Category: Federal Politics

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 the upcoming Toronto Centre by-election as well as a test of the type of general election campaign he wants in 2015. It starts with an open nomination process wherein the local Liberal Party members choose their candidate.

This open process was hardly novel 25 years ago but then the rules changed and the party leader had to approve all nominations. This was quickly corrupted by feckless leaders making outright appointments. These appointments reduced Canada’s parliament to a redundant rubber stamp for the Prime Minister’s Office.

Returning to the local selection process hardly leaves the party leader unable to make a preference known but can still produce surprise results. What it does do is build stronger, healthier, harder-working local electoral district associations. And, in the long run, it produces better candidates and subsequently better MPs for the party.

With both the Liberals and New Democrats having open nominations for Toronto Centre, the by-election could become a contest between two very exciting authors. The better known at this time is Linda McQuaig. A prolific writer on the political left, Linda is seeking the New Democrat nomination. She is not the only candidate but the sheer weight and quality of what she has written in her books and as a columnist for the Toronto Star over the years gives her the high ground.

On the Liberal Party side, we have lesser known Chrystia Freeland. A former editor with the Globe and Mail, Chrystia has spent much of her career in the United States. Her recent book, Plutocrats, was based on her last ten years in America. Like McQuaig, she has a great depth of understanding of the disparities between the rich and poor in society.

Again, Freeland is being challenged for the nomination and despite being one of those who encouraged her to go after it, Trudeau is keeping hands off. He is keeping his word to the party.

It is also an interesting challenge to Prime Minister Harper. He has until January next year to call the by-election. You would think that he has enough nebbishes already in his Conservative caucus, why appoint another as candidate in Toronto Centre? If he called for an open nomination by the Conservatives in the electoral district, would anyone run?

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

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 a clear statement on the difference between the Harper Conservatives and the Trudeau Liberals.

This can become the litmus test of being Canadian. It is about how we define ourselves and how we want the rest of the world to see us. We can continue with the repression and ignorance of the Conservatives or we can return to the openness and fairness for which Canada was previously known. This is an issue in which everyone will want to have a say. It could encourage the highest election turn-out in Canada’s history as a democracy.

The Conservatives want to build prisons and fill them. They want to impose stiffer sentences on lawbreakers. They want more punishment and more vengeance. They are proud of being vindictive. That is their approach and they are welcome to it.

Liberals are less likely to give up so easily on their fellows. They prefer punishment that fits the crime and the criminal. They disagree with cookie-cutter criminality. Every person is different. Judges are there to recognize the differences and to mete out the proper penance. It is like the priest handing out the Hail Mary’s in the confessional, he knows what the worshiper’s knees can handle.

And as much as the picture will be painted by Conservative advertising, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is not suggesting selling pot through every convenience store. Like cigarettes and liquor, cannabis has to be controlled. If you drive down the highway smoking a joint, you might deserve a night in the cooler to think about it. There is little difference from driving with an open bottle of beer in your hand. So get those images of perpetual pot parties in every park out of your mind.

And you should also forget the “tsk-tsks” from the Americans. They have their own arguments about pot. America is a much more repressive society than Canada. Only the Harper Conservatives want to be just like them.

The only person who has, so far, tried to stay on the fence on this issue is New Democrat Leader Thomas Mulcair. While declaring last April that he does not want someone to go to jail for possession of a couple joints, he has denied an interest in legalization. If he tries to stick to that stance into a general election, he would be lucky to keep his own seat in Quebec. He would be the big loser.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

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 could believe what we have been hearing. It is the claim that the Lac-Mégantic disaster proves that pipelines are safer than trains.

What the Lac-Mégantic disaster proves is that if you are stupid enough to allow a train to be left unattended overnight on a downgrade of a main line, it might not be there in the morning. That, in our humble opinion, is a criminal act of negligence. After the courts have sentenced the Minister of Transport, the Department of Transport people involved and the train owners, they should also find the train engineer guilty of following orders.

But whether pipelines or trains are safer is a question that academics could argue for the next 50 years. Neither method of moving goods is perfectly safe. It cannot be. It is like flying on a commercial airline: no matter how good the safety programs, you have to remember that the parts for that aircraft were supplied by the low bidder.

While there have been many leaks and spills from pipelines over the years, we have been very lucky so far that there has been no direct loss of life. That fact is getting a serious push from running pipelines through major urban centres. Reversing Line 9 through Toronto to carry bitumen slurry is akin to threatening the Gods.

The one thing that every Canadian needs to take away from this discussion is that Stephen Harper is not a people’s prime Minister. He does not give a damn about you. He hardly gives a damn about the people in his caucus in Parliament. He is a failed economist, an untrained business supporter, a hateful leader and not a very nice person.

Ask him sometime about his Economic Action Plan. If he is being honest (for once) he will tell you that it is nothing but smoke and mirrors. The taxpayer-funded advertising for this action plan is based on surveys that ask people what they are worried about. The next flight of ads tells you how he has solved that problem. He just cuts out the middleman task of trying to solve the problem.

The only good news for you is that Mr. Harper is not likely to be Prime Minister after the 2015 federal election.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

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. Yet, you would think that for so much money, they would come up with a few new lies about the project. They know they are going to get called on the old ones. Why not come up with some new ones?

The plan is to convert TransCanada’s main gas pipeline from Western Canada to bring bitumen slurry initially to Montreal and then, through a new line, to Saint John, New Brunswick. Irving Oil of New Brunswick gave away the real plan when it announced that it would build a new $300 million marine oil terminal at Saint John to ship the bitumen slurry offshore. Neither the Montreal or Saint John refineries are presently equipped to refine bitumen into synthetic oil nor are they eager for the pollution concerns that go with bitumen refining.

What is truly frightening about this announcement is that the TransCanada spokesman claimed that the converted gas pipeline would be able to pump over a million barrels of bitumen slurry a day. Of course, he calls it oil. He could call it baby oil if he wants but you would never want that stuff near your baby’s tender behind.

Conversion of a gas pipeline to a pipeline that can handle bitumen slurry is not an overnight change. TransCanada says that it will need to replace gas compressors with about 70 pumping stations along the pipeline. It is assumed that this will include gas heaters to keep the slurry able to move easily and be able to respond to higher pressures.

It is when you add all the current pipeline schemes that you really see the scale of the oil sands development in Western Canada. The Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan pipelines would be able to send more than a million barrels a day to the west coast, the TransCanada Keystone XL and Enbridge looped Flanagan line able to send a million and a half barrels to the Texas Gulf Coast shipping terminals and now the TransCanada Energy East Pipeline joining the reversed Enbridge Line 9 with another million and a half barrels to the east coast, Canada will be pushing more than four million barrels of bitumen a day to the sea lanes. In the next ten years, the oil sands developers will want to double that volume.

It will happen fast enough if our news media continue calling bitumen crude oil.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

Submission A53195: 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 security, environmental protection and efficient energy infrastructure and markets in the Canadian public interest… And on this basis alone, the Line 9 Capacity Expansion Project cannot be allowed to run through Canada’s largest city.

It is not a question as to whether Enbridge Pipelines is going to be extra vigilant, more thorough in testing and inspecting, or wants to call bitumen slurry by some other name, a spill can be a disaster in the lives of people. Ask the people who live along the Kalamazoo River and its tributaries in Michigan. What has three years of trying to clean up the mess of that bitumen slurry spill meant to them?

Enbridge certainly does not want nor expect a spill in Toronto. One of the reasons most people have not been aware of this pipeline through the city is that it runs mostly through a high-voltage power line right of way and there was very little awareness of the installation two decades ago.

With the very serious ecological concerns for carrying bitumen instead of crude oil, there is little hope of this application not becoming much broader knowledge.

Bitumen is not crude oil, neither light nor heavy. In order to flow, bitumen must be diluted. Possible diluents include synthetic crude and naphtha. Heating can also improve the flow and this is done by adding a natural gas heater at every pumping station. Also, increasing the pressure will speed flow, putting additional strain on an old pipeline.

Mind you, the application makes little reference to the shipping of bitumen. One gets the impression that this is a minor item in the general scheme—if it were not for the forecasts of the amount of oils sands bitumen the various companies in Alberta are forecasting that they intend to ship.

When the writer offered to develop some scenarios for the National Energy Board, it was to intervene as a citizen who had knowledge of the area in which the line travels through Toronto. We offered to research scenarios of what a range of spills could mean in a dense urban environment. Research of this type draws heavily on the pipeline company, area emergency first-responders, public services (including transit) and interviews with managers of office buildings and condominiums in the area. Commercial preparation of scenarios of this type can take from six to 12 month and can cost hundreds of thousands. As a commenter, it is not possible to provide that level of work nor can we expect the cooperation of Enbridge for such a task.

What we have therefore decided to do is provide a selection of commentaries we have written for our blog, The blog, Babel-on-the-Bay ( babelonthebay.com ) is a political commentary. Two of the comments touch on the type of studies we had in mind and the others are various commentaries that reference the Line 9B Reversal and Line 9 Capacity Expansion Project.

(To access postings click on the link.)

Commentary #1

BABEL-ON-THE-BAY  July 14, 2012

http://babelonthebay.com/2012/07/14/calamity-kalamazoo-cancel-b-c-pipeline/

 

Commentary #2

BABEL-ON-THE-BAY  February 12, 2013

http://babelonthebay.com/2013/02/12/tar-sands-politicians-pipelines-greed/

 

Commentary #3

BABEL-ON-THE-BAY  March 16, 2013

http://babelonthebay.com/2013/05/19/wait-for-it-the-royal-northern-gateway-pipeline/

Commentary #4

BABEL-ON-THE-BAY  June 5, 2013

http://babelonthebay.com/2013/06/05/first-hurdle-the-national-energy-board/

 

Commentary #5

BABEL-ON-THE-BAY  June 9, 2013

http://babelonthebay.com/2013/06/09/alberta-bitumen-seeks-the-sea/

 

Commentary #6

BABEL-ON-THE-BAY  June 15, 2013

http://babelonthebay.com/2013/06/15/understanding-the-language-of-bitumen/

 

Commentary #7

BABEL-ON-THE-BAY  June 29, 2013

http://babelonthebay.com/2013/06/29/big-brother-blows-the-bitumen-bugle/

 

Commentary #8

BABEL-ON-THE-BAY  July 3, 2013

http://babelonthebay.com/2013/07/03/the-bother-of-bitumen/

 

Commentary #9

BABEL-ON-THE-BAY  July 8, 2013

http://babelonthebay.com/2013/07/08/bitumen-in-toronto-scenario-1/

 

Commentary #10

BABEL-ON-THE-BAY  July 9, 2013

http://babelonthebay.com/2013/07/09/the-lies-that-bind/

 

Commentary #11

BABEL-ON-THE-BAY  July 18, 2013

http://babelonthebay.com/2013/07/18/has-enbridge-every-lied-to-you-before/

 

Commentary #12

BABEL-ON-THE-BAY  July 20, 2013

http://babelonthebay.com/2013/07/20/heaven-knows-the-neb-doesnt/

 

Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

 

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 was hardly calling for wide availability of pot. What he says is that it should be treated the same as alcohol and cigarettes. And that is where most liberals have been arguing we should be standing.

But this stand must embarrass the right wing of the Liberal party. Their most common objection to it is “how will it effect our relations with the Repressed States of America?” What will happen is that most intellectuals and liberals in the U.S. will be impressed with our good sense. The American right wing is not going to like us more anyway.

Peter MacKay, as Harper’s new Justice Minister, responded to media requests for comment by not attacking the idea on merit. Instead, MacKay said he finds it strange that “Trudeau would be talking about legalization as a priority at this time.” In the midst of a hot summer, it makes you wonder when might be a good time to talk about it?

He pointed out that the Harper government has no intention of legalizing marijuana. He equated drug use to violence as a societal ill. After all, the Tories want to fill more prisons.

The confused New Democrat spokesperson, Deputy Leader Megan Leslie, referred to Trudeau’s statement as ‘political pandering.’ In as much as legalization of marijuana is in the NDP policy books, they are probably just annoyed that Trudeau and the Liberals took a stance first. She also mentioned the concerns with the American attitude to Canada acting unilaterally on the issue which could cause some increased border tensions.

Neither of the other parties bothered to point out that marijuana use can impair judgement. It has also been known to cause respiratory problems for heavy marijuana smokers.  This is probably why Trudeau made the point that he would not want to encourage people to use it. His objective is respect Canadians and their choices. That is what liberals do!

Maybe we could advertise it in the U.S. “Keep your guns. Have you tried our brownies?”

Mind you, the legalization and controls on marijuana could add another dimension to the federal government’s anti-smoking campaign.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

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 ego who repeats his tweets on his so-called blog. Why, we do not know. He wrote the other day that he thinks crazed republicans are as bad as crazed atheists and they should keep their bloody opinions to themselves. Being both a crazed atheist and a sort-of crazed republican, we think that he should get stuffed.

While happy to discuss religion with all but Seventh Day Adventists, we do not write about it as we have never found many people are interested. Besides, religion can be a bit of a crutch for some poor people and it is best you leave them alone.

But the monarchy is another matter. As a student of British history, the mysteries of the British love of monarchs are clearly understood. Good on them. Let the Brits keep them.

As for Canadians, the monarchy is a crock that needs to be done away with. The monarchy is not only a continuing excuse for the lack of a democratically chosen head of state for our country but is sending all the wrong messages to our youth.

In a democratic country, to promote anything that favours rank and privilege is ludicrous. Monarchs are like dead fish. They are just as useful and they give off a bad odour if left around too long.

But what this really reveals is that this so-called Liberal tweeter-cum-blogger is not very liberal. A liberal is a person who strives for the rights of the individual in society. A liberal is a reformer who seeks to further the rights of individuals, their rights to fulfilment through education and opportunity, their rights to healthcare, access to services and a life of freedom of expression and ideas.

Reform should be second nature to true liberals as we seek to create a better society for all. We must always be looking for opportunities for progress. We must always keep an open mind to ideas.

As we would say to any nice young couple making a life together and welcoming their first child, we wish the young Windsor’s well. Do we welcome their child as third in line for the hereditary role of Canada’s chief of state? We think not.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

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 us? No. They have to do studies to prove it. Now that it has been proved, where does that leave us?

There has been a debate raging here as to whether Babel-on-the-Bay should not produce suitable crying towels for Canadians. It seems to be the appropriate hand-out. All we ever seem to do in this country is bitch about things. The idea came a-cropper when we tested it on the wife. “You’re going to waste our money on what?” was all she asked. The government should test their programs on her.

Of course, it is easier to get answers from the wife than the government. Canadian Press had to use Freedom of Information legislation to find out that Canadians are generally dismissive of the Conservative government’s self-aggrandizing advertising. The government had spent $29,000 for a Harris-Decima poll that told them what we had already told them for free.

But when you find out that the Tory government has spent $330,000 just on polls related to its economic action plan, you are not getting the entire story. Creating one of these ‘feel-good’ advertisements can cost as much as $100,000. These ads might look like they were created in someone’s kitchen with a cell-phone camera, but you have to add on all the agency fees, finders’ fees, talent fees, friend-of-a-politician fees, residual fees, lighting, art direction, camera direction, political direction and coffee for the crew, you can see how it is a bit of a contest to see how fast you can spend taxpayers’ money.

To the chagrin of the government, the latest survey found that nobody had bothered to call the toll-free number for more information on the government’s economic action plan. Operators were of course, standing by—hopefully doing something useful while the telephones were not ringing. Luckily a few people were referring to the web site for more information—all three of them. Here we must reveal that one of the visitors to the site was this writer. Having a special interest in web sites, we checked out the economic action plan site. We can duly report that the site is pretentious, confusing and really says nothing—but it is obviously expensive and tries hard.

As with anything done by the Conservative government, its economic action plan fails to stimulate the economy or Canadians. It is ideologically driven, shallow and lacks any basis in truth or economics.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]