wants to say anything nasty about her. And then there are those God-awful hats. You…
Heaven knows: the NEB doesn’t.
When a friend called from Calgary earlier this year to tell us she had been evacuated from her beautiful home on the Bow River, she complained about the water covering…