Category: Federal Politics

An Imperfect Solution.

by Peter Lowry

It might as well be admitted. I voted early. I voted liberal. There is really no choice in my Barrie riding. In a field of four candidates, there is no star. There is no strength. There is no inspiration. It is what we can expect if we ever switch to proportional voting—we will only get to vote for a party and our representatives will be nobodies, picked by the parties.

The conservative incumbent remains unchanged since the last time I saw him in in-action on Barrie city council. He was a bore then. Today, he just votes as he is told. He has nothing really positive to say for himself or his party.

Compared to the conservative candidate, the liberal is a bright star. I know she is articulate and has a brain. That helps. The fact that she was the only choice for a liberal candidate and selected by faceless party officials in Ottawa makes me wonder. She is running a very weak campaign. I almost feel sorry for her silly little signs that you have to get up close to if you want to see what they say. Luckily, it’s not as though signs mean very much in Barrie elections.

Yes, there is a new democratic candidate. There have been a few signs for her but I had to search the Internet to learn anything about her. She has been at a few candidate functions and has proved that she can quote from the NDP songbook. She is active in the arts in Barrie and this is her first attempt at politics. She is not what I had in mind in seeking out the person to vote for who best represents me.

The fourth candidate on the ballot is from Maxime Bernier’s people’s party. It will be interesting to see how many voters give this party their vote. Oddly enough, I would like to see a couple hundred votes for him. Votes for this extremist party are votes that have mostly left the conservative candidate.

In 2015 the final tally in Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte showed the then conservative candidate winning by 86 votes. Who knows who might win if the people’s party guy takes enough votes from the conservative?

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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A Fool’s Frustration.

by Peter Lowry

Conservative leader Erin O’Toole does not seem happy in his job. In this last week of our federal election, he is lashing out at others rather than recognizing the weaknesses of his own campaign. What he does not understand is that there is no perfect policy program to please Canadians. What we look for out of a political campaign is leadership. And that is what he has failed to deliver.

Looking back on this campaign, you have to admit that nobody has proved perfect. We can rail against Justin Trudeau all we like but there is nothing new, other than some of the descriptive adjectives the conservatives use. O’Toole should be more concerned about the ‘mote’ in his own eye.

As much as he complains about Mr. Trudeau’s elitist ways, he might consider his own vanity. And where does he get off changing his dreamed-up ‘middle-of-the road’ conservative policies that his party never agreed to, in the first place? And why does he think Maxime Bernier’s peoples’ party has been able to carve out such a high percentage of his conservative votes?

How many of Bernier’s voters are ones O’Toole pandered to in the conservative leadership? He was eager to accept the extremist votes then.

I have loved O’Toole’s flip-flops on gun control in this election. I have never seen a dying fish flop so much. Did he think it was leadership to announce one argument on his private stage at the beginning of the campaign, and then pull solutions from the air as the world turns? The last idea we heard, O’Toole wanted to take the definition of assault rifles out of the hands of politicians. Please, pray tell, who is better situated to tell Canadians what kind of weapon they might need to shoot a little target practice?

And you, Mr. O’Toole, are lucky my mother is not still alive. She would be out campaigning against you. My mother always told us she was too young for the suffragettes and too old for women’s liberation. She was left with six kids when middle-aged, no husband and a daycare problem. She would certainly have told O’Toole where to stuff his tax credit daycare solution!

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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The Perfidy of Quebec.

by Peter Lowry

This argument is not going away quietly into the night. Premier Legault of Quebec said the other day that the question of Quebec’s Bill 21 and 96 did not belong in a federal election debate. Justin Trudeau said the question to Bloc leader Blanchet about Bills 21 and 96 was “offensive” and “inappropriate.” And conservative leader Erin O’Toole, in one of his stronger remarks, claimed the question to be “a little unfair.” The problem remains that Canadians across the country have little problem in recognizing bigotry when they see it.

And people who think they should be chosen prime minister should stop pandering to Quebec. A Quebec court has already noted that Bill 21 violates the basic rights of religious minorities. The only way the Quebec Assembly can get away with this bigotry is with using the “not withstanding” clause in the Canadian constitution.

What those fools in the Quebec assembly need to understand is that Canada’s real strength is in its diversity of languages, customs, fashions, religions, ideas and ambitions. And nobody can ever be allowed to carve out a chunk of this country and declare it a “no-go zone” for people of a different language or religion or tribe or different environmental concerns.

More people in Quebec need to come to understand the falsehoods and the perfidy of the Quebec assembly. They need to see through the ambitions of these bigots. You might disagree with the Hassidic Jew but you have to recognize his right to his religion and customs. The observant Sikh has a right to the five Ks of the Tenth Guru—the uncut hair, the comb, iron bracelet, underwear and the symbolic knives. You do not even need a religion to enjoy the freedoms, foods and customs of others. Our country is open to all.

The facts are that as much as we might disagree with someone who wears their religion or customs ‘on their sleeve,’ they have the right to do so. You might think that those laws that discriminate against these people are not directed against you. Just wait until next year—they might be. It is by protecting others, that we protect ourselves.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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The Unbiased Media?

by Peter Lowry

Erin O’Toole is the only politician, in this election, I have heard promise to cut the funding of the CBC. Yet the CBC seems to be the only television network trying to take an unbiased approach to the September 20 election.  I gave up on CTV years ago when the network seemed to be working for then prime minister Stephen Harper.

But the surprise was the other day when I watched the West Block on Global Television. The show had three people on a political panel who are all voting conservative. What ever happened to balanced reporting?

The only person on the panel who might get a pass from me was Mayor Naheed Nenshi from Calgary. He does try to bring some honest comment to the fore. It is just that Calgary these days is a tough town if your political ambitions are anything but conservative.

When the panel was introduced, I assumed that Brad Wall, who served for 11 years as Saskatchewan premier, was the conservative spokesperson. I have never been impressed with Wall but they liked him in Saskatchewan and that has to count for something. His analysis of the current political situation was straight from the conservative song book.

The supposed liberal on the program was probably intended to be the former member of parliament Celina Caesar-Chavannes. The fact that she has publicly declared her hatred for prime minister Justin Trudeau must have been ignored by those selecting the panel. They could not have read her book about her naive experiences in Ottawa as a member of parliament. She made it very clear on the program that she was voting conservative.

What was also apparent about the panel was there was nobody on it with any real depth of knowledge of voting patterns across Canada and the more serious issues in the election.

To be fair, I did not watch the last three or four West Block programs and may have missed some programs that were entirely in favour of the new democrats or the liberals. Maybe this last program was to restore some balance. I will check next week and see if some balance has been restored.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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A Bigot’s Endorsement.

by Peter Lowry

Dammit Justin, can’t you get anything right? You were supposed to trash the Bloc’s Blanchet in the French-language debate. In the English-language debate your targets were conservative Erin O’Toole and NDP Jagmeet Singh. To give Blanchet and Quebec premier Legault reason to attack you for what you did not say in English is ridiculous.

And to give Legault an opportunity to endorse O’Toole could be both good and bad. The federal liberal deal with Quebec on daycare was supposed to lay the groundwork for a stronger liberal showing in Quebec in this election.

And let’s not blame the wrangle about Quebec bigotry the other night on the English-debate moderator. She called it as many across Canada perceive the Quebec City bullies. Bill 21 and the newer Bill 96 are part of a growing menace to the unity of Canada. They use bigotry, secularism and distrust to try to widen the gulf between Quebec and the rest of Canada. And it all is in aid of ongoing attempts for Quebec elitists to belittle and separate from Ottawa.

If Bill 21, the secularism bill, was not bigoted, why did the Quebec assembly need to invoke the not-withstanding clause in our constitution? Sorry folks but bigotry begins when we want everyone to be “just like us.” And what do you think Bill 96 is but another unneeded barrier to put down the use of the English language in Quebec?

Mind you, the picture of the Quebec premier endorsing O’Toole shows us just how stupid he thinks the conservative leader might be. We should not forget that O’Toole is the tool of premier Jason Kenney in Alberta and the close friend of premier Doug Ford in Ontario. These gentlemen have tried to stay out of the limelight lately but it goes against their nature. Like the scorpion riding across the river on the back of the gullible dog, their sting is just their nature. Both have lost their fight to withhold vaccine passports from their provinces.

But if anyone has a clearer idea of how this federal election will end, I, for one, would like to hear about it.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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Vote Local, Think Local.

by Peter Lowry

The wife and I voted on Friday. We usually vote at advance polls. It is a habit from years of working on campaigns. I usually know if my vote will be useful or not. Even when I know it will not matter, I still go to vote. Even a losing candidate needs some encouragement. You never know about next time.

And you always need to be reminded of the way the Canadian system works. It is all these local decisions that make the decision for our country. All elections in Canada really are local.

That is why I have been disappointed with the campaign in my riding. It has been a farce. There never is much of a lawn sign campaign in Barrie. And with a third of the votes coming from Springwater and Oro-Medonte Townships, political signs are rare on rural lawns.

What annoys me is that some faceless person in Ottawa made the candidate decision for the local liberals. When I asked where the candidate came from, I heard that she was the only applicant. That is a serious condemnation of our local riding association. They were not doing their job. The only solace is that this is what Justin Trudeau wanted from our local riding—nothing but money.

What Justin Trudeau left us with is a modest campaign by a liberal candidate with tiny “excuse-me” signs here and there, one radio ad I heard and a you-vote card. The incumbent conservative must be laughing. He was a useless member of the city council and is equally useless in Ottawa. He votes as he is told and does nothing for his constituents.

To send this conservative back to Ottawa will be a disgrace but there is little hope. I do not even know the name of any of the other candidates. I hardly expect as much as 60 per cent of the eligible voters in this riding to go to the polls. There is no excitement, no challenge, no enthusiasm for any candidate.

Oh well, I should have complained ten years ago when I saw that my riding was being gerrymandered to benefit Patrick Brown and the conservatives.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

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Is it a Dead Heat?

by Peter Lowry

It looks like there will be a lot of arguments in the days ahead about how Canada elects its politicians. When you are electing 338 individual members of parliament across a country as large as large as ours, a tie for first place has to be an extremely rare event. Luckily, we are not running a bookmaker operation. Nor are we accepting any bets on the coming election.

But, at this time, I cannot tell you who is going to win. Nor can I foretell what might happen if there are just a few seats difference between the top two parties. It might even involve other parties making the decision of whom they might support. This is why I have always been so interested in politics: there are so many factors at play.

This is one of those times when the political parties are really challenged to get out their vote!  There are too many electoral districts with close races.

Despite the slight edge in manning polls and getting out the vote that goes to the conservatives, Maxime Bernier might have carved out too large a niche of conservative voters for his peoples’ party.

And despite all the pollsters who have claimed that the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh is “poised” to increase the NDP vote, it will be a surprise if he does not bottom out at about 18 per cent of the popular vote. At that vote, there could be a few serious losses for the party. Those losses could help the liberals.

On September 20, I intend to stay up until we have the picture on Quebec. The liberals really have to trash the Bloc Québécois to make sure of at least a minority government again. They have already given up on too many electoral districts in Ontario.

The further west you go, the worse the news for Justin Trudeau.

These are now the odds that you should be able to get from your favourite bookie: (There was some confusion about the payoffs in the first version, so I have made these easier to understand. No vigorish or taxes are included. )

Liberal Majority Government – 7 to 3 (a $3 bet pays $10)

Liberal Minority Government – Even Money (a $1 bet pays $2)

Conservative Majority —             5 to 1 (a $1 bet pays $6)

Conservative Minority —             Even Money (a $1 bet pays $2)

NDP Majority —                           30 to 1 (a $1 bet pays $31)

NDP Minority —                           20 to 1 (a $1 bet pays $21)

Green Minority —                         50 to 1 (a $1 bet pays $51)

Bloc Québécois Minority —          100 to 1 (a $1 bet pays $101)

People’s Party —                           Don’t waste your money.

Best you save your money and vote for the candidate in your riding whom you trust to represent you.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Updating the Book.

by Peter Lowry

There is a flow to this election. It is like the wave that starts far out to sea as a gentle roller. It grows in size and anger until it crashes on the shore.

Four years ago, I had a long talk with a Canadian who was telling me how much she admired then American president Donald Trump. I was hardly surprised when her husband echoed her stand. They have two older kids who wisely stayed away from the discussion. I mention this today as the husband is running for the conservatives in the current election. He would never get my vote. He is an anti-vaxxer and belongs with the crazies supporting Maxime Bernier’s libertarian peoples’ party.

But we have conservative leader Erin O’Toole refusing to weed out the anti-vaxxers who are running as conservatives. He needs them. That small, but growing, percentage of Canadians supporting Maxime Bernier’s peoples’ party are what O’Toole needed to follow in the path of Stephen Harper. Instead, polls show his conservatives stuck in a statistical tie with the liberals     

I hated the French debate of Wednesday evening. It was a noisy, overly structured, question and answer session. It proved nothing. It was a status quo discussion between people following their individual scripts. The only time I enjoyed it was when the first question came from a New Brunswick woman. It only made a point to francophones living outside of Quebec. It was the point made by Pierre Trudeau many years ago. Canada is bilingual country and its provinces need to be bilingual. And the Bloc Québécois is an ongoing insult to our Canadian parliament.

I have been working and reworking the figures for the election odds that will be published in Saturday’s Babel-on-the-Bay. I am disappointed with the results the figures come to. Maybe, I am more disappointed with the politicians in this election. Justin Trudeau has hardly lost his arrogance. Erin O’Toole thinks he can tell voters anything just to get elected. Jagmeet Singh might come across as a nice guy who amuses children but when it comes to political success, he can forget it.

It looks like another minority government for the next couple years. That will allow the hiatus needed for the three parties to try to find better leaders. The parties need it and the voters need it.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

O’Toole’s Flip-Flops.

by Peter Lowry

It is unlikely that the air force ever taught conservative leader Erin O’Toole anything about weapons. Navigators mostly stick to the mathematics of figuring out where they are and why they are lost. In fact, based on his recent flip-flops on gun control, I would assume O’Toole knows very little about weapons. Even as a former military weapons specialist, I would be lost in today’s different forms of assault rifles, semi and fully automatic weapons.

What I do know is that they all have one purpose. They are designed to kill and maim as many of the opposing force as possible. They are not for shooting at game animals or birds. They make a hell of a mess of targets if you can hold the weapon steady. And they do make an interesting souvenir, if made permanently inoperable.

Yet, back when the wife and I were raising a family we would never allow a weapon of any type in our home. And I have never seen a need for one since.

But Mr. O’Toole seems to be carrying a brief for the gun lobby. His flip-flops on guns have been puzzling. He started out with a simple statement in his policy booklet that he would not change the liberal government’s ban on some 1500 assault rifles. That was fine. It could even be considered commendable for a conservative.

Mid campaign, he decides to revise his policy. There is now a caveat on the ban. O’Toole tells reporters that, if he is prime minister, he would have a public policy review of firearms classifications. And it would be non-political, as he wants to get the politicians out of controlling firearms.

I can not think of anything stupider than anyone other than politicians making the final decisions on firearms. They make rules on our behalf.

I would not want survivalists to rule on it. They are the ones crazy enough to want to have assault rifles.

Though, I hardly want anyone to take the varmint rifles away from farmers and ranchers. They need them sometimes.

It is a subject that requires the use of common sense. I would like to think our politicians are capable of that.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

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Throwing the first stone.

by Peter Lowry

And who will throw the first stone? It seems we now have protestors throwing stones at prime minister Justin Trudeau. It is easy to blame the anti-vaxxers, the libertarian extremists of Maxime Bernier, social extremists of the conservative party and the child minds that enjoy the excitement of the scene.

But what if we lay the blame where it belongs: with ourselves? Have we been fair to the position of prime minister? Have we shown the proper respect for the position? Or have we just reflected the anger and frustration we have all felt through the long, frightening days of confusion and pandemic?

Has Justin Trudeau done any less in the job that he wanted? Has he exceeded the boundaries of Canada’s awkward and out-dated constitution? It seems he has done what he can to mitigate the hardships of the pandemic. He faithfully reported on the efforts of the federal government to shore up the mandated responsibilities of our provincial governments. He could do no more than direct federal funds to the hurts in our economy. He searched out the coming vaccines and solutions, shopped, bought, and distributed them just as soon as they became available to us.

But, in six years, he also made his share of mistakes. They hardly need exaggeration. He is, like all of us, an imperfect person. He is a failed feminist. Ask Jody Wilson-Raybould. His choice of charities is “We,” which is a family favourite. As an environmentalist, he has been a disappointment.

And he stands in the spotlight. We have to acknowledge the good and the bad. And we should weigh the successes with the failures.

And we have to weigh him in a bad lot. Do Mr. O’Toole, Mr. Singh or Ms. Paul hold promise for us? Is one of them the answer? Will you accept the vacillations and compromises and inadequacies of their plans for our country?

There is no space on your ballot for ‘None of the Above.’ Your duty to Canada is to vote. This is not a ‘Pin the tail on the donkey’ exercise. Give it your best shot.  This Canadian will watch the debates with open mind. I will publish new odds on the race by Saturday—and then I will vote. I will vote for the candidate who best represents me in my riding.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]