Category: Provincial Politics

Our boy from Barrie is stirring up a storm on his way to the leadership of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives. At the first of the party debates in Sudbury, he did not even explain why he decided to dump on his friends at Campaign Life Coalition who have now downgraded him from a green light to a warning.

But the provincial Liberals now know where he is going to attack them if the PCs decide on him as leader. He wrote an editorial page column for the local Sun Media newspaper recently proving he knows very little about electricity.

His basic complaint in the column was that Ontario citizens pay too much for electricity. This is standard Conservative mantra to complain about the cost of anything, blame it all on the Liberals and promise to deregulate it, and everything else, after the Conservatives take over.

His first mistake, up front, was that he obviously did not know the cost of electricity. He made a guess that it is more than 15 cents per kilowatt hour. He wanted to know why Ontario citizens had to pay more than what he thought was twice as much as Manitoba, Quebec and British Columbia electricity users.

What he obviously is ignoring is that there is more water running downhill in those provinces than in Ontario. That is why water power provides lots more inexpensive electricity to those provinces than to Ontario. We make good use of Niagara Falls but there is only one of those. More than 25 years ago, Ontario had to provide more power for our manufacturing companies and the Conservative governments of the day said Ontario should have nuclear power. That was a good idea at the time but the Conservatives had no idea of the capital costs and the problems possible during the life cycle of nuclear plants.

Since Ontario does not need as much power for manufacturing today thanks to the Conservative government our boy represents in Ottawa, Ontario does not need as much power in the winter but does need more for air conditioning in the summer. That is why the government is trying hard to encourage solar and wind generation—despite those dumb Conservatives who think wind turbines keep their hens from laying.

And that is why our premier has been dealing with Quebec’s premier to swap more electric power in times of need.

But all our boy from Barrie does is to tell us that we are doing it wrong.

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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry

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

Have Quebec’s little péquistes been good boys and girls this year? Has Santa Claus ever got a treat for them! While you almost wet your pants laughing at Pierre-Karl Péladeau’s news conference with Pauline Marois early in 2014, what can you do when the irrepressible PKP really does decide he wants to run the Parti Québécois?

If he runs that political party the same way he has run his father’s printing and publishing empire, the PQ will become the P Gone. If anyone asks you how you get to have as many millions as PKP, you answer that you start with a lot more millions your daddy left you.

The one thing that we always respected about René Lévesque’s Parti Québécois was that it was a left-of-centre, socially responsible party. At least it was while Lévesque was alive. The one thing we can assure you about the scion of the Péladeau fortune is that he is no social democrat. If anything, he is probably to the political right of Stephen Harper. He has no time for unions and was never a very warm and fuzzy employer.

You have to admit that the PQ have come down a steep and rocky hill through the leadership of first Jacques Parizeau, then Lucien Bouchard, Bernard Landry and André Boisclair. None achieved the party’s primary purpose. And then Pauline Marois did not so much defeat Jean Charest to become a PQ Premier as she was just there when the voters turned him out of office.

But times have changed in Quebec. The PQ is but a shadow of its former strength. The party of René Lévesque has splintered back to its opposing factions. And with a leader such as Péladeau, the PQ could not form a decent fire department let alone a government.

Megalomania is not a substitute for leadership. Péladeau is not the little engine who thought he could. If he really wants to have his own country, he should take what is left of his papa’s money and buy an uninhabited Pacific atoll.

What is bad about this situation is that Péladeau still owns the dominant news media in Quebec. As poorly as we might regard Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, they are dominant print media and TVA is the elephant among the television media.

And what makes you think Péladeau wants to fight fair?

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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry

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

Ontario and Quebec Premiers Wynne and Couillard are welcoming Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall. He is making sales calls on behalf of TransCanada’s EnergyEast pipeline. He will probably be wearing one of those big white hats that most oil men like to affect. Not that Wall is really an oil man but he would like to think that eventually Saskatchewan’s shale gas and oil will start to flow east and maybe some of the Cold Lake tar sands bitumen that lies in Saskatchewan. It might never match dollar volumes of Saskatchewan’s potash mines but it is not small potatoes either.

Mind you, Wall seems to have some funny ideas about the value of the EnergyEast pipeline proposal that the National Energy Board in Calgary is now considering. In an op-ed in the Toronto Star the other day signed by Wall, he is reported to believe that the EnergyEast line will move conventional oil from Alberta and Saskatchewan to Eastern refineries to replace oil now imported from the Algeria, Iraq and the United States.

Since the Hardisty terminus seems to be planned for use by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) as the main pipeline feed for tar sands bitumen, the EnergyEast pipeline would be heated and under twice the pressure of a normal crude oil pipeline. It would not be of interest to most eastern refineries because of the pollution that goes with refining bitumen. The advantage of the EnergyEast pipeline to the CAPP members is that the tankers from the United States as well as from Algeria and Iraq would still unload their crude oil cargoes for Eastern refineries and then would take on cargoes of tar sands bitumen for countries that do not care about the pollution.

But somebody has to care. Couillard and Wynne might not be aware of the vast areas of tailing ponds in Alberta from tar sands extraction that are destroying that province’s environment. They do not seem to be aware that converting bitumen to usable oil products creates three times the pollution of normal refinery processing.

All that Mr. Wall seems to care about is the money.

EnergyEast is a proposal that will see an old gas pipeline through Ontario converted to pumping more than a million barrels a day of diluted bitumen. It will never be a question of if there are leaks. It is a question of how often and how bad.

In Quebec, EnergyEast is supposed to be built to a terminus on the St. Lawrence before heading south down to the Saint John River Valley to the Irving ocean tanker docks at Saint John. The Irvings do not want the pollution caused by refining bitumen.

The Ontario and Quebec premiers will be polite to Premier Wall. They will note that he makes a very desperate sales pitch.

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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry

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

Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa might not have been born a banker. He probably decided on that profession when the other kids picked on him in the school yard. He determined to get even. In a strange new ritual called the Fall Economic Statement, Charles sounded like he still had it in for the school yard bullies.

The economic report he made to the legislature was really nothing more than school boy bragging. He sure is going to get even with those tax cheats. He brags that he is going to nail tax cheats for some $700 million over the next four years. If he really thinks he will get that money, he is kidding us and himself.

The best way to get rid of tax cheats is to make it less worthwhile to cheat. The most expensive way is to arrest the cheats and to send them to prison. That costs far more than the amount of tax they have scammed. And if you think you only have to incarcerate a few “pour encourager les autres,” you have no idea how many different types of scams that are possible.

And with Ontario’s remodelling business built so shakily on tax dodges, he will be needlessly throwing people out of work if he clamps down on those tax loopholes. He would be far better off to add some taxes in that sector on equipment and materials. The province can allow the legitimate remodelling contractor to claim back the tax when he pays in the customers’ taxes on a related contract.

The really bad news in this school-yard dialogue was what Sousa said in regards to the foolish suggestions of TD Bank’s Ed Clark and his panel of has-been politicos. To take a one-time gain from selling hydro-electric distribution to people who will rip off the consumers is pathetic. To have the LCBO try to meet the local needs of ethnic groups is an exercise in the ridiculous.

But it was the plan to squeeze the Beer Store monopoly that indicated how really childish Sousa was in his economic statement. Instead of ending the idiocy of having a foreign-owned monopoly with their disgusting beer stores, Sousa gave up millions in potential revenues from better distribution of beer sales.

Frankly, it is becoming an embarrassment to admit that Charles Sousa and the Wynne government are supposed to be Liberals. We used to refer to them as Whigs which were an earlier version of Liberals. What they really are is Conservatives by another name.

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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry

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

Wow, it says here that 77 per cent at the Ontario New Democrat convention in Toronto this past weekend liked Leader Andrea Horwath. Were they given a choice? Did they have someone else in mind? It seems silly to read anything into these figures. If the New Democrats had an alternative in mind, we would have known.

And when you do not know where you are going, why hire a new chauffeur?

In a spirit of inter-party cooperation, maybe Babel-on-the-Bay can help. It has always been our opinion that in Ontario the New Democrats were discouraged by some of their union members from being true socialists and the Liberals were barred by their bankers from being true reformers. It has always been our opinion that unions and banks can be equally reactionary forces and some need to be stepped on periodically. There are those times when neither a particular union nor banker are doing anybody any good.

On the other hand, there is a very strong need in Ontario for social democracy. And the truth is that liberalism and social democracy are very similar. Many political scientists are prepared to admit that there is really very little difference.

It has been noted over the years that the conservative parties have enjoyed the in-fighting between the various social democratic factions. Too often the conservatives have benefitted from that in-fighting. It has been so bad at times that New Democratic voters have switched to the conservative candidate rather than concede victory to the nasty liberals. And that has even been reciprocated by some liberals who would not vote for the left. It left bad feelings and scars.

It is time now for a new beginning. And if you are waiting for the perfect timing, there is none. It will always be difficult. There will always be some election in the offing. And there are complications because of the different federal and provincial organizations.

What we need is for the olive branch to be offered. We might have to offer it more than a few times. It will also be hard to tell the bankers and unions to take a hike. There was a comfort level there that we all might miss.

Maybe Babel-on-the-Bay can help as something of a clearing house. You know where we stand. Where are you? Do you want to help? Let us know.

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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry

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

If you are a TD Bank customer you should be concerned. Another interim report to the Ontario government has been received from TD Bank Chair Ed Clark. He and his panel of former politicians are supposed to be telling Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa what assets should be sold or become more profitable to help with the province’s deficit problem. What we are hearing does not sound like very good financial advice.

In his 77-page report amusingly entitled “Retain and Gain: Making Ontario’s Assets Work Better for Taxpayers and Consumers.” Clark seems to forget he is a banker and tells us how to create jobs in liquor stores and sell off hydro-electric distribution. And somehow, this is expected to make billions for Ontario. While the expertise Clark’s panel brings to liquor sales might be questionable, the collective expertise of the panel in electricity distribution is likely non existent.

What we would really like to know about these recommendations is what criteria are used to determine if something should be a monopoly or a competitive business? Maybe others wonder what we gain in Ontario by keeping some businesses as a monopoly. And what would we gain by having our monopoly liquor stores catering to the wishes of their local markets? Would not competitive independent retailers do a far better job of meeting the market needs for ethnic liquors and wines?

And what fairy godmother advised the panel to suggest privatizing Ontario’s confused mess of monopoly power distribution systems? And why do we get the impression that Clark and friends have got it all backwards?

Would it not be more logical to retain as a monopoly something that is a logical monopoly? If power distribution has no competition, what is to be gained from privatizing it? Would you not just be licensing people to take money from the taxpayers for a service requirement that government can more fairly satisfy?

On the other side of the coin, why not privatize those businesses that would benefit from privatization? If the government could make more revenue, the taxpayers have more choices and Ontario entrepreneurs get to do their stuff, what the hell is the Ontario government’s problem?

And to advise the government to rip off more money from the beer monopoly to keep their monopoly is advice we would not accept from any banker. This banker is way out of his depth and he should quit now.

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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry

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

Imagine if we had former Toronto Councillor Doug Ford of Toronto as premier of Ontario and Pierre-Karl Péladeau of Quebecor as premier of Quebec. Both of these gentlemen are standing at the sidelines at this moment waiting for the coaches to call them into the game. They are both considering the call to enter their respective party’s current leadership race.

It is a not too obtuse a conclusion that this is the sad state of politics in Canada today. You see it every day. You see it in all political parties. It is the anger, the distrust, the conniving, the cynicism, the hypocrisy, the lies and deceit. Politicians today do not like themselves. How do you think they feel about the voters?

Why would Doug Ford not want to take over the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party? His and his brother’s hard-core Ford Nation followers could swamp the membership of the entire PC party in Ontario. In a one-member-one-vote situation he could not lose. And that band of crazies in the ridings dominated by the Ontario Landowners would support Ford just to get even with the city-dominated old fashioned Conservatives in the Bill Davis style. If Doug Ford decides to go for it, the Conservative party might as well take the position for the enema he has promised it.

And just think of Pierre-Karl Péladeau as leader of the Parti Québécois in Quebec. That is an enema mix with jalapeños in it. And he is promising to declare before the end of November. It is still hard to say whether it was Péladeau or the PQ’s bigoted secularism charter that cost the PQ the provincial election last year. It is the blind belief in separatism that still drives what is left of the PQ and it seems the party’s already anointed saviour is Péladeau.

But just think about it: Ford and Péladeau as leaders of Canada’s two largest provinces, with more than half of Canada’s population. It would not only destroy the country but you would want it to separate.

But saner heads will prevail in both provinces. It appears that the separatist movement in Quebec has already split into three quarrelsome entities and it will never be a controversial person such as Péladeau that can rebuild the coalition. Quebecers might hate Ottawa at the moment but the government there is likely to change within the year. That will help change the dynamics in Quebec.

Ontario is actually the major problem. Its Liberal premier has a majority but has yet to show much spark as leader. Ontario New Democrats desperately need a new leader and there is no saviour on the horizon. As Conservatives go, the two leading contenders for that leadership, MPPs Christine Elliott and Lisa McLeod, are somewhere in the wishy-washy middle of the conservative spectrum. Doug Ford could put a face to that party: not a pretty one!

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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry

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

This is embarrassing. The Member of Parliament from Barrie is running for the leadership of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party. Or maybe not! If anything, the greedy chap is just seeking more publicity. It is embarrassing for Barrie, his party, his backers and the people wasting their money by donating to his campaign.

There are really only two serious contenders in the provincial Conservative leadership race at this time. Christine Elliott, MPP for Whitby-Oshawa, is the frontrunner. Widow of the former federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, she was the deputy leader to former leader Tim Hudak.

Lisa MacLeod, MPP for Nepean-Carleton is the other real contender in the race. She is younger and tougher than Elliott and more determined to further her career in politics. It is difficult to figure out where either of the two women would want to lead their party.

Not so with the candidate from Barrie. He is a poster boy for Campaign Life Coalition, the umbrella anti-abortion organization of the radical right. He is one of the few politicians in Ontario who meets Campaign Life’s strict criteria for green light endorsement. He comes across as firmly on the side of those who want to deny women the right to their own bodies.

We certainly know where he would lead his provincial party: nowhere. In the time he has been in Ottawa, he has never appeared to have had an idea of his own. His communications with his voters are mostly items fed to him by the Conservative caucus support staff. He fills the blanks by using charitable groups in the riding who cannot complain about him using them for his own publicity. His riding staff run charitable events in his name seemingly without benefit of any audit or oversight.

He is a runner. There was a publicity picture of him running on the Great Wall when Mr. Harper let him fly along on one of the Prime Minister’s trips to China. The joke at the time was that he was invited along because Harper needed extra help with his baggage. He was caught recently attempting to charge a trip to the New York Marathon as a government trip to the United Nations in New York. His staff quickly had the charge rescinded before it was too late.

But what our Member of Parliament is really famous for is spending the most taxpayer money on cheap mailers to voters to keep his name in front of them. As it is now, he gets his name on the end of every story about the upcoming provincial leadership in a footnote as ”also running….”

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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry

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

Back when sex education was first taught in Ontario schools there was always a lot of giggling and barely suppressed laughter from the back of the room. The kids up front had to try to keep straight faces. Since we were divided by sex for the classes, we boys had to exchange notes on the different classes with the girls afterwards. Based on what we are hearing about the current sex curriculum, Ontario politicians must be repressed as ever.

But why are politicians still making decisions about sex education? If they are supposed to be identifying community standards, they are doing a rotten job of it. And if Ontario can so easily accept Ms. Wynne and her sexual preference, why are we not being as casual about these things with our children? Is it some kind of double standard?

There are just too many damn politicians in this world who want you to do as they say, not as they do. That is the definition of hypocrites. And the hypocrisy metre has been reading far too high at Queen’s Park for far too long. It applies to a hell of lot more than sex education. Look at a few examples:

–          Catholic education is an anachronism in our secular society that should have ended many years ago. God forbid that any weasel of a politician should blow the Catholic vote!

–          Beer, wine and spirits distribution. The ghosts of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union will surely haunt you if you change that.

–          You have to keep municipal politicians on bended knee to you at Queen’s Park. You cannot allow those dummies to make serious decisions.

And that is only a sample. The problem seems to be that politics is not so much about serving your fellow humans but in control. As a ‘BMOC’ in politics, you can kick sand in the face of political wannabes in the trade schools of municipal and school board politics.

The problem in sex education is that political repression continues to cause harm. If children do not know about sex, they can experiment to find out. The results in some cases are unwanted pregnancies, hospital visits with strange objects were they should not be, rampant venereal diseases—and you thought head lice was a problem. We have a choice: discourage curiosity or answer it. Parents do not have all the answers. Teachers do not have all the answers. Politicians certainly do not seem to have any answers. Maybe between us all we can provide some answers.

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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry

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