Category: Uncategorized

Journeying With Journalists.

by Peter Lowry

It is very rare that I read other blogs. That is not being snooty, it is practical. I would just want to correct some of the writers and commiserate with a few others. I find getting a blog done every day is a challenge. Despite a career in public relations, I never considered myself a journalist. I designed and wrote many tabloids, newsletters, pamphlets, scripts and mailing pieces as well as news releases and never thought of myself as a writer. Every page I write is another part of me. When I reread what I have written, I always feel I could have said it better.

And in my lifetime, I have made the journey with many reporters, editors, publishers, and fellow public relations people—all, I am sure, were doing a superior job to me. I think I suffered the ultimate insult one day when a carefully crafted and lengthy news release I had sent out for a client was run in a prime location by a newspaper—with the client’s name carefully removed.

I came into writing with small steps. I was selling food for a major food company and living in what was then the Town of Leaside with my wife when I was asked to join the town safety council. There I was asked to try my hand at writing the safety news for the Leaside Advertiser weekly newspaper. That got me noticed and soon I was involved in town politics and helping a friend get elected to town council.

You might find it incredulous that I was soon working for the Globe and Mail. It would be if I forgot to say that I worked in the advertising department selling advertising in the Report on Business. Even there, I was soon dragged into other areas such as the publisher’s office to strategize the related advertising potential of upcoming special reports. We had some labour strife after I had been there a while and I ended up running the ad alley in an other-wise automated composing room. That was an experience worthy of a book but there was little writing involved.

My first major newspaper writing was for John Basset’s Toronto Telegram. It was just freelance stuff and I got out just before Basset sold off the paper to concentrate on his TV station. I put that writing down to hard lessons learned. There is more to this subject but I will save it for another time.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

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Arguing About Alcohol.

by Peter Lowry

Luckily, I am aware of some of the problems in medical research. At one time I was signing cheques for medical research in the millions of dollars. This was for research in Canada related to Multiple Sclerosis. If a responsible researcher had a valid study, they knew that the proposal would still have to be approved by rigorous review by an expert panel as well as being checked out against research, already being done around the world. I often sat in on these meetings, when president of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.

I mention this subject in the public interest. There was some research done recently that stated baldly that alcohol is not good for you. I assumed, at first, that they were saying that excessive use might be bad for you. Yes, excessive use of alcohol can even make you fall down. And when you fall down you can hurt yourself.

But, to my surprise, this research actually said that any or all booze was bad. It caused some rude words from my wife when I (jokingly) hesitated at opening the bar later that day. She wanted her Scotch and soda.

And we were not about to ban booze in our home because of just one study. I was always a fan of the studies that said a glass of wine was good for the stomach.  

I remember one time talking to a lady who worked for a well-known Gin distiller. She was appalled when I said that I liked her gin for my summer glass of gin and tonic. She told me that her gin was the best and purest but that tonic was bad for me. She never did tell me what she thought about the slice of lime and ice cubes.

I was surprised when I found out that this recent study was based on 107 studies done over the last 40 years. It tended to debunk the theory that a couple glasses of wine a day was healthy. This one study has debunked them all. The problem is that there were far too many factors in daily living that influence our longevity. But, it is disappointing to report that instead of sitting at the computer writing these blogs, I should be out doing a daily five-kilo run. I should also be eating more green veggies. I think when you have lived to my age, I must be doing something right. I think it is possible I have chosen good doctors. Ones that don’t nag about your alcohol intake or eating your veggies.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

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“You Can Fool Some of the People…

by Peter Lowry

The full axiom reads as: “You can fool some of the people some of the time but not all of the people, all of the time. Many of us have been watching with concern the attempt in Israel to politicize the judiciary. One of the tenets of a true democracy is the independence of the judiciary.

I thought it was marvelous the way the Israelis turned out in the thousands to protest the move by their right-wing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to politicize their judiciary. He was simply giving himself and his government the power to reverse the courts. Too many Israelis had parents and grandparents who learned what it is like to live and die under such regimes.

And yet in Ontario nobody seems to care when Doug Ford’s attorney general is charging ahead with conservative plans to politicize Ontario justice. The attorney general wants more choice among the choices presented to him, so he can choose someone like him to be chief justice.

And I can tell you that someone such as Doug Downey as chief justice of Ontario is a sad thought. Doug Downey was the conservative’s go-to guy in Severn, Ontario. He was a lacklustre councillor on Orillia city council. He was forced on my electoral district of Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte by Doug Ford as a parachute candidate. I have only met him once, although by accident. He never attended an all-candidate meeting in the last election. I have never heard of him speaking in Barrie. He is a small-town ward healer.

Downey was not even Doug Ford’s first choice as attorney general. That first appointment was reserved for Brian Mulroney’s daughter. Having the senior Mulroney on board as a fund raiser was probably the price for giving her the job. The only problem was when the premier was told that Caroline Mulroney was educated in law in the United States and all her legal experience was in New York State. The fact that she could not practice law in Ontario was considered something of a problem in her being Attorney General of Ontario. She was quietly shuffled over to minister of transportation where she could shepherd the highway 413 and Bradford Bypass projects along for the conservative party. Mulroney is also minister of francophone affairs. She is one of the few French speakers in the conservative caucus having grown up in Ottawa and Montreal.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

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The Confusion of Two Cities.

by Peter Lowry

There was a provincial study ordered by the conservative government when it came into office in 2018 of the organizational needs of Peel Region and other major urban centres. With Peel Region’s unwieldy mix of the City of Mississauga, the City of Brampton and rural Caledon and the services each municipality requires, some serious re-organization is needed. It is regretful that the study came up with nothing as nothing has been heard of the study since.

The awkward problem of concern to Mississauga is that a large part of their municipal taxes is spread across the region by Peel County, paying for some of the needs of Brampton and Caledon.

Mississauga, with a population of almost 800,000, is the third largest city in Ontario. It can no longer be left as a two-tier municipality, with Peel Region providing some of the shared services and also, needlessly, duplicating others. As things stand, Mississauga is making a good case for it to be a stand-alone city.

A good alternative is for Brampton to become part of Mississauga and for the Caledon portion of Peel County to be combined with similar Dufferin County.

This solution solves many of the problems that Brampton mayor Patrick Brown complains about. These two cities having interlocking public transportation services makes a great deal of sense. It improves the economic viability of both with the interchange of skilled help. It also means that Brampton would not have to obtain its own water supply as it already has the service connected through Mississauga.

This absorption of Brampton into Mississauga will add under 700,000 citizens to the city of Mississauga and will give balance to the to the services required throughout the enlarged city. It will also save substantial administrative costs as it will now be operated as a single tier city similar to Toronto.     

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

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Justin’s Downhill Slalom.

by Peter Lowry

It isn’t the ice on the moguls that endanger our prime minister on his downhill run. It is the heat he generates among his detractors.  Even the pollsters are noting that he is having trouble attracting voters among men. In a recent poll quoted by Susan Delacourt in the Toronto Star, we are told he is favoured, as prime minister, by just a third of male voters.

But we have known that he was turning off certain types of men since he told the media in 2015 that he was a feminist. Those of us, who knew what he meant, let it slide, but there are men who did not understand. Those detractors take great delight in calling him ‘Justine.’

The prime minister’s major mistake was to be the most helpful during the worst of the pandemic. He became the face of the pandemic, as an actor on a stage, in front of Rideau Cottage. He ended up with more blame than credit among the anti-vaxxers and small businesses that took the brunt of the closures and lost income and bankruptcies.

The rejection of Trudeau’s help after the crisis, is similar to the rejection of Winston Churchill by the Brits after the Second World War. Change is too often a part of putting those bad times behind us. (In a similar way, it will be interesting to see how the Ukrainians treat their hero Volodymyr Zelenskyy, when peace can be achieved with Russia.)

What might save Justin Trudeau is the appalling vision of Pierre Poilievre possibly replacing him. For the conservative leader is disliked by women. He is a nonentity in Quebec. He promises little and would deliver less. He rejects the facts of global warming. He feeds on anger and envy.  

Setting aside the opinions of our Delphic pollsters, it is highly unlikely that an election right now would resolve anything. We could end up with the same split as we have now, with new democrats and Bloc Québécois holding the balance of power.

It would be far better for Mr. Trudeau to hand in his resignation as leader of the liberal party. The country needs positive change and a new opportunity to build past the pandemic, the world-wide recession and the political bitterness that infects us all. Justin Trudeau has reached the bottom of the hill. His ‘sunny days’ are done.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

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Poilievre’s Patience Pales.

by Peter Lowry

It looks like the leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition in parliament has lost it. His frustration is obvious. If he is ever going to sit in the prime minister’s office, the best chance is if there is an election in the next five months. In politics, we say he has peaked. All his ducks are in order. His chance might pass him by.

Canadians are concerned. Poilievre has worked at helping foment those concerns. He has managed to blame Justin Trudeau for just about every one of the world’s problems.  World-wide inflation, must be Justin’s fault. The war in Ukraine, obviously Justin’s fault. The ice caps are melting in the Arctic and the polar bears are dying, yep, that must also be Justin’s fault.  It is so easy to blame Justin Trudeau for things that have gone wrong.

Mind you, the conservative leader does not complain about the price of gasoline. The price of gas is set by the American oil companies and the higher it is the more tar sands bitumen can be sold to the refineries to make synthetic oil. His audience in Alberta and Saskatchewan know that. He has many angry voters in those provinces.

And that is the type of voter, Mr. Poilievre counts on. If you are concerned about inflation, Poilievre will tell you that you can solve your problem just by voting for his conservatives. He is counting on Canadians suffering from FOMO (fear of missing out).

I worry about the disappointment to come for the young voters who think they can vote conservative in order to shake things up. I worry about the truckers who joined the conservative party thinking Mr. Poilievre had the answers. I worry about the farmers who are traditional voters for this party, that cares nothing for them.

In a country so in need of working together, Mr. Poilievre wants to divide us. Blaming others is not presenting solutions. Only a fool would want to put crypto currency on the Internet ahead of the controlled currency of a stabilizing central bank. When the strife in Ukraine can be ended, when the world-wide supply chain gets smoothed out, and when inflation eases, we can then look ahead instead of back. Let’s just give it a year and then we can see what an honest and truthful election produces in a country with the potential of Canada.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

[email protected]

Conservative Blame Game.

by Peter Lowry

It is difficult these days to have friends or relations who like voting conservative. When I was younger there was a different type of conservative. Some were actually commendable. For example, I liked former prime minister John Diefenbaker. I don’t think I ever said a nasty word about him, until he cancelled the AVRO Arrow. I never voted for his party but I always enjoyed a friendly word with Ontario’s conservative premier Bill Davis when I saw him at Queen’s Park or at functions.

But all that is changing. The current leader of the federal conservatives is changing Canadian politics into a blame-game. He is a mean little man and he has little use for the truth. He would never waste a good lie, if it was against the prime minister. He is vindictive. He carelessly accuses. He delights the separatist leader of the Bloc Québécois, with his spurious attacks on any and all actions by the prime minister. Poilievre cares little that he is damaging our democracy with his vicious untruths.

It is like that stuffed shirt premier Ontario has at Queen’s Park. Like Poilievre, he puts the conservative objectives ahead of the needs of the citizens. They want a government for and by conservatives. One of Ford’s first actions when he came into office was to cut the dole being paid to people unable to work for a living. He didn’t want to waste money on them! Ford knows who his friends are; they are the developers and their lawyers whom he met at Toronto City Hall with his crack-cocaine smoking brother Rob.

But the difference between the federal leader and the Ontario premier is that at least Ford had the experience of working for his father’s company. While he might not have been very successful at that, he at least tried. Mr. Poilievre has dedicated his life to politics and has no experience in the working world.

Watching this Calgary native representing an Ottawa electoral district was an interesting bit of research into Canadian politics. I’ll bet you thought that his welcoming the ‘Freedom Convoy’ to Ottawa was his biggest mistake.

But no. He listened to the anger and ignorance from that mob and he just added to his own arsenal. He welcomed them as newfound friends and newfound conservatives. It was their help that made him leader of the conservative party. They are certainly a new version of Sir. John A. Macdonald’s old party.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

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What Leadership?

by Peter Lowry

The one thing for sure in Canada these days that we do not waste time recognizing leadership. Leadership is a political ghost. It is something that politicians talk about but we never see it. It leaves us craving answers, direction, solutions and leaving us with the fear of missing out. It is so prevalent that it is simply called FOMO.

And it seems all our politicians are finding their own solutions. The major example of this is the recent report of Justice Rouleau on the government’s use of the Emergencies Act. What he could have said in much simpler terms was that because of the lack of leadership, the government had to use the act.

If Justin Trudeau had stuck to his true calling as an actor, we would all be cheering him on in his rendition of Hamlet. He did a wonderful solo act in front of Rideau Cottage during the worst of the pandemic. It helped us get through those times.

But in comparison, conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is a terrible actor with his artificial alarms, confusion and spurious accusations. As a leader, he is, at best, a wannabe. He lacks sincerity, truth, trust and common sense. He is a cold fish with no compassion or feeling for the Canadian people. He has no understanding of people’s needs or wants. He applies nasty answers to their desperations. He has no answers for environmental concerns. He demands small, unfeeling government in a cruel world. There is no joy in him.

For joy, you have to talk about Jagmeet Singh. In his bespoke suits from Harry Rosen and colorful turbans, he seems an unusual fit for the new democrats. He is a man caught up in 17th Century Sikhism who liked entertaining children on TikTok. With TikTok defamed as a Chinese intrusion on our politics, I guess the children will have to miss him.

Of course, the Peoples’ Republic of China thinks of leadership in terms of dictatorship. It is impressive to learn that they are taking an interest in our democracy. They seem to have so much to learn.

It would be a waste of space to try to include the appalling lack of leadership in most of the provinces but there is some hope in our bookend provinces of British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

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Conservative Cant of Doug Ford.

by Peter Lowry

Ontario premier Doug Ford is not particularly well educated. It is highly unlikely that anyone voted for him because of his brilliance. He is not even that good at reading off the teleprompters. The one thing you can count on though is that he believes in small government, unobstructed free enterprise and low taxes. Medicare, for example, is not Doug Ford’s thing. He is a conservative.

Since he grew up in wealth and privilege, premier Ford believes he deserves to live in privilege. People like him believe they belong at the head of the line. If they need medical attention, they expect it immediately. They can pay for it and feel entitled.

And did you know that Doug Ford is going to build 1.5 million homes in the next ten years. Hopefully they will not all be built around golf courses in the former Greenbelt. The premier might not realize that some of these homes need to be geared to income rentals and need to be convenient to public transit so that people can get to work. He probably is not aware there that there is not much public transit servicing the Greenbelt

But he does tell us that there are going to be 18,000 new for-profit long term care beds for Ontario. The only thing that is not sure is if there are enough people willing to work for lower wages to care for the people in those beds.

Doug Ford’s minions run ads in the newspaper telling us that he is “Making it easier to access home care.” They don’t tell us how. They just seem optimistic.

They also promise there are going to be private clinics offering minor surgeries and likely special services for those who want to pay extra.

There are lots of promises from Doug Ford and his conservatives and little in the way of action.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

[email protected]

Truth, At Last.

by Peter Lowry

It has really been annoying me. Instead of spending money cleaning up its act, this so-called Pathways Alliance of tar sands exploiters is spending large amounts of money telling us how great it is going to be when, and if, they ever get to zero emissions.  I always assumed that the tar sands people were lying but there is no way I can prove it. It is not like the Ontario government’s self aggrandizing advertising telling us that all is super fine at Ontario hospitals and how great it is. We know that the conservatives at Queen’s Park lie about everything.

But we are a long way from the tar sands operations in Alberta. Only logic tells us that it costs a lot to capture, transmit and store carbon. We can also figure out that for every kilogram of carbon captured there would be more carbon created. Why else would those charlatans keep asking government for funds and tax credits for their effort and thoughtfulness?

If the United Nations thinks our former environment minister, Catherine Mckenna, should chair the United Nations Net-Zero Expert Group, then maybe we should listen to her. She is quoted in the Toronto Star as saying: “If you put your hand up and claim you’re a climate leader, there is a price of admission—you need to do the work.”

The good news is that Greenpeace Canada has filed a complaint with Canada’s Competition Bureau. Of course, in a case such as this, it will be the many, many lawyers who will benefit and the rest of us will continue to watch the extremes of climate change and the dying prospect of long-time life on this earth.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to:

[email protected]