Category: Uncategorized

A Healthy Healthcare?

by Peter Lowry

The other day prime minister Trudeau said at a Toronto event that the federal government was not the boss of the provinces. This is despite the very healthy amounts that the federal government has promised to help Ontario to repair the damage done by the pandemic and by the Ontario government to healthcare in the province. Despite the increased help to the province, the prime minister said he only cared if 50 per cent of the funds were spent on healthcare, provided that health care records could be electronically and rapidly exchanged between provinces.

But the Ford government in Ontario was already starving our hospitals before we were hit with COVID-19. They were cutting back on the local hospital networks. They were reducing support staff. They passed a provincial law limiting nurses raises and drove thousands of nurses out of their profession.

A surgical nurse I met recently explained to me that she can fly down to a major hospital in the United States and in four days work be paid more than she would be paid in a month in Ontario.

My local hospital here in central Ontario has had its once excellent reputation shredded by the conservatives. The lack of staff in the hospital is alarming. The once healthy food for patients is long gone.

This was a hospital that once had a waiting list of people who wanted to volunteer as the errand runners, visitor helpers and wheelchair pushers. No more. Under the pandemic, volunteers were told not to come. A friend who had relished his role in helping, came home from his first shift, under the relaxed pandemic rules, the other day and called me. He had found that volunteers were no longer reliable. In a time of reduced professional staff, fewer volunteers showed up for their shifts.

In a task normally manned by two or three volunteers, he found he was working alone. The task of dealing with deliveries, visitors and queries seemed to be further confounded by the overflow of emergency department cases that were somehow being redirected to his desk.  An older gentleman, he found that the last hour of his shift was made even more difficult because a powerful need to urinate. He would not abandon his post.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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Measuring Mediocrity.

by Peter Lowry

Have you noticed how, at every new opportunity for voting, there is a fresh flurry of letters-to-the-editor about different ways to elect. For the upcoming by-election of a new mayor in Toronto, the push seems to be for preferential voting. It is where the voter is encouraged to number (or rank) his or her preferences. I think, in this case, that would be the guaranteed method to elect a mediocre candidate for mayor.

What you would find is that the larger the number of candidates, the deeper the dive the vote count would take to find the candidate bland enough to be acceptable to a majority of voters. The previous two conservative party leadership races are an excellent example of the problem. Combining preferential voting and the silly idea that all ridings were equal gave the conservatives Andrew Scheer and then Erin O’Toole. The conservatives made the case even clearer when the party hierarchy dumped the obviously second place candidate before the voting in the last race, enabling a first-place win.

And a first-place win in preferential voting (50 per cent plus one) gives you the same result as in first-past-the-post voting. Fewer candidates and a strong front-runner are the only times that preferential voting really works. When you realize there can be 20 to 30 candidates in the by-election for mayor in Toronto, you can see the problem.

The conservatives in Toronto, who understand the problem, have their own solution. They are trying to bring their party behind a strong right-wing candidate. They might even have to hold a quasi-nominating meeting to make a selection.

But that is likely to be met by a similar possibility on the left. They might not be as open as the conservatives but I can already make a guess on the candidate preferred by the Toronto left wing (NDP) members of council.

Surprisingly, I have no idea of whom the liberals might choose. When I got my friend, fellow liberal, Keith Davey involved in Toronto politics in 1969, his reputation as ‘Rainmaker’ was muddied and the liberal party in Toronto swore off municipal politics. Yet, the party will rise again. We can only hope.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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And Another ISP Bites the Dust.

by Peter Lowry

Noting in the news that another internet service provider (ISP) has been purchased by one of the large telecom services was just another annoyance in life. There always seems to be a feeding frenzy among the big telecoms when any of these start-ups, using the large telecoms networks, make a success of it.  

Becoming less and less pleased with Bell Canada’s service, attitude and pricing the other day, I considered complaining once again to the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). It seems hopeless though, as we watch those handmaidens of Bell, Rogers and Telus appear to scurry to do the telecom giants’ bidding.

As one of the liberals who had urged the creation of the CRTC back in 1968, I was pleased that my member of parliament was Pierre Trudeau’s choice as minister responsible for the new department (which included the CRTC).

It also got him away from a thankless job at a lower cabinet level. I had written a report (gratis) for him showing him how to get around his problems with the way his department was being run by the deputy minister. This was back when the deputy ministers where the College of Cardinals in Ottawa and the Clerk of the Privy Council was the Pope. (I never did pick my enemies carefully.)

Knowing how the CRTC functioned paid off at those times when I interceded at commission hearings. The first time was fun when I got into an argument with a chairman who seemed overly-impressed with his own importance. To the annoyance of the applicant companies though, the wording of the commission ruling was taken directly from my submission.

Knowing how the CRTC functions was ignored though when during the Chrétien government, my good friend Herb Grey suggested to John Manley, who was the fellow cabinet member responsible for Ontario appointments, that it would be a good idea to appoint me to the CRTC. I had no idea that my late friend was sending that to John Manley. If there is one serious division in the liberal party of Canada, it is between the right and left wings of the party. He was wasting his time. Herb and I were both known in the party for our left of centre views. Manley was a leader on the right wing. 

What I got from Manley was a snide letter telling me I did not have the experience necessary for the CRTC. It would have looked better if he had asked me.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

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Poilievre’s Path.

by Peter Lowry

Where are the Brown Shirts? Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is picking a path that has been trampled before. In the 1920s, in Bavaria, there was another weaselly little man with his sights set on overturning his country’s fledgling republic. He challenged the country’s democracy. He derided the openness of the news media.

Are his Brown Shirts the truckers with their false flags? Was it for them that Poilievre refused to answer questions from a CBC reporter the other day? Is he targeting Canada’s publicly-owned news gathering capability in favour of re-instituting Stephen Harper’s right-wing friendly Sun TV?

Poilievre was there, on the scene, when the Harper government made every attempt to bring the news media under their influence. He watched the Trump organization in the United States with its own drummers of American media such as Fox News.  And it might be that Poilievre is mining many nickels and dimes from the far-right through social media.  

But he lies, you know. Poilievre deliberately demonizes the legitimate Canadian leadership. He claims that the funds made available to Canadians through the worst of the pandemic were printed by the Bank of Canada at the request of the prime minister. You can be assured that this lie was deliberately used to defame, as the little sneak knows full well, that the funds distributed were borrowed at the low rates of interest available during the pandemic.

But this person, who has spent his entire adult life in politics, is seeking to convince working Canadians to support his foolish schemes. He wants to fire the governor of the Bank of Canada and turn Canada into a high-risk, uncontrolled Bitcoin economy.

He blames our prime minister for all the financial problems the world is facing, as the pandemic lingers. He complains about the expenditures Canada is making to support the Ukrainians in the face of Russian aggression. He says everything is the prime minister’s fault and yet has never really said how he could improve our situation.

I often expect him to blame the prime minister for global warming but Canadians might notice that he has absolutely no plan to effectively reduce Canada’s high emissions of greenhouse gases. Like most people hoping to become tyrants, he expects us to buy his lies. I do not think we will.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

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Local Lies.

by Peter Lowry

Writing about American right-wing crazies the other day was not to ignore such dumbasses on our own doorstep. And the people generating false news in Canada are just as guilty as the Trump troglodytes. Their favourite targets for spreading their evil evidence are people they consider of lesser intellectual capacity.

It took a lot of patience recently to hear out an older person with the mental age of a 14-year-old. He was telling me what he was hearing about politics in Canada. He was being told irresponsible garbage about the prime minister. He was convinced that Justin Trudeau was evil. Much of what he told me was scurrilous filth and does not bare repeating.

The point is though, that as much as I might disagree with the prime minister, I respect the position and, on some issues, I readily agree with him. I just find him elitist and I strongly object to what he has done to the liberal party. I think he is an actor who has ridden his political sham too far. I believe our country has real liberal leaders in the offing and Mr. Trudeau should step aside.

At the same time, I have little patience with the source of much of the Trudeau bashing. Watching Pierre Poilievre respond to questions about Justice Paul Rouleau’s report the other day I could only think that the worm was just digging himself further into the dirt. Mr. Poilievre is not part of the solution. He uses every sneering word he can think of in regards to our prime minister. He welcomed the ‘freedom convoy’ to Ottawa, fed them donuts and offered no help in law and order. Those trouble-makers, posing as truckers, are the people who made him leader of the opposition and his fellow conservatives will soon learn to regret their presence in their party.

What worries me is the abysmal ignorance of those people about how this country works, their lack of understanding of our constitution and their self-indulgent attitude. It is frightening. Mr. Poilievre is going to continue to play on their ignorance. Luckily it seems that many women can see through Poilievre’s shallow veneer, but I would still feel better if there was a real liberal leading the liberal party.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

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The Science of Lies.

by Peter Lowry

Newton’s Third Law says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It seems that the lunatic fringe of Donald Trump’s America denies that law. The extremists of the right, will let no incident slide by, that they do not blame on some imaginary left-wing cause, against which they must take up arms.

For quite some time, Babel-on-the-Bay has been receiving e-mail releases from pro-life and pro-republican organizations railing against the “out-of-control” extremists of the left. While I have been wondering when these supposedly ‘out-of-control’ democrats might respond, I have continued to make good use of the computer’s delete capability.

But I took the time to read one of these diatribes the other day and I was appalled that anyone could write such unmitigated crap. This missive, of some 900 words, was supposedly written by a Jerry McGlothlin and while he does not identify his organization, he tells me I am a special guest. Since I do not wish to communicate with this person and what might be a sick mind, he should be advised that a blog is not a logical recipient of news or even anti-news releases. Blogs deal in personal experience. They reflect the opinions of the writer. And, in my opinion, this gentleman might need mental health help.

I have never heard of a disease that uses the imaginary power of Antifa as the culprit for so many evils. Antifa is supposedly a communist-front organization that murders and fire-bombs the god-fearing folk who cheered at the ending of Roe versus Wade. According to Mr. McGlothlin, Antifa is just waiting for the FDA to end the availability of the abortion pill to start the revolution in earnest.

Obviously, Mr. McGlothlin is not aware that the few pathetic remnants of Antifa are hopelessly disorganized and unlikely to provoke a good fist fight.

And as to blaming Antifa for the murder of Catholic Bishop David O’Connell in Los Angeles, the more reliable Associated Press tells us that the husband of the bishop’s housekeeper has been arrested and charged with the murder. Please Mr. McGlothlin, I think you should seek help.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

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Lucki’s Luck.

by Peter Lowry

Comment #3 on the Rouleau Report:

Commissioner Brenda Lucki of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has resigned and retired from her job. She managed to time the resignation to escape the criticism due to Canada’s police forces in the Rouleau Inquiry report. Her and the RCMP certainly deserved their share.

As a youngster, I was deeply impressed with the books about the derring-do of our red coats of the north. As a young airman I was less than impressed with brash young officers on provincial duty, fresh out of 26 weeks at the Regina training depot.

In business, I found the RCMP open and interesting to work with but very much tied to an NIH (not-invented-here) attitude. To put it bluntly, the RCMP is quaint. The force is like the Yeoman Warders at the Tower of London, useful for some colour against the background of the Canadian Prairies, but an anachronism.

If Lucki had been smart enough to realize that it was her responsibility to lead the charge of her force up Parliament Hill on the miscreants of the ‘freedom’ convoy, our politicians could have slept better and she could be retired with honours. Sure, it might have been setting aside some of the restrictions on her force yet it was hardly unlikely that anyone in Ottawa would make a serious complaint.

But as it was, her force was part of the scepticism and dithering. Her communications with Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Thomas Carrique proved she was not doing her job.

We were just damn lucky that emergency preparedness minister Bill Blair was not turned loose on the convoy people. In 2010, during the G20 meeting when Blair was Toronto police chief, he was in titular command of an expanded police force. Yet with a more than adequate force he still let some crazies run amuck vandalizing downtown Toronto, and did nothing. He waited until the next day and his force kettled innocent citizens out for a summer, Sunday evening walk downtown. It is really too bad that there was never an inquiry into that serious abuse of police powers.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

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Federalism’s Failure.

by Peter Lowry

Comment #2 on the Rouleau Report:

 Justice Paul Rouleau understated it in his inquiry report when he labelled our policing as dysfunctional and a failure of federalism. While he showed a great deal of patience and the laid-back attitude of a good judge, he failed to take the report into the pitiful condition of our democracy. There were more than the ‘Freedom convoy’ organizers and dysfunctional police forces to blame for the winter sports on the streets of Ottawa in February, 2022.

The very heart of the problem is the failure of our politicians and their supporters to appreciate and respect our democracy. You can blame the pandemic for emphasizing the severity of the problem but it was building before the pandemic helped create the perfect storm. It was as though the country had learned nothing from the ravages of the Spanish Flu, a hundred years previous. The restrictions of our out-dated constitution and our politicians’ missteps left the country vulnerable and unable to deal with the pandemic in a unified manner.

What the pandemic helped accelerate was the breakdown of Canada’s increasingly dysfunctional confederation. Canada is a country of infinite potential, plagued by the mediocrity of our politicians under an increasingly unworkable constitution. Our politicians had already allowed the selloff of our ability to quickly develop and produce vaccines, when they permitted Connaught Laboratories to be sold to a company in France.

While Justin Trudeau did a good job communicating the needs and exigencies of COVID-19, his solitary presence in front of Rideau cottage made him a singular target for frustrations people felt with the confusing lock-downs and other pandemic-related restrictions. The prime minister made himself a target.

The bitterness and anger were also exaggerated by the blame laid by the opposition. The mean, vicious and exaggerated attacks on the prime minister by conservative critic Pierre Poilievre in parliament became mantra for the dissatisfied.

The situation was hardly helped by the carping of provinces such as Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. Unrealistic blame was laid on our federal government. In the province of Ontario, it was an inexperienced and self-indulgent government that left people confused and upset with federal as well as provincial answers.

The question Justice Rouleau left hanging is: How are we going to fix this country?

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

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Hébert Hardly Helps.

by Peter Lowry

While I have always respected Chantal Hébert’s opinion, whether written in the Toronto Star or expressed on the CBC, she lost my support in her commentary on the official languages act revision, to be presented soon to parliament. I have never before seen her use bias for facts.

But when she denies that Quebec Bill 96 is an attack on English language rights in Quebec, she is wrong. And should the federal liberal government enshrine that tribalism in federal law, they will drive a wedge in the liberal party that might never be healed.

And, yes, what you see in Quebec’s Bill 96 is tribalism. It cannot be racism because francophones and anglophones are mostly of the same race.

What needs to be understood about the current language laws in Quebec is that the Quebec assembly is trying to put the English language in stasis in Quebec. The law, as it stands, puts a cap on English education. The Quebec government refuses to allow freedom of choice. It refuses to allow anything other than French in the working environment.

It is too bad that Chantal keeps her focus on Quebec but when she challenges the language laws in the rest of the country, I sincerely believe she is wrong. The lady has probably never been in the kitchen of a good Chinese restaurant. Nobody in the rest of Canada cares what language is used in preparing Peking Duck, as long as the result is tasty.

I was once asked to accept a government contract for a year, reporting to a federal government facility in Laval, Quebec. It was convenient for me but I was somewhat surprised when I reported for duty the first time and found that the language of the facility in Laval was, understandably,  French. Nobody had thought to ask me if I spoke French.  And, to be fair, I am a neophyte in French. While I enjoy the language and have spent considerable money on individual tutoring, my French language skills would embarrass an eight-year-old. I got through all the meetings that year by always sitting beside a person whom I knew was bilingual and checking periodically on the more obscure words being spoken. There were always some amused looks though when I tried to answer questions in French. While it was a fun and worthwhile experience, I had to turn down the offer of a contract renewal.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

B.S. By the Barrel.

by Peter Lowry

The advertisement was on four full pages wrapped around the front (news section) of the Saturday Toronto Star. I have no idea what an ad such as that costs these days but it has to be north of $20,000. You would think that an ad that big, with that much space, that would cost at least $20,000, would say something positive.

Nope. The ad is sponsored by the six major oil sands companies in Alberta. And they have a plan. This plan has actually been going on for quite some time. The ad says that they have invested in technology and innovation and the plan is ‘robust.”

This robust plan consists mainly of what is known as carbon capture. The basic idea is capturing the carbon that you have created, liquifying it and putting it back underground. The oil sands people have had this plan in action for some time and are very pleased to announce that they plan to reduce their CO² emissions annually by 10 million tonnes by 2030.

The 10 million tonnes might seem impressive but against the industry figures as recent as 2019, when it was causing 241 million tonnes of CO² emissions, seems puny.

The fourth page of the ad tells us that they believe they are on the path to ‘Net Zero.’ Since it has taken them ten years to get to cutting emissions by 22 per cent per barrel, just how long it will take them to lasso the remaining 78 per cent might be open to questions. And they fail to tell you at what stage in the life of bitumen from the tar sands do they stop taking responsibility for the pollution it causes.

Does their responsibility end after they have heated the water, forced it down to the layers of fossilized bitumen in the earth and brought the liquid bitumen to the surface? Or does it end after the bitumen has had the sand and other impurities removed, so that it can be heated and forced through a pipeline?

Do the oil sands company’s responsibilities end when the bitumen is loaded on ocean tankers and heads through the Georgia Straight towards the Pacific Ocean? Does the foreign refinery take responsibility for the huge amounts of bitumen slag left when the bitumen is refined into ersatz crude oil? And who takes responsibility when the ersatz oil is refined into gasoline, fuel oil or other petroleum product and creates further pollution?

It seems to me that there is never an end to destroying our planet with tar sands.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]