Category: New

The Second Ottawa Convoy.

by Peter Lowry

Since they could afford to fly, there are no trucks parked on Wellington Street in Ottawa this week. This convoy from the west is made up of senior executives from the Alberta oil industry as well as entrepreneurs and other Alberta industry leaders. We are told, they come in peace.

They are not exactly there to deny the comments and stratagem of Alberta premier Danielle Smith, they just smile a lot when her plans for a separatist Alberta are questioned. They have already been welcomed by prime minister Justin Trudeau. They might not want to publicize their meetings with conservative leader Pierre Poilievre—no doubt their names are prominent on the Ottawa cowboy’s donor lists.

This convoy seeks, they say, collaboration. They are selling the friendly face of Alberta. They have named the convoy as “One Alberta, One Canada” We are not overly sure just what that means but they say it with a happy face.

While the group was put together by Alberta’s oil industry, chambers of commerce, and Alberta economic development agencies, its natural leader is the executive chair of Cenovus Energy, Alberta’s largest company in the tar sands extraction business. His name is Alex Pourbaix and he seems to be central to all the interviews by eastern news media.

It is a chance for him to pump the unproven carbon capture plan of Pathways Alliance. This is a consortium of various tar sands companies who want the federal government to fund their sketchy plan. What is cramping his presentation is the advertising campaign by the Alberta provincial government saying that the federal government’s clean electricity plan, that is coming soon, will increase the cost of electricity. That is very brave of the Danielle Smith government to suggest that will be the outcome of a plan they have never seen.

But easterners are coming to expect this type of presumption from Alberta’s united conservatives. Their recent display of erratic arithmetic to claim they own more than half of the funds in the Canada Pension Plan must have taken a lot of chutzpah.

But more and more, you get the impression that Alberta premier Danielle Smith and the leader of the opposition in Ottawa, Pierre Poilievre, have the same speech writers.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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American Chaos.

by Peter Lowry

It is not that we have been ignoring what is going on with the Americans. We just keep hoping it will heal itself. Past President Trump is under indictment and on trial in a few states and it seems that he sees no problem to continue running to be president again.

These are uncharted seas. The man continues to delude himself that he can again run for president. And the people who want to vote for him who are suffering from the same delusion.

The really scary part of this fiasco in the United States is that it happened before. It must have been the soap opera that entertained us through the pandemic. Watching the antics of Trump and friends in the White House was our entertainment. It was unreal. It couldn’t happen here, we told ourselves. We lied to ourselves.

We’ve got a guy named Pierre Poilievre who is further right wing than Trump and friends, thinking he can be prime minister of Canada. If you believe pollsters, two years before the voting, can pick a winner, you might be just as deluded as those poor Americans.

Can you just imagine a pissing contest between the American White House and the falling down 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa? And you thought relations were bad between Ottawa and New Delhi? Just wait until you’ve got two right-wing twits slinging right-wing insults back and forth on the Internet. And we used to think that aluminium embargoes in the East and softwood lumber in the west were a strain on our economy?

With our luck, President Trump would send a platoon of American Marines to Ottawa to arrest the Canadian prime minister. Maybe we could embed a CBC camera crew and reporter with the Marines to record the historic event. We would see the Marines asking directions of an Ottawa police officer on how to get to Sussex Drive. They could still go to the wrong side of Sussex and break into Rideau Hall in error. Imagine taking the Governor General back to Washington as a prisoner of war. Would she have to confess to the burning down the White House in the War of 1812?

Would the Americans expect the Brits to pay a ransom for their Governor General?

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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Liberating Liberalism.

by Peter Lowry

Listening to the candidates for the leadership of the liberal party is not doing much to promote liberalism. You get the impression that Ted Hsu MPP is the only one enthusiastic for a liberal government in Ontario. Bonnie Crombie might be the front-runner yet her ‘Big Tent’ approach might be more practical than liberal. Yasir Naqvi reminds me of the support the liberals always got from the more recent Canadians because it was liberals who always supported newcomers. Nate Erskine-Smith MP is probably the one who best understands liberalism.

But we will miss Adil Shamji as he was the candidate who best looked up to liberalism for the benefits to our citizens. Maybe one of the key questions for the remaining debates in the leadership contest is to question the candidates on their liberalism.

We could probably count on Ted Hsu for the intellectual answer to the question. He is the candidate most likely to recognize the freedom and democratic benefits of liberalism. He obviously sees liberalism as less demanding on the individual.

While Yasir Naqvi MP is obviously the most dedicated to liberalism, his is a more visceral liberalism. He sees it as not only standing for human rights over other political parties but core to the democracy in our Canadian society.

Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie’s approach to liberalism is similar to my late friend Hazel McCallion. Hazel always took a somewhat conservative approach to running Mississauga. It helped her get the job done. She would have had a laugh when Ontario premier Doug Ford dreamed up his ‘strong mayor’ policy. She would never have needed Doug Ford’s support for anything she felt she needed to get done. The only thing she could not get done was to convince me to move to Mississauga. I was too loyal to my liberal roots in Toronto.

I think Nate Erskine-Smith’s approach to liberalism would be the most complex. He comes from the more gentrified part of Toronto’s east end. Based on his time in England, he probably has a more complicated story to tell about the origins of his liberalism. His reputation as a maverick member of parliament also is the question.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

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A Cutting Contest.

by Peter Lowry

The other day, we addressed the severity of the military budget cuts. The bad news is that there are more cuts to come in other departments of the federal government. It is as though Mr. Trudeau is in competition with Mr. Poilievre. He is showing the conservative leader that liberals can make as many or more foolish cuts in federal spending than the conservatives might.

To understand the federal spending in its simplest form is to consider the debts of a person making $5,000 each month. If the person only had debts of $1,000 to service each month, it would not be much of a problem. Of course, when you expand the debt to include federal agencies, the provinces and their debts plus the debts of each citizen, the right wing gets very upset. It is very difficult for the average citizen to comprehend trillions of dollars.

But at the same time, it is very difficult to compute the revenue of the government, federal agencies, the revenues from each province and the income and personal debts of Canadians. It seems that the right-wing agencies such as the Fraser Institute and the Montreal Economic Institute are in horror of our debt.

What they forget to mention in their complaining is that Canada is a country that attracts new citizens every day from around the world. We just past 40 million in population. Some might not be permanent residents as they are Ukrainians who needed safe haven away from Russia’s war. In the meantime, they are helping Canada grow.

And we are a rich nation. The products of our mines, the wood of our forests, the produce of our farms, herds and orchards join the products of our engineers, designers, planners combined with our factories are known around the world. And Canada is proud to be a trading nation. We also have access to the products of countries of this artistic and inventive world.

And we continue to grow our economy. Yes, we grew our debt a little faster during the worst of the pandemic. It was never more debt than we could handle. The alarmists who would frighten Canadians over the debt are doing it for their benefit, not yours.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

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Carry On, With Four.

by Peter Lowry

It is a long trudge to the December decision for the Ontario liberals. You can well appreciate the decision of Adil Shamji MPP to step aside from the contest for the leadership. Likability is not the measure Ontario liberals are applying to the current leadership contest. Winning is what is churning their decision. It is obvious the decision has been made.

The debate in Stratford on Sunday was the “We all love farmers event.” It is actually about time that the liberals called the bluff of the conservatives in usurping the support of farmers across Ontario. It is obvious to most people involved in agriculture that the Conservative party and the Ontario Landowners organization have been taking them for granted for a couple generations.

I think, if you wanted to pick a winner in this event, it was Ted Hsu MPP. This candidate is the surprise of the contest. While he lacks the experience needed to become leader of the Ontario liberals, He is by far one of the smartest people, I have ever listened to in Ontario politics. What a novelty that would be to have some brains in the premier’s office!

I always liked Yasir Naqvi. The MP for Ottawa Centre was always a go-getter in my estimation, but he lost a few points attacking Bonnie Crombie. He obviously won a few points when he attacked Doug Ford for his attack on the promise of Ontario, so maybe it balanced out.

But I really don’t think Yasir will do it again. He saw that he had gotten to Bonnie when he thanked former mayor Hazel McCallion for the homes being built in Mississauga.

Thankfully, Bonnie had to wait to answer his dig. When she did, it was a soft approach. Anyone who knew Hazel, would know that she would never leave Mississauga in the wrong hands. Hazel did not make up her mind overnight but when she endorsed Bonnie, it was with the obvious appreciation of Bonnie’s skills.

The disappointment for the day was in Nate Erskine-Smith. Everyone has an off day but Nate needed more enthusiasm for the debate. He knows that Bonnie Crombie is winning.

There are more debates planned. It would help in the upcoming debates to have a professional on the sound so that the audience are not having to change the sound levels they are getting and the candidates can hear the debate moderators.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

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Cuts With a Dull Knife.

by Peter Lowry

The generals are upset. We hear that the government wants to cut a billion dollars from the military budget. Which means we are reneging again on our promise to our NATO allies that we will spend two per cent of our national gross domestic product on preparing for war—or, at least some peace-keeping. There is always a fight going on somewhere in this fractious world.

 It means we better not go to war with anyone while this cut is happening. I was assuming that the arms and ammunition we were sending to help Ukraine were out of our military budget anyway. It does not seem to read as a ploy to cut spending on the Ukraine.

If they asked me, which I doubt, I would cut the stupid F-35A from the Americans. This is supposed to be a $14.2 billion deal over the next ten years.  The way these aircraft deals with the Americans work, you end up spending twice as much because the planes need constant upgrades and fixes. Canada would end up ten years from now with what ever of the 88 planes that have not crashed from trying to get from one part of our country to another without refueling. Why we would buy any planes that are short range fighters instead of long-range patrol aircraft is either a testament to the persuasive salesmanship of the Americans or our own stupidity. The only practical consideration is that the Americans let us sell them some parts for the F-35 because we have been pouring money into the development of the plane for the past 20 years.

Of course, part of the billion-dollar savings will be in personnel. At a time when more and more our military are being deployed for national emergencies such as floods, forest fires and other disasters, we might have more generals available than we have the lower ranks. We would have nobody for peace keeping or any of that other aid-type stuff that once earned Canada a reputation as a country willing to help.

Dare I mention that Canada once had a plane called the AVRO Arrow. It was one of the most advanced fighter aircraft ever designed in the world. Our politicians put an end to that foolishness and cancelled it before it went too far.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

Waiting for Mr. Trudeau.

by Peter Lowry

It appears that conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has a careful plan. He never bothers to fry small fish. It was very evident in the past week that he was not going to waste his resources on House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota.

Mr. Rota had made a mistake. It seems that one of his guests to hear the speech by the Ukrainian president Zelenskyy to the house of commons had not been properly vetted.by Canada’s pathetic security apparatchiks.

But would Mr. Poilievre be satisfied with the resignation of the house speaker? No, he only wants to attack Mr. Trudeau. If a flying insect got into his soup in the parliamentary dining room, Mr. Poilievre would blame Mr. Trudeau.

It is not as though Mr. Trudeau is entirely blameless. He is just not some kind of God who sees the sparrow fall. As much as Mr. Poilievre holds Mr. Trudeau to fault for the world-wide pandemic and the strains on the provincial medical systems that suffered so much criticism while doing their very best throughout the worst of the pandemic. If anything is to blame for the current animosities across our county, it is the disparate and piecemeal Medicare system in Canada. As hard as the federal government worked to get people to pull together, Mr. Poilievre was there in parliament, trying to pull things apart.

As the pandemic abates, Mr. Poilievre turned his attention to the world-wide inflation that ensued from the pent-up failures of the world’s distribution systems. Of course, he blamed Mr. Trudeau again.

Like the rotten child who starts killing flies by pulling off their wings, Mr. Poilievre uses peoples’ pain and hate, to seduce them. If you did not hate someone before listening to him, you will when he is finished.

It is a wonder what the conservative leader would do if he did not have Mr.Trudeau to insult and accuse and lie about. Mr. Trudeau can make his own mistakes. He hardly needs Mr. Poilievre to dream up new ones for him.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

Common Sense Conservatives?

by Peter Lowry

A piece of junk mail came to my home the other day. It was probably the worst mailing from a political party, I have ever seen. There must be Ontario residents in their twenties today who would not remember the Mike Harris conservatives and their common-sense revolution of 1995. The ignorance of what these federal conservatives are offering Canadians today is even more frightening.

This mailer said that they can increase paycheques, build affordable homes, lower prices, make our streets safer and bring home “freedom” (whatever that means?). I might not be a big fan of Justin Trudeau but at least he doesn’t treat Canadians as though they are stupid.

What annoys me the most about these conservatives is that they are railing against the government that got us the vaccines to carry us through a world-wide pandemic. The first concern of the liberal government during the pandemic was our people, making sure they the money they needed to live through those terrible times of lock-downs and constant fear of becoming sick and dying.

These are conservatives who are opposed to cutting back on the pollution that is throwing our world into the chaos of climate change. They are opposed to any new taxes, whether they are designed to help people or not.

You would think that the time of Stephen Harper as prime minister would have proved to many Canadians that the meanness and cruelty of that conservative government did not need repetition. Ontario residents should be particularly wary after the lies and larceny of its conservative provincial government under Doug Ford.

I have no idea why these modern-day conservatives are so ideological and ignore the real needs of Canadians. They certainly march to a different drummer than conservatives such as prime minister John Diefenbaker and Ontario’s premier Bill Davis. As a liberal, I liked those two—because they cared about people.

Pierre Poilievre MP is a man of little life experience, who is committed to the extremes of conservatism. He will do anything, say anything, to get people to vote for him and his followers.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

Leave the Old Feuds Behind.

by Peter Lowry

When Stalin of Russia murdered more than five million Ukrainians by starvation in the 1930s, did the world rush to their aid? Didn’t Finland fight the Winter War alone against Russia in the winter of 1939-40? Most of the Canadian population were not even here for those events. Nor does the majority of our population know much about the events in the Punjab since India’s independence in 1947.

To those of us born in Canada, events such as pogroms and genocide are far away and too often forgotten. Canada welcomes people who are refugees from the problems of the world but we tire quickly from the import of these antipathies. We listen to the adventures of those who struggled to get to Canada. We are glad they are here.

But these people, whom we welcome, must learn to leave the old animosities in the old world that suffered them. And it is not that we do not care about the wrongdoing their people have endured. One on one, we can commiserate. There is also forgiveness.

Canadians cannot take sides in the atrocities of the past in faraway countries. The arguments of the Armenians, for example, belong in the old countries.

Most Canadians have only heard of the Waffen SS that a 16-year-old Ukrainian joined at the beginning of hostilities in the Second World War. It was a time when the hatred for the Stalin genocide of the 1930s was far more palpable in the Ukraine than any understanding of the horrors to come of the Nazis.

The man from the Ukraine who was in parliament the other day, reminds me of an Austrian who came to Canada after the Second World War who had been trained to fly the early German jet fighter planes. He was captured by the Russians. After the war he escaped from a Soviet Gulag and walked across a continent to return home to Austria. He was of noble heritage, yet nothing remained for him in his homeland.

He came to Canada and we accepted him. He had to dig ditches for a while to get a start but what we did not yet know about him was his skills as a designer and as an artist that would make him famous in his adopted homeland.

So be aware, no matter where you were born, Canada welcomes you. Just remember to always leave the old animosities in the old countries. They have no place here.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

Who Are We Hurting?

by Peter Lowry

Listening and reading the advice of so many, we find we are in the hands of imperfect problem solvers. We complain to our politicians and yet we find them on the next kneeler, wringing their hands in frustration. We lay the blame on industries and all they want is to complain to us of their challenges. And if we complain to the central bankers, they whip us with increased interest rates. And the cycles of pain continue.

Politicians can offer only false crutches. Wage and price controls are possible. And they can offer special taxes on the more offensive industries. What happens when those plans and taxes have run their course? The only truth is we are hurting ourselves. We are further grinding down on the poor, the disadvantaged and the minimum wage earners.

Sure. We can blame industry. Industry only thrives in friendly environments. They can fold their tents and steal away in the night. And what becomes of our jobs, our goods, our goals and our economy?

Canada is a trading nation. It is too late to think of changing that fact. Only fools want us to accept deep cuts in our standard of living, this late in the game. Nobody wants Canadians to be the biblical hewers of wood and drawers of water. Canada is a winter nation. As seasons temper, due to global warming, nobody wants to forecast the vagaries in our future. Will wildfires continue to tear at our forests? Will hurricanes and cyclones pester our shorelines? Will our rains continue to flood our homes? Will our power lines continue to be torn by high winds? We have no insight into the world of tomorrow.

What we do know about the future is that we are ill-prepared. Crops can fail in the path of droughts. Mines will be depleted. Water routes will etch in new directions. Technology will offer new revenues and changes in direction. New world-wide plagues will beset us. New diseases will be discovered as some are cured.

In addendum: When Tom Smyth retired from Heinz Canada as chair and CEO, in 1995, the food industry in Canada lost a strong advocate. Tom was, at heart, a farmer. He understood the food industry in all its stages. Canada needs others of that verve

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]