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…
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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…
Tried and found wanting.
If there was a God, would He not be looking down on us today in dismay. Would He be pleased with the state we are in? Would He be pleased…
Cabinet shuffle or spring cleaning?
Canada’s Inuit used to have a traditional remedy for aging that involved putting the elderly on ice flows and waving goodbye. The Ontario Cabinet showed us the modern approach the…
At least Ontario’s Wynne has a plan!
While many are willing to criticize Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, she does have an ‘Action Plan’ to do something about climate change. And, yes, it is easy to criticize. The…
The braggadocio of the blogger!
That is one way to describe it. There is a hollowness in the endeavour. It is not just a hobby or an interesting way to waste away a few hours…
Vote Reform Primer: Preferential.
The following is a new primer as we did not consider preferential voting a factor in the Democracy Papers of 2007. This is the third of the updated series. Preferential…
He wanted an independent Senate; he got it.
We told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that this independent Senate of his would bite him on the ass. And it happened sooner than anyone expected. But to make the point…
Trump: Fascist or Populist?
Mia culpa. It must be the arrogance of a commentator that afflicted us. We wrote a casual commentary about populist politicians and thought nothing of it. At least until we…
What’s with bicycles in Toronto?
We always agreed with the healthy aspects of cycling and never thought much about bike lanes on city streets. That was until city council’s passion for cycling got carried away.…
Coming to grips with Ontario health care.
This commentator has never been a big fan of Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins. Being a medical doctor has never been a criterion for the job. Although being ruthless helps.…
Politicians are just like us.
Maybe it is because they are never a hero to their valets that we have never been overly impressed with politicians. As a publicist and confidante to many politicians over…
Fool some people some of the time.
You sometimes wonder what ‘progressive’ means. Babel-on-the-Bay is included in a collection of blogs by progressive Canadian writers. We have come to the conclusion that is a very broad description…