Category: Federal Politics

The Good Guys are Going.

by Peter Lowry

Canada lost both a staunch liberal and a much-loved conservative in the past week.  It is a rare situation when we wonder at how difficult it will be to replace either.

I first met Marc LaLonde in prime minister Lester Pearson’s office in 1968. He laughingly referred to himself as an ‘eminence gris.’ I already knew he was a friend of Pierre Trudeau and I figured he would go anywhere he wanted in Pierre’s incoming administration.

The only time I had reason to be annoyed with him was, when as finance minister, he cut the government’s miserly $60 million support for basic health research to zilch.

Instead of going to him directly as president of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, I arranged to talk to the parliamentary finance committee that was chaired by one of our Toronto MPs. I was addressing them on behalf of friends in Montreal who had organized to support health research. It was so bi-partisan that it was an NDP MP who had my speech ‘read’ into Hansard.

My office got the call that afternoon from Pierre Trudeau’s office that Marc had found $60 million to continue funding basic research.

The other casualty of time in the past week was former senator Hugh Segal. Hugh was a conservative. I guess it is too late to ask him to please do something about that nasty little man Pierre Poilievre. He isn’t Hugh’s kind of conservative.

Hugh must have had a stroke when that ignorant fool Doug Ford came into the premier’s office in Ontario, five years ago, and immediately canceled the provincial test of the effects of the province having a guaranteed annual income. I could have told people that the test was working but Ford didn’t want that news out.

But it was something that Hugh believed in. He never was the mean kind of conservative. He was affable. He was funny. He made friends so easily. He cared.

I never got to see him in his office as master of Massey College at the University of Toronto. I bet Hugh looked great there.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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Rebuilding Poilievre.

by Peter Lowry

Nobody worries about polls, this far between elections, but there seem to be a lot of questions about conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. The most serious is, if this guy is looking so good in the polls, why is his party so hell-bent on changing him?

The first thing the party did was to take away his trade-mark glasses, leaving him squinting at the photographers.  The most recent step was to spend a few million dollars on a Hollywood remake of his wife and kids. That might have been a good idea in the age of Rock Hudson and Doris Day movies, but nobody is electing the family to anything. And, as it turns out, they don’t really have a family to run them against. Emphasizing Trudeau’s marital problems is not going to get them anywhere.

The basic problem with Poilievre is he spends all his time maligning Trudeau and claiming that he is responsible for everything from gum disease to bowel problems.

The problem is that the world is waiting for Pierre Poilievre to tell us what the hell, he would do as prime minister? It is all very well to blame poor Justin for causing the world-wide inflation but if a Canadian PM has caused it why can’t a Canadian PM fix it? If Poilievre has some magic wand, isn’t it about time, he told us about it?

Canadians are currently going through the hottest summer the world has ever recorded. Now, we understand that most conservatives think this climate change business is just a hoax to raise taxes but, as Dorothy can tell you, it is not just happening in Kansas anymore. And if Pierre Poilievre is the little man behind the curtain in Oz, he should tell us now.

Frankly, I think an honest poll might show that most Canadians are getting tired of Poilievre’s bitching about the failings of the liberals and they want him to tell us what he could do any better. Has he got some answers to the affordable housing problem?  Or do I have to start building my own igloo for the coming winter? And, make no mistake, winter is coming with all the certainty of that confusing Netflix series.

All I know about Poilievre is that that nasty little man is not interested in the needs of Canadians. He has this idea of himself ruling us with an iron fist. One of these days we might pay attention to him.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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Stupid Polls.

by Peter Lowry

It is often worth a minute or so to answer the polls run by our local Barrie Today Internet Newspaper. The publication hardly gives the Toronto Star or Globe and Mail any concern but is the most aggressive of the totally bad choices of local media here in Barrie since we lost our long struggling newspaper the Barrie Examiner, which did a reasonable job of reporting the city’s news and obituaries for some 153 years.

If I did not have a summer cold, and feeling like crap, I would probably be in a better mood. If you wanted my advice on media in Barrie and if I was in a better mood, I would suggest finding a radio station you can tolerate for breaking news and getting the Saturday Toronto Star which is chock-full of interesting obits.

But this commentary is about a particular stupid poll, the electronic newspaper was taking and the disgusting results. They asked their readers to tell them who was the best prime minister of Canada in the last half century and then the worst prime minister in the same period. I was disgusted that they forgot all about dear old Joe Clark, prime minister from June 1979 to March 1980. He was prime minister of a conservative caucus who unfortunately could not count.

Funny story about that; I worked for an American computer company at the time and the then American president of the Canadian company was interested in politics. I took him to a fund-raising dinner for the conservative prime minister in Toronto. While eating our dinner, I remarked that it was very appropriate that the conservatives were throwing a turkey dinner on American Thanksgiving. He looked down at his dinner and said, “This is Rock Cornish Hen, not turkey.”

I answered, “The turkey is the after-dinner speaker.”

He agreed with me after the dinner when he conceded that the best speech of the evening was when prime minister Joe Clark was introduced by the then premier of Ontario, Bill Davis.

But what annoyed me about that poll was that a third of the Barrie voters picked Stephen Harper and less than 20 per cent picked Pierre Trudeau. It is likely that only about half of Barrie voters would be old enough to have seen and heard from Pierre Trudeau. This country needs better history books.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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Playing the Trump Card.

by Peter Lowry

There is no doubt about it: Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is making Justin Trudeau look better every day. You can take away his glasses, his starched shirts and his insipid ties but the boy is still turning out to be the prime minister’s best friend. What has clinched it is when he plays the Trump card. It is when he fails to win the support of people in his own party.

The first campaign any new party leader must wage is with the naysayers in his or her own party. These people might not have been onside for your leadership campaign but their objectives are the same as yours and there is no easier ally than someone with the same objectives.

If you have been following the ups and downs of Donald Trump in the United States, you will note that he tends to be as vicious with Republicans who have opposed him as he is with Democrats. It turns out that Pierre Poilievre has the same failing.

The recent by-elections exposed the conflicts that are tearing at the conservative party. The Oxford debacle in Ontario drove some conservatives to not only support but work for a liberal candidate. The conservative party can write off most of those former supporters who have felt the sting of Boy Wonder.

And where does Poilievre get off in dumping on Jean Charest and Brian Mulroney in Quebec. They might be has-beens where Poilievre comes from but they are still worth some votes in Quebec and Poilievre needs all the votes he can get in that province.

And then look at Ontario. Good old conservative Ontario. Where the deer and the Fords Play. With a nutbar such as Doug Ford driving things in that province, do you really expect federal conservatives to make headway there? Ford and his conservative government not only ignore the Ontario greenbelt but think it is a great place for their friendly developers to build. With friends like these, the Boy Wonder might have to rethink his entire strategy.

What he is not doing is building any credibility as a leader. For him to spend all his effort on tearing down the liberal government, and its leader is ridiculous. He offers nothing concrete. He would deliver nothing. Why is he wasting our time?

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

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In the Summer Heat.

by Peter Lowry

In the summer we are having, you have to be damn stupid to deny there is climate change happening. In the warming of the oceans, there is danger for humans. In the increased wild fires destroying our forests, there is danger for humans. In the increased imbalance between drought and deluge, there is danger for humans. Has the world that has fed us, nurtured us and offers us pleasures now forsaken us?

What puzzles us the most in this world, sorely in need of succor, is the failure of our politicians to understand or even express concern for the real challenges to our continued occupation of these endangered lands. Why would they speak so foolishly of targets in future decades? What the hell are they doing in the here and now?

Did Mr. Trudeau strengthen the ability of his cabinet to deal with climate change in his recent shuffle. Did he elevate the carbon tax to something meaningful that could not just be passed on to consumers? Or did he leave the status quo that tends to track the mud of the septic tanks through the living rooms of the nation?

And of what use is environment minister Mr. Guilbault?

Does Mr. Guilbault think that if we ship bitumen to countries, where they can refine it into ersatz oil, that they are responsible for polluting our world? Sure, just send that gunk through the Trans Mountain pipeline to the Burrard Inlet. Send it out through the Straits of Georgia and endanger more species of whales and fish. Wash your hands of responsibility Mr. Guilbault.

And please don’t tell us of carbon capture. This is a silly ruse that captures some of the carbon from the liquifying of the bitumen. Are you prepared for the cost of pipelines built in search of new voids in our earth, with space for more carbon?

Mr. Trudeau could have strengthened our response to climate change by giving the job to someone who might stand up to him. Someone that Mr. Trudeau and the rest of the cabinet respect is definitely needed.

What is clear to Canadians is that the conservatives will hide from environmental problems, the new democrats will bluster and do nothing and the Greens have more fun fighting among themselves than fighting climate change for real. This poor world really needs better politicians.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

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Unpeeling the Onion.

by Peter Lowry

The tale has many layers as the Toronto Star continues to unpeel the doings of the last federal conservative leadership farce. The why of Patrick Brown’s ejection from the race is coming clearer in the mists of intrigue. The role of the weasel Poilievre’s campaign becomes even more understandable. The who did what to whom is told.

There is a wonderful quote by various questionable sources that says a definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. In my view, that sounds like the likely outcome of the way conservatives arrange their leadership contests. They start with the assumption that all electoral districts in Canada are the same. Any person with any experience in politics would know that is a ridiculous assumption.

Another conservative assumption is that the person who signs up the most temporary members in the conservative party deserves to win the leadership. That idea can sure bite the party in the ass. In modern politics, membership lists are being used as the party’s automated teller machine (ATM) and need constant cleaning.

And then, to top it all, the conservatives use a ranked ballot that can drive the leadership selection down to the lowest common denominator.

All you have to do is study the last three leadership contests for the federal conservative party and you will see what I mean.

But back to the Brown vs Poilievre debacle: If Poilievre’s campaign had not sabotaged Brown, John Charest might have won. I will admit that is hard to prove when you are not privy to the actual numbers but if the numbers really were secret, then Poilievre’s team were also in the dark, and with reason to worry. If Brown had stayed in the running, they would probably not have won on the first ballot.

What concerned the Poilievre campaign managers were the second votes available to Charest after Brown was the last contestant to be dropped in the counting. Brown’s second votes just might have been enough to push Charest over the top.

But now we will never know. Stupid conservatives probably destroyed the ballots.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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The Deckchairs Are Moved.

by Peter Lowry

It is not what we thought. You might have supposed that the best person available, in this recent cabinet shuffle by Justin Trudeau, would get the right job. That might be in an ideal world but Canada has to deal with regional realities and sex and skin colour when considering who gets what cabinet job. And have you ever considered how unpalatable it would be to mix Habitant pea soup with Campbell’s chicken soup?

And, quite frankly, I was impressed with the job Anita Anand had been doing in National Defence. I am appalled that someone such as Bill Blair has been given this responsibility while the war continues in Ukraine.

Blair was never charged with the kettling of innocent Canadians during the crock-up of the G20 meeting in Toronto in 2010. The Toronto police chief was spectacularly absent when the Black Bloc took over downtown Toronto streets, when Canadian citizens were kettled and arrested on The Esplanade in front of the Novatel Hotel, and then when innocent citizens, out for a Sunday walk, were kettled in the rain at Queen and Spadina. And all that time, Bill Blair was the boy in charge. The Toronto Police Services was ordered by the court to pay $16.5 million to the hundreds of people caught up in his breach of their civil rights.  He might like to think of his policing years as quasi military but they were not. He did a bad job of it and let the blame fall on an underling whose only excuse was he was following orders.

It sometimes appears that Justin Trudeau has some anger with lawyers. I cannot figure what the heck attorney general David Lametti, did to deserve being turfed from cabinet.

I was appalled that Marco Mendicino was being held to blame for his failure to communicate effectively. The man needed some help in his communications, not to be dropped like a hot potato.

It was very interesting to see how much was being heaped on the real deputy PM’s shoulders. Dominic LeBlanc has been moved to the highly sensitive arena of public safety. I, for one, will be fascinated by his attempts to tame the RCMP and to show the Security Intelligence Service their real job. In his spare time, he will continue with his responsibilities for democratic institutions and inter-governmental relations.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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The Gospel of the Right.

by Peter Lowry

It seems to be fate that the right-wing crazies in Canada search me out to send propaganda. The most recent e-mail from the so-called Montreal Economic Institute is a case in point. I might as well think of it as the Montreal office of the Fraser Institute. They only seem to send out opinions that would please members of the Peoples’ Party of Canada.

While the research is credited to the Ipsos research organization, research experts can tell you that it is how you ask the questions that helps determine the answers. For example, the first result reported by the institute is that ‘two out of three Canadians think the amount they pay in income taxes is too high.’

Well, surprise, surprise. If someone asked you if you think the amount you pay in income taxes is too high? Wouldn’t you agree?

But if the questioner gave you a long list of expenses such as Medicare, the military, medical research, federal courts, port facilities, icebreakers and airports, would you maybe think that those expenditures are necessary?  You might make a very small contribution to those expenses, yet you can be proud of that contribution.

It is the same for the second item trumpeted by the institute. They say that ‘fewer than one in four Canadians believe that the federal government spends on the right priorities.’ That is a stupid question deserving of a stupid answer. No doubt many of us have different opinions on spending priorities. How many times have you told your member of parliament what your priorities might be?

What the federal government spends each year is a very thick book. Have you ever studied the public accounts from Ottawa?

And that leads us to the third concern of the Montreal Economic Institute. It makes you wonder if these people have the slightest awareness of economics. They pick up the leader of the conservative party Pierre Poilievre’s line about government spending having caused Canada’s inflation. All he does is show his ignorance when he says that. The current inflation is a worldwide phenomenon contributed to by the medical costs of the pandemic, the disruption of world distribution systems, the ongoing war in Ukraine and the greed of industries such as the oil industry and grocery chains.

This so-called economic institute tells us that their research tells them that ‘six in ten Canadians are dissatisfied with the accountability and transparency of the federal government’s spending.’ Have six in ten Canadians bothered to verify this?

Maybe this institute should volunteer to write Mr. Poilievre’s speeches. They certainly seem to deal off the bottom of the same deck.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry             

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

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Poilievre Paid?

by Peter Lowry

Not being on the inside with the conservatives, I do not make accusations about things that I cannot prove. Knowing Patrick Brown, as I do, and having followed Pierre Poilievre over the years, it was no surprise when the Toronto Star accused Poilievre’s campaign of sabotaging Brown’s candidacy for the federal conservative leadership. It was so damn obvious but there was no way I could prove it. The Toronto Star could.

It was like Brown’s financial reports on his federal election campaigns. You knew he knew the rules. He also had the knowledge of how to skate around the rules. In his last federal election, I could never find his bus in his financial reports. It annoyed me that he could hide the cost of more than a month of renting a forty-passenger bus in his report. That bus was covered with Brown’s signs and it showed up in the most interesting places. The only time you could complain was on election day and it was supposedly taking seniors to the polls. By the time the returning office official could get to the poll where you had reported it, the bus had moved on. 

It was no secret though that Brown was a stalking horse for his friend John Charest (the former Quebec premier) in the last federal conservative leadership race. Poilievre’s concern was not that Brown had more sign-ups as temporary conservatives than Poilievre. The concern was that Brown’s second votes were all expected to go to Charest. If this was the case and Poilievre did not have more than 50 per cent of the first count votes, the vagaries of ranked voting might cause Charest to win.

But by disqualifying Brown, you not only burned his first votes but you have gotten rid of many of his second and third votes with them. And besides, with Brown out of the race, Poilievre was obviously a first-vote winner.

Were the conservative party officials right to kick Patrick Brown out of the leadership race? They probably were. What does not make sense is the word that got out was that he had broken some election laws. If this was true, the conservative officials had a responsibility to report it to the chief electoral officer. If the infraction was illegal, the chief electoral officer would have turned the matter over to the RCMP. I am not sure that happened. That detail is not included in the Toronto Star story.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

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Taking Off the Training Wheels.

by Peter Lowry

This summer the federal conservatives are road testing their new leader, MP Pierre Poilievre. They have been trying to analyze why so many Canadians are doubtful that they want him as prime minister. You would think that the numbskulls might have checked that out before letting him become conservative leader.

The conservative brain trust decided to spend the summer road testing some ideas for him. They started remaking his image by taking away his glasses. They probably thought they made him look too bookish. And when you think about it, this is one guy who needs to read more. He tends to be very shallow. Luckily, he is not walking into too many walls as he commutes around the country.

But without his glasses, he just looks myopic.

He even went home to Alberta for the beginning of the Calgary Stampede. That gave him a chance to wear a black Stetson and dark glasses. If he was trying to develop his Darth Vader look, he failed. He just looked like a kid wearing daddy’s hat.

I thought the funniest clothing change was to take away Poilievre’s plain white shirt, his dull ties and his blue suit. He treated it as though it was a uniform. I referred to it as his ‘button-down’ look.

The hardest thing to change about Poilievre is his mouth. When he sticks to the key talking points for the conservatives, housing and, inflation, he can be effective.  It is just that he sometimes reminds you of the World War II slogan, “Loose Lips Sink Ships.” The problem is that his knowledge of economics is minimal. And the problems facing the home building industry are complicated. Simple slogans don’t always work.

I get the impression that Poilievre and the premier of Alberta are getting most of their strategies from an Edmonton-based communications firm called MASH Strategies. These people seem to deal in negative campaigns. They claimed the dubious credit for defeating Ralph Goodale MP from Saskatchewan in the 2019 federal election. No doubt Ralph is enjoying his appointment in London, England as High Commissioner for Canada.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]