New – Page 332 – Babel-on-the-Bay

Toronto’s Phoney War begins.

February 25, 2014 by Peter Lowry

The endurance contest in Ontario that has replaced municipal election races has its own challenges and strategies. The Toronto mayoralty race can be considered launched Monday with the official entry of Councillor Karen Stintz and former provincial Conservative Leader John Tory. And like the period from September 1939 to April 1940, it can be described as a “Phoney War.”

But there were many casualties on land and sea in that period of the Second World War and there will be casualties by the time the Toronto mayoralty contest comes down to the basic three. By the end of the summer, the race is expected to consist of the also-rans and Olivia Chow, Rob Ford and John Tory.

Olivia Chow is the only still undeclared candidate but she will have to move fast now as people are already wondering about her obvious expenses—which are illegal if she is not declared. Most of the people working for her must be betting on the Come but she is accumulating far too many political debts for a sensible campaign.

Meanwhile, Rob Ford can spend whatever is necessary to try to hold on to enough of his support in a three-way race. It is simple mathematics to reason that he can win with as little as 35 per cent of the voters who get to the polls. And it is important to note that both Ford and Tory are personally wealthy. One of the loopholes in municipal election law in Ontario is that candidates can spend as much of their own money as they wish. It is the outside funding that is restricted.

This is John Tory’s last political hurrah and he will pull no punches. It is interesting to note that he understands the job of mayor as well if not better than Rob Ford. He does not have Ford’s populist instincts but he sure beats him in sincerity and trustworthiness. He also beats him in management experience, political experience and good manners.

To the chagrin of the Olivia Chow exploiters, she has never even led a pack of Brownies. As a city councillor and as a Member of Parliament, Chow has had a less than spectacular career. While the people around her think that makes them more important to her campaign, watch for the day she believes their propaganda for her and tries to do something on her own. There will be some interesting campaign bloopers in that camp.

But this is a long race. We will save our bets until Labour Day.

-30-

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

Wynne’s policy picks are puzzlers.

February 24, 2014 by Peter Lowry

Maybe some of us are a bit slow on the up tick. An e-mail arrived the other day saying that Premier Wynne now had a way forward. It came from a policy input program on the provincial Liberal web site called Common Ground. If this is the best that the Liberal Party in Ontario can produce, the situation in Ontario is far worse that we thought.

In the past four months provincial party supporters made 1700 policy suggestions. These ideas generated about 10,000 comments and then the top(?) 20 ideas were ranked from 1 to 20. The weighting system was not explained but the top three policy proposals were not likely to be very helpful to Premier Wynne.

The number one policy from this process is Properly Funded Transit. The suggestion is to restore government funding to the pre-Harris levels and fund 50 per cent of the operation of public transit in Ontario. Obviously some researcher in the party office needs to do some research to tell Premier Wynne what this would cost and maybe suggest where the money for the proposal could be found. Frankly, this proposal might not register very high on the public applause metre.

The number two proposal is to Keep Our Hospitals Public. You would expect that if someone in the private sector could figure out a way to make a hospital profitable, they would be most welcome in the Minister of Health’s office. They might not be allowed to buy a hospital but they might find a ready market for some of their ideas. The public is very sceptical of private for-profit hospitals and we can count on them to support all efforts to keep Medicare operating for the public. As yet, it does not seem to be a concern on the voters’ horizon.

The third proposal is in regards to Great Lakes Protection/Clean-Up. Since Ontario is part of the International Joint Commission with the federal government, the U.S. federal government and the U.S. States involved, the Great Lakes are already of major concern. If the Commission is not doing its job, we should know about it. Until then, we should encourage the Commission to do its job. We have some concerns about the Harper government carrying its weight here but Ontario should let us know if the job is not being done. Again, there is no need to raise alarms with voters if the processes are working.

Now would someone please show us where one of these proposals is going to create jobs for Ontario workers? We need jobs that pay well. We need jobs that will help build our economy into the future. In this case, Premier Wynne asked her party for some help. They appear to have let her down.

-30-

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

Justin Trudeau: Not his father’s son.

February 23, 2014 by Peter Lowry

It is Justin Trudeau’s political instincts that never cease to amaze the older apparatchiks in the Liberal Party. It is remembering a long argument with the late Senator Keith Davey some 30 years ago over Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau just mentioning his family in a speech. If you had sweated as hard on that speech as this writer, you hardly want to see it spiked because you have ignored some damn taboo of an up-tight prime minister.

But Keith won (it was his job). And the PM gave a bloody lecture on economics to a bored Canadian electorate. It was the beginning of the end for Pierre Trudeau.

It is watching Pierre’s eldest son at work that is a joy. He brings his lovely and very pregnant wife and their darling kids on screen and with him in spirit at the Montreal convention. He is hardly using them. They are a fact of his life and part of him. They are integral to the package. They belong.

Maybe it is his mother’s influence on Justin. Pierre Trudeau could never control her the way he controlled others around him. Those he could not control had to deal with him on an intellectual level. And on that level, Pierre had few equals. Margaret obviously made the effort to work with him but she must have been shut out too often.

Justin grew up seeing that emotional upheaval. It made him his own man. It makes him a better husband, a loving father. And created a strong-willed political leader who knows where he is going and how to get there.

His political instincts are a joy to watch. The Liberal Party has been arguing about legalizing marijuana for the past 50 years. Justin brought it forward and let it sit there. Some might have gulped but his instinct was absolutely right. His support for Keystone XL pipeline is wrong environmentally but that case has still to be made. Justin can accept it either way. It is Harper who is hung by it.

And Justin is the leader that Canada needs at this time in its history. He can restore our nation’s prestige on the world stage. He can take the bold steps into the future. These steps still need to be studied and better defined but it will take his leadership to bring them to being.

What Justin’s father never understood was the emotion of politics. Pierre Trudeau left that to others. Justin understands it. It is what makes him a strong leader.

-30-

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

Tory’s Timmy tempers trades tampering.

February 22, 2014 by Peter Lowry

The Conservative caucus at Queen’s Park must have got to their Leader Tim Hudak. They made him promise to cool his jets on right-to-work laws. With a broad wink, he is promising not to mention the idea again until after Ontario’s expected spring election. After all there is more than one way to drive down the expectations of the middle class.

And it is the middle class that Tiny Tim seems to despise. The last of the middle class in Ontario are the union classes. They include the teachers, the nurses, the university professors, the plumbers, the firemen and the police. They are Timmy’s target.

Timmy trained as an economist. He knows there is more than one way to lower the expectations of the middle class. His new approach is all bundled up for him in the term “contracting out.” This is just another way to race for the bottom. It is the way that we can all be poor except for Timmy’s elite one per cent.

Contracting out was one of the methods that fellow economist Don Drummond recommended that Ontario use to save money. He actually suggested it just for information technology needs but to Timmy, there is no end of scope for the method of forcing people to work for less.

What neither Drummond nor Timmy would understand about information technology is that the last three per cent of the tasks never get done. The first 97 per cent is easy but the rule is that the job is never complete. Microsoft recognized this reality of information technology many years ago and solved it by letting unsuspecting customers solve the last three per cent of the problems.

But Timmy sees contracting out as the final solution. He thinks Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is a fool to stop at just contracting out some of the city’s garbage collection. There is a long list of work that can be contracted out. In the private sector, people have been known to build a virtual company that had every job contracted out. (It makes it easier to leave town when appropriate.)

But Timmy wants to be in for the long haul. He wants to show his mentor former Premier Michael Harris that he too can drive Ontario into the ground by doing his bidding. Just wait until those members of his caucus who argued against right-to-work want to be in his cabinet. They are in for a surprise.

-30-

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

The tale of the Hair and the whore.

February 21, 2014 by Peter Lowry

As you recall the Supreme Court decided that the Conservatives need sex education. Long overdue, you might add. The only problem was that nobody could agree on who should teach sex education to the Conservative caucus. We are not sure but we think it was Peter Mackay who solved it by suggesting that they would all sit quietly and listen to Laureen Harper, the leader’s wife. They would have no choice.

Laureen was, as you would expect, quite reluctant but is believed to have agreed to it on the condition that her husband does not attend. The caucus seemed to be pleased with Laureen’s instruction and many probably learned things in the process. The only problem left was a teacher for the Leader.

The Cabinet is believed to have turned to Peter Mackay and told to fix that too. That was also easy. It is reported that he got the leader a hooker. It was as though he believed that the Leader needed some first-hand experience, so to speak. You can just imagine the confrontation in that Ottawa hotel room:

The first thing that must have startled the lady was the guys in cheap suits who came in, checked the closet, under the bed and talked up their sleeves. A fair amount of money had to change hands before the gal decided to stick around.

Since she had been paid, she got right down to business, so to speak. “So, how do you want it?” was the obvious question.

The Leader was a bit nonplussed. “Can we just talk about it?” he asked.

“Damn, another Canadian,” she complained. “It’s all talk and no performance. You Canadians are so oppressed by women that you never get a chance to talk dirty.”

“No, no,” the Leader replied, “I just want to talk about being a prostitute.”

She looked at him in amazement. “You’ll never make it,” she told him. “You’re too old and that hairpiece is ridiculous. Besides, to make it as a gigolo, you would need to be 20 and able to satisfy a woman at least ten times a night.”

Somewhat taken back, he weakly explained: “I only need to know something about why you are a prostitute and how this business works?”

“Okay,” she said. “Since you’ve already paid, I’ll explain.

“First of all, I’m a service worker. I perform a service for society. You might not agree but it has panache as the world’s oldest profession. And it is a profession. I bring comfort and relief to people in need.

“The only problem is that for too long, prostitution has been run by the less desirable elements of society. Criminalizing bawdy houses or arresting customers is just another way of driving us into the hands of criminals. These people abuse us, encourage us to use drugs and put us in danger,” she said.

“You must be a politician,” she concluded. “In my business, I do my best work one customer at a time. In your business, you try to screw everybody at once.”

-30-

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

Second: Ponder positive policies.

February 20, 2014 by Peter Lowry

One of the very first lessons of politics is to understand that the average voter does not relate to discussions involving millions of dollars. What people relate to is coffee money. If Torontonians, for example, could just think of the billions their city needs for an upgraded transit system in terms of the daily cost of their Tim Horton’s coffee, it would all make sense.

And in dealing with national policies at the Liberal Party conference this weekend, we have to know that if we cannot relate costs to coffee money we will only confuse Canadians. That is the challenge we face. We have to put a positive positioning on policy while keeping it simple.

That will not be easy when the party brass is trying to push policy discussions into a straightjacket of centering on the economy. That is akin to determining how many economists can dance on the head of a pin.

But liberals are up to dealing in big solutions. We can start a dialogue on a guaranteed wage for all Canadians. We can have new and better travel options for people and goods to reach all corners of our vast country—from east to west and north to south. And we have to reach out to the world with understanding and concern and a new attitude in foreign relations. We have to bring our own people to a better understanding of each other. We have to be honest with each other about the environment. We have to take Canada and the world’s environmental needs seriously.

That means we cannot just ship tar sands bitumen to countries that do not care about the environment. Nor can we allow any province to pollute for profit. This country belongs to all of us and that is something every province has to recognize. We have to care.

And for those who want to change how our country is governed or how we vote or what to do with unelected Senators, we have to make the big plans. We can elect a constitutional congress and let those matters be debated, resolved and then brought back to the citizens for judgement in a referendum. Canada must be a major world player in the 21^st Century but first we need to be proud of how our own house functions.

To run a beautiful and as complex a country as Canada, being a liberal only helps. You need more than being a liberal. You need caring. You have to care about the land and the people and their future. For the future is the country.

-30-

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

First: Think like liberals.

February 19, 2014 by Peter Lowry

It should be the first order of business at the Liberal Party Convention February 20 to 23. How else can we be having a policy convention if we do not know what it really means to be a liberal? We need to define who we are and where we want to go.

It is hardly enough to damn the Conservatives for their ideology bound direction. At least they know where they are going. Too many Liberal Party members think they can support a vaguely right-wing party that has something of a social conscience. Hell, Paul Martin Junior proved that the Liberal Party he tried to lead had no conscience. Maybe liberalism is not a rigid ideology but it has to have an ongoing dialogue to be meaningful.

Pierre Trudeau said that “Canada must be a just society” and the job to make that happen starts on Parliament Hill. Our Members of Parliament have to work to build this country. They have to be Members who represent all Canadians of their electoral district. They work for them. They are there in parliament to put responsibility ahead of ideology. They are there to challenge the status quo not to be the status quo.

If there is one person in their riding who needs a job, the MP needs to ensure they have an opportunity for one before going to bed that night. If one person is hungry, the MP has to ask herself or himself what has s/he done to help? If a person is waiting for proper health care, what has the MP done to correct the problem? Which of our present MPs can we point to and say “These MPs are doing their job”?

And what are we as members of this party contributing? We call ourselves liberal. Do we really understand what that means? Are we engaged now in finding the best possible representative for our party in our riding next year? Are we helping create the policies that will engage Canadians? Are we building our party and paying what we can to support it? And are we speaking out for real liberalism in our riding?

Thankfully the Liberal Party of Canada has a young, strong and exciting leader. As leader, he has a responsibility to lead the party where it wants to go. We have to help him. We have to help Justin Trudeau define what liberalism means today and where it wants to lead Canada.

At the biennial conference, we must stress captivating solutions for our economy. We have to demonstrate a strong environmental concern. We have to be pro-active in binding our country in a stronger union. We have to ensure our country’s world-wide reputation is restored. We must offer all Canadians a better future.

To do it all, we will have to think as liberals.

-30-

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

There is a fourth option for Premier Wynne.

February 18, 2014 by Peter Lowry

Yesterday, we discussed the branding problems of Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. In the discussion, the fourth option for her was deliberately left off the table. The fourth option, under current political conditions in Ontario, requires its own discussion.

The premier is fully capable of ignoring those who are telling her what to do. As desperate as she is for a political solution she seems to have few trusted politically-savvy people to whom she will listen. The problem then starts with the first option.

Frankly, it is the best option. It involves Kathleen Wynne’s resignation. The non-political person has a hard time getting their mind around this. They see the danger for the Liberal Party as being forced into an election campaign while without a leader. Think about it for a while though and think also of an open and honest leadership race. It certainly could not be like that phony and corrupted event at the old Maple Leaf Gardens a year ago.

An open race during a general election means that you have over 100 potential leaders running as Liberals across Ontario. All candidates will have to be chosen by their local riding associations. They will be free to espouse liberal principles as they see them. All politics in that campaign will definitely be local. The party hierarchy will be able to pull the campaign components together but they will not have much discipline. It would be that time when all good people will come to the aid of their party. It will drive the news media to the wall.

The advantage would go to the potential candidates for leader as they waged their own campaigns and launched themselves into the provincial scene. Their success in even getting province-wide attention will tell us much about them. In the cauldron of an election campaign, true leadership can shine.

But that is the first option, not the fourth. The fourth option is for Kathleen Wynne to go through the machinations of supposedly governing. She would allow Charles Sousa to prepare another callow, uninspired, do-nothing budget. The New Democrats can then self-righteously vote against the budget and the Lieutenant Governor would call an election. And we can easily guess the outcome of that scenario.

Ontario would have that nice chubby Andrea Horwath as Premier of a minority government, shorn up by a rump of Liberal Party MPPs. It would be a do-nothing government. It would continue to fight against modern distribution of alcoholic beverages. It would wonder what to do about the Ring of Fire. It might raise the minimum wage a bit. It might lower auto insurance premiums. Other than that it would dither until the few Liberal MPPs can no longer support it. And then you get Timmy Hudak. Which is why the fourth option is frightening.

-30-

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

The branding of Premier Wynne: Loser.

February 17, 2014 by Peter Lowry

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has a problem with Ontario voters. They have taken her measure. She has been found wanting. It is not her politics. It is not her demeanour. It is not her sexual orientation. She simply fails to lead.

And she has put the voters in a hell of a mess. They have no reason to vote for her. And they have no strong wish to vote for either of the other party leaders. When you add all the pluses and minuses facing voters, an election could leave Ontario with Premier Andrea Horwath and a minority New Democrat government. Just think of that problem!

A year ago, Kathleen Wynne could have called an election and won. At that time, she could have offered hope and renewal. She could have looked like a leader. A year later, all she can say is that she stayed in office because of New Democrat support.

And you would think that a budget approved by New Democrats would have more goodies in it than what Finance Minister Charles Sousa produced. Charles does not seem to listen either. And he thought he had the stuff for leadership! If you do not know what leadership is buster, you do not get to play with the big kids!

So, here are the choices folks: First choice is that Kathleen Wynne resign; Second is that Kathleen Wynne discovers leadership, rebrands herself and does something; And third that Kathleen Wynne call a provincial election instead of waiting for Andrea Horwath to pull the plug. When you are on life-support is no time to be dithering.

Sure the first choice means that the opposition at Queen’s Park could pull the plug on the Liberals while they are leaderless but if they were in the middle of an open and honest leadership race, the possibilities could engage the voters. And we have to face the facts: none of the three present leaders is a much better choice than any of the present leaders.

Of course, the second choice is the most expensive. Rebranding any product is expensive. Any experienced marketing person can tell you that. It is a possibility but it would take some very hard-nosed political thinking to come up with the new branding. Bear in mind, the job is done with a rifle, not a shotgun. And there are no mulligans (do-overs) in this political game.

The third choice is the highest risk. To call an immediate election would take guts. And it would take an all-out attack on both Hudak and Horwath. There can be no quarter given. And Wynne could not expect any quarter either.

-30-

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

Quebec Premier Marois bobbles bigotry.

February 16, 2014 by Peter Lowry

Quebec Premier Pauline Marois appears to want to have a provincial election based on the bigotry of her charter of values. She sees it as creating conditions for separatism from the rest of Canada. That is an illusion. There might be as many as three or four strategies that could give her a stronger mandate to govern—but emphasizing bigotry does not appear to be one of them. It is not a path down which Quebec voters want to go.

What Marois is trying to build on is tribalism. She sees Quebec tribalism as rooted in the high degree of language and cultural control that the Quebec government has gained. What she wants to add is mind control and that is beyond her capabilities. There are no bindings strong enough, moats wide enough, walls high enough to maintain the degree of language and cultural purity that her pur laine péquistes seem to seek. There will always be outside influences.

And it is the influences from outside Quebec that make Marois grind her teeth. Her problem is that there is a wonderful world to explore beyond Quebec. Quebec cannot keep its people on an isolated island in an English-speaking North America.

Marois and her separatists have never been honest with Quebecers about the real costs of separatism and the dangers of trying to divide our country. Being Canadian is a benefit beyond value.

And supporting tribalism with racial tensions is not only disreputable but something borrowed from a painful past. History shows us that bigotry often destroys the perpetrators of hatred along with their targets. The tête carrée (square head) slur never worried too many of Quebec’s English speakers. It took the demands of the language police to drive out many of the English-speaking small business people and rigid rules in education to discourage those who wanted to keep their English-speaking roots.

But Marois’ separatists now want to use racial hatreds to further their political goals. For a government to claim they are furthering secular objectives by heightening racial tensions is not only shameful but reminds some people of Germany in the 1930s. While the courts are unlikely to ever allow Quebec to mistreat minorities with the ill-named Charter of Values, Marois wants to add that threat to her arguments for sovereignty.

“We must be separate,” she seems to claim, “So we can discriminate.” What logic is that?

It shows the desperation that we face from those still trying divide instead of build. When Pierre Trudeau said “Canada must be a just society,” he was speaking of a Canada without barriers to race, religion, language, opportunity and freedom. It is the small-minded and self-important who do not understand the importance of that to all Canadians.

-30-

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