Category: Uncategorized

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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In Oxford, I’ll make My Stand.

by Peter Lowry

It is a matter of wills. Is Pierre Poilievre the boss of the conservatives? Or is he not? Maybe, he needs to make it clear to all the factions of the conservative party. Especially in an electoral district such as Oxford in Ontario.

Oxford has a special place in the hearts of conservatives. It should have road signs as you enter the county saying: No liberals allowed. I remember driving somewhere with Bob Nixon when he was leader of the Ontario liberals at Queen’s Park. I picked him up at his farm near Paris, Ontario and this time he wanted to drive. I knew better but I let him. Bob always has been a pedal-to-the-metal driver whether it was a tractor on the farm or his car. We were driving on potholed roads for some time and then, suddenly the roads were well paved and could handle his speed. “Welcome to Oxford County,” he said. “These roads are the first to be repaved and first to be plowed when it snows.”

Oxford riding, which usually includes all of Oxford County and parts of Brant county, had, at that time, been voting conservative since 1935.  They have been voting conservative so often, even the farmers refer to it as a ‘yellow-dog riding.’ It votes conservative. It also has a solid base of social conservative voters. It also spells trouble for Pierre Poilievre. Social conservatives are not his kind of people. He hardly wants them in his caucus.

Despite running in an Ontario riding, it is important to recognize that Poilievre is a westerner. He hails from Calgary. He has all those Petroleum Club interests at heart. His kind of conservative doesn’t worry about abortions. Or, come to think of it, does his kind of conservative give a damn about climate change or pollution.

The problem is that Poilievre has already picked his candidate for Oxford. He is Arpan Kahanna who worked on Poilievre’s leadership campaign but has no connection to Oxford.

By removing Gerrit Van Dorland, favoured by the Right Now organization, Poilievre has opened the age-old argument for ridings having the rights to choose their own candidate. The battle looks good on him.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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Sex as a Simile for Politics.

by Peter Lowry

After puzzling over a more interesting way to describe Canadian politics, I finally said ‘screw it.’ And, of course, that was my answer. Henceforth, we will describe our politics in more basic words of human sexuality. We will have to practice ‘safe sex’ to ensure there are no unwanted progeny.

We can start in the missionary position to explain the sex of the conservatives. This is the blue stocking group. They have more than their share of hypocrites. The only problem is that these types of politicians look down on those of us who believe in open and varied sexual practices. These stiff and snooty types are the epitome of the book-burning, oh-too toity than the rest of us. And then you find out your mayor has been bonking a member of his staff when he has a perfectly lovely looking wife pining for him at home.

There was once a cabinet minister whose brother called me and asked me why the news media disliked his brother. I had to do some fast thinking to get around the fact that, back then, the news media did not report the marital wanderings of gentlemen and ladies in politics. This particular cabinet minister had already annoyed the prime minister by his antics, as he would show off his conquests to the media.

But I must admit that liberals are better in the bedrooms of the nation. They know that pleasure is better when shared. The person who strives to give pleasure to a friend receives pleasures in return. And liberals are creative, they bring a wonderful variety of positions and fetishes to the bedrooms of Canada.  

The true measure of a liberal is not their performance in the House of Commons but in their performance on their secretary’s desk.

But then there are the new democrats. They take their pleasures when offered. They are always ‘holier than thou.’

But they know how to ‘give a hand’ when it is needed.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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Weston Lies to MPs.

by Peter Lowry

Why is it that the grocery magnates of Canada can go to Ottawa and blatantly lie to the members of parliament? Don’t any of our MPs ever go to a grocery store? Maybe I have an advantage in that I was trained as a young man as a grocery store manager. There is no work in a store that I cannot do, other than on-site butchering. I actually like shopping for our food.

But in the last year, it has become a horrific experience. It is the combination of two different shopping experiences each week. There is the wife’s health which has required that I do even more of the shopping and food preparation for the two of us. The second factor is arranging for food to be delivered to a shut-in another city. That involves delivery.

Delivery has been a new experience for our major grocery chains. Loblaw stores are still coming to grips with customers coming to pick up their order. They let Instacart from San Francisco do the deliveries The Sobey’s people from Nova Scotia have established Voilá delivery service. It is an excellent service, if you can afford the groceries. I have finally found that the best delivery value is provided by Walmart through Instacart. In repeated tests, I found that I can save over 20-dollars a week by using Walmart and Instacart instead of Sobeys. Despite a poorly designed ordering system, the Walmart-Instacart service is worth the small frustrations. And that includes the unusual extra step necessary to eliminate the tip for the driver. I cannot imagine why Instacart does not pay their drivers adequately for their work.

But it was seeing Galen Weston sitting at the microphone in Ottawa lying to the MPs that really ticks me off. Let me give you an example: Where I live in Barrie, Ontario, I am equal distance from three Loblaw-owned stores. They are a Zehrs, a really big Loblaws and a No Frills. I expect all three of those stores are supplied from the same monster Loblaw warehouse down near Brampton, Ontario. I like orange juice and I buy the Del Monte brand that comes in 2.5 litre jugs. Pre-price gouging by Loblaw, I could get that juice at $4.49 at both No Frills and Zehrs. The price at Zehrs today is $7.25 and at No Frills is $5.24 and yet it all has the same production lot as the as the original product sold at $4.49.

I can well appreciate the overhead differences between a No Frills and a Zehrs as well as the wide mix of mark-ups between product categories. For Galen Weston to be so facile as to suggest to a question from Jagmeet Singh that Loblaw works to a four per cent profit margin on groceries is oversimplifying the situation. The three grocery chain presidents are earning millions for themselves on the struggles of Canadians trying to cope with inflation.  

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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Dougie and Bibi: L’État c’est moi?

by Peter Lowry

What have the Province of Ontario and the State of Israel in common? They have political leaders who want to rewrite the law. They want to be the law. Neither Israeli president Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu nor Ontario premier Doug Ford are lawyers but that does not stop them from trying.

In Israel, the right-wing president and his Likud Party are trying to tear down a famously fair supreme court and enable the government of the day to over-rule the court of law. In Ontario, it has to be a simpler proposition—since Ontario can be overruled by Ottawa. The change in Ontario is how you pick your senior judges.

But Canadians have seen the problems that causes in the United States. When a long-time conservative ward-healer such as attorney general Doug Downey asks for longer lists of prospective choices for senior judicial appointments, you are not too sure if he is looking in the longer lists for like-minded appointees. It is as though he is inferring that a conservative, such as himself, would be unlikely to be included in a shorter listing.

What the Netanyahu government has caused is many weeks now of massive demonstrations against the government plans. Israelis are not reluctant to show their dissatisfaction with their government.

But Canada is a country of law. Our judicial  appointments are a largely impartial process. It has to be when the judiciary have the power to force changes in the law. Just look at the mess the United States is in with the canceling of the ‘Roe vs Wade’ ruling by a partisan supreme court. Individual states in America are once again making their own rules on abortion.

What Doug Ford has experienced is impartial courts that can even overturn a “not withstanding” clause in a provincial law, to get around Canada’s constitution, when the clause is used improperly in Ontario laws. The problem is, in Ontario, Doug Ford wants to be ‘The Boss.”  

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]