New – Page 389 – Babel-on-the-Bay

Fighting for the Canadian Pipeline.

June 24, 2012 by Peter Lowry

The June 20 editorial in the Chicago Tribune was written in the finest Col. Robert McCormick tradition. The famous 20^th Century Chicago publisher had his biases and did not like to have facts challenge his opinions. The only part of the editorial that might have raised the Colonel’s eyebrows would have been the opening that referred to ‘friendly, reliable Canada.’ Times have changed.

The focus of this editorial is President Obama blocking TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline to Texas for Canada’s tar sands crude oil. The article accuses Obama of blocking the pipeline as a sop to his eco-green political base.

The Tribune editorial writer seems convinced that the Keystone pipeline will go “a long way toward solving the problem of what to do with all that potentially lucrative and useful oil piling up in the northern reaches of North America. ” The writer says: “The U.S. could use it, that’s for sure.”

What the writer fails to understand is that the secret of being a good writer is being a good researcher. The writer forgot that. A little research would have added the reason that the pipeline wants to go to the Texas refineries is that they are on the Gulf coast of Texas and there are oil carriers that dock there that can take the Canadian product around the world. Why else is the ‘friendly’ Canadian Government trying so hard to get pipelines to the east and west coasts of Canada but to get to even more shipping points?

If the writer extended the research parameters, he or she might have better understood why the ecologically conscious among us are freaking out about concerns for the Ogallala aquifer. This source of clean water for most of the cattle and grain production area of the American Midwest could be devastated by a serious spill of tar sands crude. This is not Texas Sweet Crude. It is called tar sands crude for good reason. Any chemist should be able to tell the writer the difference. It has to be pumped at higher temperatures and at higher pressure. It needs a much bigger and stronger pipe. When it spills, it does not sit on top of your local water supply. It sinks, it permeates the soil, and it is going to be there for a thousand years. There is no effective clean-up possible.

The only way Alberta tar sands oil should be shipped anywhere is after sufficient refining that it will act like normal oil if spilled. The refining has to be sufficient to allow for mopping up the mess.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to peter@lowry.me

Whigs end season with a whimper.

June 23, 2012 by Peter Lowry

It was just like another hockey season for the Toronto Maple Leafs. You are never sure if the players or the fans are more relieved that it is over. At Queen’s Park, nobody had expected much from Dalton McGinty’s Whigs and therefore nobody was disappointed.

Sure, we all had a good laugh at the posturing over a possible election next month. That had as much possibility as a metre deep snow storm this June. What really puzzled us was McGuinty’s complaint that Horwath’s people were amending Dwight Duncan’s budget in committee.

Excuse us, but is it not the role of the committee to consider amendments to legislation being reviewed by the committee? Yah, when you have a majority government, you can run roughshod over the opposition and block the amendments but when you are in a minority position, you have to act a bit smarter than that.

It was pretty silly for McGuinty to call media conferences to tell the gullible media people that Andrea Horwath was breaking her word. When would Mrs. Horwath have promised him that her MPP’s were not going to do their job? That might be a promise that Tiny Tim Hudak might make but his caucus does not include many PhD candidates.

The problem for McGuinty is that with the Legislature out for their summer holidays, the attention will be focused on the Ministry of Health. It is going to be a very hot summer for Health Minister Deb Mathews. For a very smart person, Ms. Mathews has really been fumbling the ball on this portfolio. The Ontario Medical Association has been running circles around her and if they keep it up, she will be the one going down the drain.

Maybe it is McGuinty’s fault for interfering with her handling of the situation but the doctors have had possession of the ball since the kickoff. It was obviously McGuinty’s ploy that set new schedules for some medical procedures. The government might have been saving money but it is the public that suffer from the fallout.

The doctors said from the get-go that they will give up any increase for existing doctors but we do have to have new doctors. With a million Ontario citizens without a family doctor, the Ontario Government has much to answer for. You would think that in a province bleeding jobs like an arterial wound, they would be willing to put a few more young doctors to work.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to peter@lowry.me

Stephen Harper is no bridge builder.

June 22, 2012 by Peter Lowry

It was the kind of announcement that has you constantly shaking your head. It cannot be real. Here (on June 15) you have the Canadian Prime Minister and the Governor of Michigan announcing that Canada is putting up the entire billion dollars to build a new bridge across the river between Detroit and Windsor. The so-called 600-pound gorilla in the room who did not take part in the announcement was billionaire Manuel (Matty) Maroun, owner of the Ambassador Bridge.

Maroun is already starting to get his licks in. A petition with more than 100,000 extra signatures has been gathered to support putting the bridge on a ballot in Michigan this November. Since the majority of the Michigan State Assembly seem to be on Mr. Maroun’s patronage list, nobody expects there will be a problem putting the Canadian bridge scheme to a vote in Michigan. They just have to figure out how to say ‘get stuffed’ in more family-friendly language.

On the Canadian side of this bridge are the poor people of Windsor. And this announcement can even make them poorer. The announcement was played in the media as another beneficial employment opportunity for Windsorites.

But as they say in Windsor: ‘Been there, heard that, got screwed, had to pay for the t-shirt myself.

These poor souls are still trying to figure out Provincial Finance Minister Dwight Duncan’s highway to the new bridge that is already being built at a proposed cost of $1.4 billion. This was also supposed to create jobs. They are becoming a bit annoyed that the highway project has some 100 engineers living temporarily in Windsor while University of Windsor engineering graduates have to go elsewhere to find jobs.

There is little if any problem in acquiring land in West Windsor where Mr. Duncan’s new highway meets Mr. Harper’s bridge. The problem will be on the Detroit side where the Delray Community will likely be well supported by Mr. Maroun to fight Eminent Domain (that is what Americans call expropriation). The battle on that side of the river will take years and millions of dollars for every foot gained.

But before you throw up your hands and complain to your Member of Parliament, you should take a close look at what causes line-ups of trucks on their way to America on the Ambassador Bridge. You will be quite impressed with the thoroughness of the few customs people there and especially with the limitations of the facilities they have to do their job. After all, there is no incentive for them to expedite the flow of Canadian goods into the United States of America.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to peter@lowry.me

Harper makes enemies for Canada.

June 21, 2012 by Peter Lowry

As Prime Minister Stephen Harper goes about his extensive world travels, he is not making many new friends for Canada. In fact, he and his cabinet colleagues are making enemies. Judging by the comments of the head of the European Community in Mexico this week, it is not just refugee claimants who are bad-mouthing us.

Our reputation as a country is precious. It is not something for Stephen Harper to brush aside. When working abroad for non-governmental agencies, Canadians rely on the good will our country has earned over the years to help them do their jobs. It used to be that we could go to almost any country in the world and receive a friendly welcome as a Canadian. You would be constantly told that you come from a wonderful country.

It was the same for our military that was respected for its support for peacekeeping efforts. Our people wore the blue beret of the United Nations with pride. Today, there are people in Afghanistan and in Algeria who have learned to fear the Canadian warriors. Canadians died in Afghanistan and for what?

Now we have Stephen Harper telling people how to run their economies. He tells them they have to be firmer. He tells them they have to be more controlling. He preaches austerity to people when he has never known austerity. He wastes millions of taxpayers’ dollars to run G8 and G20 summits in Canada that ran roughshod over human rights.

It is most likely that Mr. Harper has no understanding at all of the Eurozone. He says that the European Community needs to have political control over its money when the entire concept of the European Community is cooperation. Mr. Harper worries about the Greeks more than he worries about how Canadians feel about his autocratic handling of the Canadian Parliament. The Greeks elected the parliament they want and Harper can expect that Canadians will elect the parliament they want at the next election. It is only too bad that the next election in Canada is more than three years away.

We can all hope during that time that Mr. Harper does not start to tell the Americans how to run their country or economy. It is not that they do not need the help but all they want from Canada is that cheap tar sands crude oil.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to peter@lowry.me

We are in the ‘Not Interested’ phase

June 19, 2012 by Peter Lowry

A leadership contest has several phases to go through before knowledgeable observers start to evaluate the potential winners. Not being knowledgeable, the news media do not wait. They start everything off with the ‘not interested’ phase. It can combine fun with fright, relief with resignation, and false hopes with foolishness.

Leading this ‘not interested’ phase in the upcoming Liberal Party leadership was interim Liberal leader Bob Rae. He caught some of us off-guard with how fast he announced he would not be running. Maybe he was really annoyed with the media questions and their pestering. The man was entitled to his dignity and that is something Canadian news media tend to forget. He got out fast.

Next in line was Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney. That a right-wing banker would even be considered a possible candidate is something of a wonder. Mr. Carney quickly put these dreamers out of their misery.

The next target for the right wing Liberals will likely be John Manley, former Liberal cabinet minister and now president and CEO of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, one of the few lobby groups to which Stephen Harper will listen. We hardly expect that Manley is going to give up his self-aggrandizing position with the lords of industry for the vicissitudes of the Liberal leadership.

Another mistake made by the news media in this phase is to report public polling as to whom the public would like to see running a political party. The public have little to do with the choice. The leader will be chosen by Liberal Party supporters and while this will be a very large number by April 2013, because of the addition of non-paying ‘supporters,’ it still does not reflect the total population.

During this phase, there is the emergence of the faux contestants. These are people who have about as much chance as the ghost of Mackenzie King’s mother. Some of them are quite sincere and in most cases just want to share the platform with the real contestants so that they can tell people what they think. It is kind of like writing a blog but really embarrassing yourself. It is expected that the Liberal Party executive will ask for some kind of good faith deposit that will eliminate these people from the race.

The real candidates for this race are sitting in somebody’s recreation room or kitchen somewhere talking to people that they trust. These are the inner circle that will not blab what they know about their candidate’s intentions to anyone, especially the news media.

These small groups are discussing the strategy of entering the race. They are discussing the when, the format, the stance, the issues, whether it should be low key or at top volume, timing of the social media activities, and on and on, into the night. It will be fun.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to peter@lowry.me

Ms. May makes her mark.

June 18, 2012 by Peter Lowry

It was not the headline interview on Tom Clark’s West Block show on Sunday but it was by far the most interesting. Tom took time on his show to talk to the woman of the day at the recent parliamentary sleepover. She saw the event as a critical step in showing Canadians what is wrong with parliament as it currently operates.

Bill C-38 will soon be only of historical significance. It will be passed by Parliament, as is, and sent to the Senate for Harper’s marionettes to rubberstamp into law.

Ms. May asked the simple question: What is the purpose of Parliament? She pointed out that Mr. Harper might as well shut it down if this is how he wants to pass laws for Canadians. She sees the top-down party structure of today as not needing more than 300 Members of Parliament with nothing to do but what they are told to do by party leadership. As the only member for the Green Party, she had to do the entire job herself.

But she found she was up to the job. Hell, she revelled in it. We have not seen the statistics on the voting but she was probably the only Member of Parliament who voted on every single amendment. She proved herself a leader. And she has the stamina for it. When this blog suggested her as a possible Liberal Party leadership candidate last week, we were not necessarily thinking of her as winning the contest. It was what she could add to the race was the original thought.

She could also win. She can win because throughout that boring interminable New Democratic leadership race last year, nobody talked honestly about our democracy and its sorry state. Elizabeth May not only talks about it; she wants to do something about it.

One of the reasons given last week for Bob Rae not getting into the Liberal leadership contest was because he did not see the Liberals returning to power until he was 70 years old. Bob Rae always was a pessimist.

Does anyone doubt that Elizabeth May is an optimist? As the only MP for her party, she is more than willing to take on Stephen Harper. She was a breath of fresh air in the 2008 English language federal election leaders’ debate when she was the only leader to keep hammering Stephen Harper on the financial situation that he did not admit existed until after the election. She knew what the problem was that was coming and she was the only party leader who would talk about it.

What do you need Elizabeth, an engraved invitation?

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to peter@lowry.me

Getting your royal reward.

June 17, 2012 by Peter Lowry

It was difficult. Not being a monarchist, you are not inclined to boisterously sing along to God Save the Queen. The problem was that a number of very good people were being honoured and you are hardly going to be churlish about it. It was a well attended event and the council chamber at Babel City Hall was standing room only.

The conundrum with which you are faced is that honouring Canadians who make a substantive contribution to the community is too often a political event. You have got to figure that, when the federal government is involved, you can expect those klutz Tories in Ottawa are going to shove the royals in your face and promote their local Member of Parliament. It is hard to say which is worse. At least the MP was elected!

There was a quite excellent suggestion back in Mr. Trudeau’s day that we have an Order of Canada to celebrate Canadians who make a special contribution to our country. It worked rather well until the Order was politicized back in the late 1980s. And if you do not think the Order was politicized, how do you explain Conrad Black being named to the Order? Honours only work if they are fair, rare, earned and respected.

When the honours become so politicized that people lose respect for them, you are forced to come up with new ways to honour those who really do make a contribution to your community. The Ottawa Conservatives, with their majority this year, decided to regress to using the Queen. In honour of her diamond jubilee event this year, the Tories minted a Diamond Jubilee Medal in the Queen’s name. This medal is supposed to be used to honour Canadians who make a special contribution to their community.

We assume that the Conservative Member of Parliament had some involvement in the selection because we know that he was telephoning recipients back in April and May to tell them they had been selected for the honour. (With a target of 60,000 Canadian receiving the medal, we expect even Opposition MPs are helping nominate winners.) The Conservative MP was very much front and centre for the awards ceremony.

The 20-page, self-cover, four-color program booklet said on the front that the event was presented by the MP. Luckily the picture on the front was of the Queen, not the MP. He got three mentions on the agenda page as he brought greetings, made the medal presentations and had closing remarks. Which is somewhat more of our MP than most from Babel can stomach.

Listening to him, one could not help to wonder why his parents had not had that boy’s adenoids removed as a child. His nasal tone becomes grating very quickly. And if he said “without further ado” just one more time, there might have been a contest among the crowd to see who got to strangle him.

It was annoying that in their enthusiasm organizing the event, the MP’s staff provided the MP with a microphone, when most did not care to hear him, but left the award recipients, who had something to say, the option of shouting.

It should also be noted that the RCMP constable who provided the color backdrop for the pictures did a good job cutting the medal cake. Mind you, the cake tasted terrible.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to peter@lowry.me

Meet two potential Liberal leaders.

June 13, 2012 by Peter Lowry

While meaningless in the long term, the arguments in Canada’s Parliament over the omnibus budget bill have benefitted parliament and the opposition parties. First of all, it has clearly pointed out–once again–to Canadians that they might have erred in giving Mr. Harper and his sycophants a majority government. Secondly, it brought the NDP’s Nathan Cullen into the fore as the Opposition House Leader, where he is doing a solid job. And third, it displayed the tenacity, brains and aggressiveness of the Green Party’s only MP, Elizabeth May. Both Cullen and May could add much to the upcoming Liberal Party leadership.

While the Liberals are hardly without viable candidates who are already members of the Liberal Party, Cullen and May could bring many side benefits to the Liberal race. While the turning in of their respective New Democrat and Green credentials when they take out Liberal membership cards could be a bit wrenching, it would be a solid career choice.

Nathan Cullen has already stated his case for cooperation with the Liberals to defeat the Harper Conservatives. He campaigned on it during the NDP leadership race and gained considerable credibility for being forward thinking. While Cullen did not win in his NDP bid, he knows that the younger people agree with him that the future of the NDP is in some accommodation with the other parties of the left. What better way to lead the movement.

Elizabeth May already has strong credentials with many Liberal Party members. She has made it clear to Green Party adherents across Canada that there are issues that have to be addressed beyond the Green Party agenda. And she hardly needs to revoke her environmentalist standing to work within the Liberal Party. The party is in critical need of her level headed environmental approach in dealing with the Harper pipeline agenda for the Alberta tar sands crude oil.

The adding of these two candidates might seem an extreme approach but you can hardly hold a Liberal Party leadership contest at this time without addressing how you intend to defeat the Harper Conservatives. And nobody is going to buy a right wing answer.

Only the news media are convinced that Interim Leader Bob Rae will be in the Liberal race. We expect that strategically, he will keep his own counsel until the field starts to develop. His only hope of winning is by offering himself as someone who can help rebuild the party. Nobody will expect him to defeat Harper. Nor would his former NDP ties indicate any likelihood of him leading a combined Liberal-NDP party.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to peter@lowry.me

Class war in America.

June 11, 2012 by Peter Lowry

Canadians are interested spectators in things American. Americans, in turn, do not care as much about what is happening north of their border. As a former Canadian ambassador to Washington put it: there appears to be a one-way mirror along the border. Canadians look into it and see America; Americans look into it from their side and see America. With five months to go before the U.S. elections, both sides of the border are becoming more concerned about the winners and losers in November.

What is distinctive about this coming American election is it becoming class warfare. It is that intense, it is that all or nothing, visceral type of hatred in America that has not been seen since the War Between the States. The Obama versus Romney campaigns are splitting America down the middle. It is the capitalist billionaires against the hordes at the gates. It is unions taking a final stand. It is religious fanatics against the antichrist. It is the abortionists against purity. It is ghettos against gated communities.

This will also be the most corrupt election Americans have ever endured. No state is safe in the blue or red camp. The election will be mixed martial arts at its bloodiest, as all controls are removed from spending by ‘person or persons unknown.’ President Obama will remain guileless as Romney talks down to the masses and neither will address or take responsibility for the depths to which America is sinking.

This is Barack Obama’s election to lose. Even if by some strange happenstance that the Democrats win a majority in the House of Representatives, he cannot win a 60 per cent majority in the Senate. The American government will remain deadlocked. It will thwart Obama’s every attempt at solutions. It will be a government of revenge and animosities. It will offer no solace for America.

Mitt Romney can only lose in November. Even by winning the election, he can only lose in office. Sure, he is smarter than George W. Bush but most Americans are smarter than George W. Bush. What he cannot resolve is the conflicting wants of his supporters. He cannot combine the fanatical religious right with those who would destroy the environment for monetary gain. He cannot convince the right-wing landowners associations that oil and gas fracking is safe. He would force through the Keystone XL pipeline for Alberta tar sands crude and find there is no profit in it for America.

All Canadians can do is watch in horror as our neighbours work to destroy a country built on ideals of liberty, opportunity and justice for all.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to peter@lowry.me

The blundering burghers of Babel.

June 8, 2012 by Peter Lowry

In medieval Europe, burghers were a class of people from whom city officials could be drawn. They contributed the aldermen, the councillors and the reeves and lord mayors of the fortified cities of the times. They were the priests of the temple. They were not the elite, the dukes and earls of the realm, but the servants of the elite. And in that capacity, they were in a position to control the morals of the day.

The custom continues to this day in Babel. East Babel is home to many of the burghers. They cohabit and procreate in Ward 1, north of the bay. They contribute winning candidates for federal and provincial parliaments. Their progeny dominate city council. And their outdated and oppressive moral codes keep the city chained to the past.

This is why the first time we suggested our train station to nowhere be given life as part of a casino on the bay, there was a chill wind felt from city hall. That was probably the attitude back in the 1990s that closed Barrie Raceway to make way for Georgian Downs. Innisfil has enjoyed revenues of some $4 million a year from Georgian Downs while Babel realty taxes continue to climb.

But Babel‘s burghers are blind to the benefits. Here, in the middle of Babel, on our beautiful bay, we have the ideal location for a convention hotel and a casino-entertainment complex—creating hundreds of permanent jobs with year-round tourism. And with GO Train transportation to the front door, you could not ask for a better location, or a more attractive lake view.

Still, the blue-stocking burghers of Babel cannot see beyond their up-turned noses. They react by saying they cannot compete with Georgian Downs or Casino Rama. That is utter foolishness. It is competition that built Las Vegas into the entertainment capital of the world. The GO trains will enable Babel to compete with a major casino complex in Toronto and both sites will be better for the competition.

What the burghers of Babel do not understand is that it is no longer the right of the majority in a democracy to decide what other people can do. People who want to gamble at a casino have that right. It is not for others to decide for them. Casinos are legal in Ontario. The burghers of Babel should catch up with the times!

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to peter@lowry.me