Category: Provincial Politics

Crazies in Control.

by Peter Lowry

With the vote, such as it was, on Monday, the Loony Tunes have polarized Alberta. Their next target is Canada. We are headed down the rabbit hole with the Americans. In the land of the free, nobody stands on guard for thee.

More and more, talking to American relatives and friends, there is an attitude of surrender. They know not what to do. They feel hopeless in the failing grip of a grandfatherly Joe Biden. They have no trust in the checks and balances of a political system that is broken, traumatized and has let them down before. The cold granite faces of long dead heroes of past battles for the republic are staring into the past.

In Canada, our control is in the hands of an actor. He is not his father. He is the sum of the challenges of his mother. Justin Trudeau’s stretch in power is tenuous. His government supported by an ersatz warrior of the Tenth Guru.

The emboldened regime in Alberta will become the spear with which Pierre Poilievre can wound and defeat the unity of our nation. He will use the conservatives in power in the provinces to undermine the confidence in a liberal federal government.

And all hail Trump. The Trumpian legacy in the United States stands over the definition of truth, the definition of justice and the way forward for America. It little matters if Donald Trump wins or loses the Republican nomination. He has set the standard and his followers are but acolytes to the Way of Trump.

Ron DiSantis is not as charismatic as Trump but as long as he sticks to the playbook, he has clear sailing to the White house.

Pierre Poilievre will have a tougher challenge to unseat Justin Trudeau. He is disliked in Quebec, despite his French name. He is weak in the Atlantic provinces. He divides the country at the Ontario-Manitoba border. He has to win Ontario.

He has to have the support of Ontario’s premier Doug Ford. Poilievre, the rapacious libertarian, is not in the same game as Ford, the populist conservative. They could never be friends, nor partners in power.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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Bonnie Blunders.

by Peter Lowry

You hate to see a promising politician do a pratfall on the way out of the starting gate. Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie broke all the rules she could have learned from Hazel McCallion. Hazel was a strong liberal and I am sure she wished all the best to Bonnie in her political career. No doubt she could have given some good advice to her successor about welcoming all who want to support you.

But Bonnie puts the caveat on her candidacy for the leadership of the Ontario liberals that she is a middle of the road liberal. Where I come from in the liberal party, people who go down the middle of the road are called ‘Road Kill.’

And if Bonnie thought that the provincial reigns of liberals such as Dalton McGinty and Kathleen Wynne were too left-wing, she wasn’t paying attention. In moving to the left, Dalton was just slow. Wynne was glacial.

Dalton McGinty had a lot to fix after the disastrous years of conservative Mike Harris in the premier’s office. He only addressed the more public of the problems. And Kathleen Wynne followed his example.

It was when she started to loosen up the liquor regulations that her instincts as a prissy school-teacher took over. Being openly lesbian in no way guarantees that you are progressive in anything else. I got the impression that maybe she had made a deal with the Weston clan that she would introduce beer in grocery stores one Loblaws store at a time.

And when she conceded the 2018 election before the polls had even closed, she did serious harm to the liberal party.

Right-wing liberals are the source of problems over the years for the party. A leader such as federal liberal Paul Martin was so far to the right that the voters figured they might as well vote for the conservatives and get the real thing. Liberal premier David Peterson in Ontario proved to be so right-wing that voters opted for the new democratic party in hopes of improving things. It didn’t.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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No Debutantes’ Ball in Alberta.

by Peter Lowry

They both showed that they had been to that rodeo before. Both challenger Rachel Notley of the new democrats (NDP) and incumbent premier (briefly) Danielle Smith of the united conservatives (UCP) looked softer and younger than their years. They were painfully polite and nobody had a scratch to show from the performance. It was a disappointment. It was no love-in but both walked away unbowed and unbruised.

What surprised this easterner was that the Alberta ethics commissioner had all but crucified Smith earlier in the day. Danielle Smith had a walk-around story ready for her political opponent and the journalists. Just where those horseshoes came from nobody seemed to know.

No matter where that debate was intended to lead its viewers, Danielle Smith was just as much a screwball at the end as she was at the beginning. Nobody can be that loyal to a Donald Trump or to a Danielle Smith so they can ignore the fact that they have absolutely no use for the truth.

I, for one, do not believe that all Albertans need a mental health check but if Notley and her NDP are not returned to power at the end of the month, I would be inclined to wonder. We knew when Jason Kenney threw his saddle and white hat into his pickup and headed west from Ottawa to unite the right in Alberta, that interesting times where coming.

It was hardly a surprise that by dint of subterfuge and chicanery that Kenney got as far as he did. I hardly think he considered what a world-wide pandemic would do to all his plans. He’s toast.

But then we got Danielle Smith back. This woman is no conservative. She barely makes it to the far right of the right. She is a libertarian with a dose of megalomania in the mix. It was not so far back that we can forget how close she came to taking what was left of the Wildrose into the wilderness to drink Kool-Aid together.

But I sure hope there is another debate before election day. And please, don’t be nice!

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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A Brown Stain in Brampton.

by Peter Lowry

Did we hear rumblings from Hazel’s grave the other day?  I am sure we can have every confidence in current Mississauga mayor, Bonnie Crombie that everything will work out all right. What would upset the late Hazel McCallion though is the thought of giving anything to Brampton’s Brown.

It was when Doug Ford first suggested that he had every confidence that an amicable divorce could be conducted in separating Mississauga from Brampton and both municipalities from Peel County that I knew, if Hazel were still alive there would be none of that BS.

The first thing we all need to understand is exactly when Doug Ford kissed and made up with Patrick Brown? The former member of parliament from Barrie was hardly in Doug Ford’s good books back in 2015 when he won the Ontario conservative leadership with all of his signups from the India diaspora (immigrants from India).

How and when the deal was hatched to bring Brown down with allegations about inappropriate behaviour was obviously from within the conservative party in Ontario. Liberals in Barrie had been studying Brown from the time he won the federal election in Barrie in 2006. They decided that Brown had got lucky as a retail politician and could be defeated in a subsequent election.

That did not happen because of another conservative politician named Jason Kenney from Calgary. Kenney (already a cabinet member) took the young MP from Barrie under his wing. He showed him what could be achieved by earning the devotion of blocks of new comers to Canada. Then there was the first of many flights to the Indian sub-continent, at the expense of Canadian taxpayers, which greatly influenced the MP’s importance with the Indian diaspora.

It was the help of the Indian diaspora that enabled Brown to swamp the membership of the progressive conservative party of Ontario and win the leadership of the party.

Not all conservatives in Brown’s Barrie riding considered his tactics fair in winning the leadership. They used some very old and well proven tactics to unseat him—they accused him of improper behaviour with supposedly under-age females. (The subsequent refuting of these allegations did not restore him to the position of party leader.)

Looking for something political to do, Brown found that Doug Ford would not accept him as a provincial candidate for the conservative party. He therefore put his name forward for chair of Peel Region. (The county that includes the cities of Brampton and Mississauga, and the municipality of Caledon.) The conservative leader also blocked that attempt by cancelling the election of a Peel chair.

But Ford found no way to stop Brown for running for mayor in Brampton. In the same way as he had won the conservative party leadership, Brown got together with his organizers in the diaspora and told them to promise the Sikh and Hindi residents of Brampton (of which there are many) and promise them that more of Brampton’s parks would be converted to cricket pitches. He won easily.

If the premier had still wanted to mess with Patrick Brown’s political career, he needed to amalgamate Brampton and Mississauga. It would not only have solved the political problem, cost less for the taxpayers, but there would be a better balance of baseball diamonds and cricket pitches in the new city’s parks.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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Sacrificed on the Language Cross.

by Peter Lowry

Don’t you love these hypocrites in Quebec who will sacrifice the future of the province’s youth on the cross of linguistic purity? Take Pierre Karl Péladeau, the denizen of Quebecor and Freedom Mobile whose publications tell Québécois what to think. He connives with premier Legault to insulate the province of Quebec from the siren songs of a world where the lingua franca is English.

Their problems are obvious to all—yet there is little truth told in French. They do not want the immigrants who are eager to leave North Africa and the fighting and trials among the French speakers there. The problem is bigotry. Quebec passes laws telling people how they can dress to serve the public on behalf of the province. It suppresses availability of opportunities to learn English. 

And don’t look to Justin Trudeau for help. He ignores the efforts his father made to spread a bilingual attitude across Canada. And in many ways, Pierre Trudeau was successful. Despite the elites of Quebec ignoring the increased availability of French-language-services across the country, it is a fact that these services are there and are used by an increasingly bi-lingual population in the rest of Canada.

What worries the Quebec elites is that they, as people of power and importance in Quebec, are losing importance in a Canada that continues to grow and thrive with a robust immigrant population learning to blend into an expanded economy.

Most Canadians recognize the importance to Canada of a continued effort to attract skilled and trainable workers to help in the continued growth of our country. To do this, we have to continue to build homes for their families, schools for their children.

And yes, there will be tensions occasionally between those whose taste in clothing are in styles connected to the land of their birth. There needs to be compromise, tolerance, understanding and patience.

It seems to be mostly in Quebec that we are seeing the rising tide of intolerance and unwelcoming attitudes. Quebecois should demand that their politicians give their children the future that they want in a growing Canada.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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The Wicked Witch of the West.

by Peter Lowry

There is no yellow brick road to the legislature in Edmonton but if Calgary votes right (far right), they get a new arena. And the witch gets to keep her job as premier.

Bribery is a time-honoured tradition in Canadian politics. There is many an ancient story from the 19th century of voting for the five-dollar bill or the mickey of rye. And isn’t it amazing what inflation can do. Now we are expecting new hockey arenas worth $1.22 billion. And it is happening this month in Calgary. That is sure a long way from $5 per vote.

But if you got it, flaunt it. The wicked witch of the west has tar sands product to reap. Have you noted the price of gasoline lately? Every nickel the cost of gas goes up means more money for the tar sands exploiters, And the more the tar sands people make, the more money that lands in the provincial coffers of Alberta. This is not rainy-day money, this just encourages the government of Alberta to spend, spend, spend.

Some very smart premiers in the past have told Albertans that money earned from non-renewable resources are a gift that should be spent carefully on the future needs of the province. As usual, they are to be ignored.

But nobody counted on the wicked witch of the west in the person of Danielle Smith. The premier that nobody but the Wildrose survivors wanted is sure feeling her oats.

She makes the NDP’s Rachel Notley sound like a piker. That lady, when she was last premier, had a lot of common sense to sell and we sure hope enough people in the province are listening today.

The problem that the province is facing in this provincial election is the impact that it will have on the rest of Canada. With the current premier being the wicked witch of the west, Canadians across Canada will write off Alberta as Looney-Tunes country if Danielle Smith continues as premier.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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The Temptation of being Tory.

by Peter Lowry

It is so embarrassing when your electoral district has been saddled with a conservative place-holder. Doug Ford appointed the schmuck as candidate in Barrie-Springwater—Oro-Medonte to keep the disgraced Patrick Brown from showing up as an elected member at Queen’s Park five years ago. Those of us who live in the riding have been embarrassed ever since.

I expect we could have survived being represented by a back-bench nebbish but Brian Mulroney’s little girl, Caroline, blew her role as attorney general. Premier Ford needed an attorney general who was allowed to practice law in Ontario. And that is how a conservative ward-healer from Severn, Ontario became the back-up attorney general of Ontario. The guy is now one of the most self-important politicians in the province. And, as for those of us in his riding, he is too important to deal with us.

And, you have got to admit that Caroline Mulroney did her job as Doug Ford wanted it done. As attorney general, she had been busy firing all the liberals on the landlord-tenant tribunal. No liberal’s contract was renewed. She laid waste of the people with experience. She purged for political purity. She purged experience. She purged knowledge. She added more than a year to wait times for a hearing before the landlord and tenant board.

It is difficult to say whether this is the most egregious failing of the Tory government in Ontario. I, for one, will never forgive Mr. Ford for his treatment of the halt and the lame receiving Ontario disability support program (ODSP) payments. Others might consider his cavalier attitude towards good farmland and the wetlands that are vital to the farm crops, or the Ontario Greenbelt, as more destructive. And nobody can deny that the dumbass has set our hospitals back years in meeting their staffing needs—while enriching the doctors and others who can now run privatized clinics and care less about Medicare.

But I also note that the back-up attorney general delayed selecting a new chief justice for Ontario until he had a chance to consider all the candidates’ credentials. No doubt, he made a selection that would please his political master, Mr. Ford.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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Here Comes Nate.

by Peter Lowry

Watch out Mr. Ford. Here comes Nathaniel Erskine-Smith MP, from Toronto’s Beaches-East York electoral district, to run for the leadership of Ontario’s liberals. He is my kind of liberal. He speaks his mind. He believes in the right of individual liberals to disagree with the party on issues. He is neither a maverick nor unpredictable. He is an honest person, a thinking person and a caring person.

It was wonderful to hear that he is going to seek the Scarborough seat of MPP Mitzie Hunter when she resigns so she can be on the ballot for the Toronto mayoralty. They are two people following their dreams. They are both highly qualified for the positions they seek. Mitzie Hunter brings specific knowledge of Toronto housing needs and of Queen’s Park and the Ontario government’s responsibilities to cities. Erskine-Smith brings a wider scope to the Queen’s Park liberal leadership.

The member of parliament for Beaches-East York would be able to takeover as leader from day one if he has already won a seat at Queen’s Park. He would be a formidable opponent for Ontario premier Ford. He would bring a strong support to Medicare in the face of the pressures for-profit medicine is causing for nursing in our hospitals.

The only regret is that liberals have to wait until December 2 to find out the winner of the liberal leadership for Ontario. Other candidates are welcome and liberals across Ontario will have a chance to meet them over the summer and fall. Nathan Erskine Smith is certainly an excellent first to declare.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

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And a small apology: When travelling, I usually try to have commentaries ready to run ahead of my trip. That should not include running two on the same day. Now I have to get things back on track. 

To be In Calgary, In May.

by Peter Lowry

There is nothing else like it. To be in Calgary in May when a provincial election is called is a special experience. It is a hootenanny without the music. You need a shovel to sort through the promises. There is a dingbat on the loose named Danielle Smith who became a short-term premier when she was chosen to head up the (dis-) united conservatives. Sharpshooter and former premier Rachel Notley is leading the NDP and targeting the dingbat.

Notley is going to have to fix Medicare. Smith has more tax cuts in mind. It is only a four-week campaign, so the two parties have to promise much and often. Former premier Notley has accusatory words for much of what the dingbat Smith has to say about Medicare. Smith does not care for Medicare.

But you are never too sure, from day to day, just what Danielle Smith will say.

Smith thought the Coutts blockade—that only hurt Alberta’s economy—helped the province rid itself of Covid mandates. She claims now that she was opposed to mask and stay-home mandates during the worst of the pandemic.

The problem for the NDP’s Rachel Notley, she says, is that she never knows what the United Conservative Party candidate will say next. Smith’s case of interfering in the prosecution of Calgary pastor Artur Pawlowski is still before the Alberta ethics commissioner. Despite premier Smith’s promise, on a recorded phone call, to go to bat for him, he was still found guilty of inciting the protesters at Coutts.

Smith’s credentials as premier are, at best, questionable. She was the leader of the province’s extreme right Wildrose party when she led most of her party across the legislature floor, to join the conservatives. The problem that floor-crossing caused for her was that she could not find a riding at the time in Alberta that wanted her as their conservative candidate.

One of her first actions as premier last year was to have the legislature pass what is called the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act. The most common guess at what that act means is that Alberta wants to decide which of the acts passed by the federal government, it will support. What it will do about those it does not like is not explained.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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Doug’s Decision.

by Peter Lowry

It is not often that premier Doug Ford makes a decision that pleases some of the people in Ontario. I figured it was just a typical Doug decision because he had to. It was probably the last thing someone in his offices suggested, so he went with it. He is moving the Ontario Science Centre. And it is not lock, stock and barrel. No, he is moving it to Ontario Place, because nobody liked any of his ideas for Ontario Place.

Ontario Place is some artificial islands that were built in Lake Ontario just off the shore at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds and its amusement park. It was the delight of our children and even some of adults as it had a water park for summer fun and a huge movie theatre in a geodesic dome with an Imax screen. 

You can just imagine all the thoughts running through premier Ford’s brain while making this decision. A: Nobody liked any of his ideas for Ontario Place. B: Everybody liked the Ontario Science Centre. It was a place that our children liked and it helped encourage them to like science.

This decision ignored a small problem. He had already signed off on a deal for a foreign-owned luxury health spa to be built on the west island of Ontario Place. This is such a big spa that they want to dig down in the island so the luxury customers can park their luxury automobiles under the spa. This spa would leave less room for the new science centre. Ontario would be lucky to get a half-size science centre.

I had watched when the first part of the Ontario Science Centre was built. It is by a river valley that tends to flood. And that is why the science centre does not go to the bottom of the valley. It is not as buildable or as big a parcel of land as it looks. Doug Ford calls the old science centre structure a tear down.

But it needs more space than is available at Ontario Place. It should also be more central to the city with lots of parking for the buses that bring the school children.

I will cheerfully admit that the previous liberal government dithered for years about what to do about Ontario Place. I believe Mr. Ford should have continued to dither.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]