Category: Provincial Politics

Limp half measures by people who have no idea where they are going seem to be the action plan for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). What else would you expect from an organization run by a bunch of lawyers and has-been politicians? Who else would you expect to screw up a $5 billion business so badly?

The most serious problem with the way the LCBO is run is that the government has to settle for $1.7 billion in revenues this year when it could have done much better. And this is not considering the revenues just from the sales of LCBO stores, new licenses and the ongoing revenues from a centralized buying agency for the province.

Because nobody is suggesting that we sell off the only benefit Ontario has gained from the LCBO to-date. That is that this agency is the largest centralized purchaser of wine and spirits in the world. Run properly as a wholesaler of wines and spirits, nobody could compete with it. While private retailers would want the opportunity to arrange special buys and labelling from wineries around the world, there is no reason why the former LCBO importer and distributer could not also provide that service to these deals. The profits from that business alone would not be unsubstantial.

Licensing and inspecting wine and spirits retailers, grocery stores and convenience stores will be a huge task and a serious revenue generator for Ontario. There will be no lack of work for former LCBO employees. Privatization will generate more jobs in the long run. Convenience stores that want to sell beer and wine will have to hire adults to manage their stores at all times. Privatized liquor stores will vie to hire wine experts and knowledgeable bartenders to advise a more challenging clientele. And we have not even mentioned the growing tax revenue from smarter marketing.

We can forget the people who are being really stupid on this question. They are the bluestockings who still think they should have a say on how we sell beer, wine and liquor. The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) no longer holds sway in Ontario. Ignorance is no excuse for politicians to think they should support the status quo. Times have changed. The private sector can do a far better job of providing the service to the public that Ontario wants.

This is not an issue to be argued between political parties. It is an issue that sensible people see as a foolish anachronism and the politician who continues to fight the issue is going to be put out to pasture.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

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

Toronto Star columnist Martin Reg Cohn advises us that there will be no regicide (the act of murdering the king or leader) at the Conservative convention in London, Ontario this weekend. Darn it. He is spoiling all our fun. We were counting on Opposition Leader Timmy Hudak at least sweating about his possible ouster.

And what is wrong with dissent anyway? It is helping to turn what promised to be a really dull political event into a media circus. It is encouraging the membership to attend. It is the dream of every party treasurer to make money on policy conventions.

Anything that encourages Ontario Conservatives to think about their hopeless leadership plight is worthwhile. These people have been going around like zombies since electing Timmy leader of their party in June 2009. Sure, he has been a disaster but he is their disaster and they are trying to learn to live with it.

After all, it is not as though there was some alternative. Who else have the Tories got? There is no doubt Randy Hillier’s zany Ontario Landowners would like to see him in the driver’s seat. Those people make the Texas Tea Party look sensible.

And Timmy has already told the party what he wants them to support in the way of policy. He has published his so-called White Papers on everything except the proper way to have Conservative sex.

With Timmy, it seems that what you see is what you get. The only problem is that in the last Ontario election the voters looked at Timmy and rejected him. Despite his leading the polls when the election writ was issued, Timmy managed to convince a lot of Conservative voters that they had more important things to do than vote on election day.

Timmy did the same thing to Conservative voters as Dalton McGuinty did to Liberal voters and Andrea Horwath did to New Democrats. All three leaders bored the voters. Nobody led anyone anywhere. The platforms were predictable, the speeches put people to sleep and nobody had any useful answers to the voters’ questions. The 2011 election in Ontario resolved nothing.

And neither will the Conservative convention this weekend. They should pass a special motion of thanks though to the people presenting the motion to dump Timmy. It helped turn out the Tories!

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

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

It seems to always be columnist Heather Mallick at the Toronto Star who gets the tough assignments. The other day she wrote, as an atheist, in opposition to the Quebec Charter of Values. That is one really tough assignment.

After all, who has the right to speak for atheists? Since, by definition, being an atheist is nothing more than a disbelief in the existence of God, it is hardly an organized group. There is little discussion of this disbelief in the study of comparative religions. Nobody gets a Ph.D. in atheism. There are no seminaries for atheists.

And nobody cares about agnostics either. An agnostic is just an atheist who wants to keep his or her options open in case of being wrong. Why they think they can opt in when standing in front of St. Peter, is a good question?

But frankly we should be concerned that there are no talking heads that the media can turn to when they need a meaningful quote from an atheist. And how should an atheist feel about the Quebec Charter of Values? Do we get to proselytize by wearing distinctive head gear or something easily identified as a cross or a star? No, we suffer the ignominy of looking just like everyone else. We are so boring.

Yet, Heather Mallick comes to our rescue. She is cynical about the silly advertisement by an Ontario hospital hoping to hire all these religiously identified staff that is expected to flee this new Quebec pogrom. She ridicules the hospital’s use of an attractive female in a head scarf as being as overly selective in their public relations as Premier Pauline Marois and the Quebec government appear careless.

Heather says that this mess of a charter is “a rat’s nest of manufactured offence.”  It is her opinion that the matter makes Canada’s most progressive province look bad.

It is and it does. All you have to be is Canadian to be outraged by the deliberate and blatant bigotry of the separatists in Quebec to come up with this offensive plan. Being an atheist is irrelevant.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

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

When ‘mentioned in dispatches’ it means a Brit or Canadian soldier has been written up by a superior officer for conspicuous bravery in the face of the enemy. We mention this (somewhat sarcastically) as our Member of the Provincial Parliament (MPP) had a jolly extensive write-up this week in the local tabloids for finding the enemy and vanquishing her. In his quest to find cost savings for Babel families in the battlefields of Queen’s Park, our MPP has sought to replace a part-time paid staffer with an unpaid volunteer.

It could have been good news for the MPP but the part-time staffer has fired back. She has filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labour that questions whether an employer can replace a paid worker with an unpaid person who works in a voluntary or intern relationship. One would assume the MPP, who used to be a human resources consultant, would have known about that question.

It is not as though the young lady had not proved willing and able to do the job. It was a routine administrative job in the MPP’s Babel office. She had served as an unpaid intern originally and then accepted an offer to be paid to do the job on a part-time basis. Her work must have been satisfactory since her contract was renewed for the past summer.

If it was not for the MPP’s background in human relations, this might have been an honest mistake. Here we have all been waiting breathlessly to hear what our fledgling MPP is accomplishing for us at the Ontario Legislature in Toronto and this is the best we get. We do not even know if he is going to vote for Timmy Hudak to continue as his party leader in the party gathering later this month. Will he challenge Timmy’s continued tenure or will he not?

With his background in human relations work, you would also think the MPP might be taking a stand on the private member’s bill that one of his caucus colleague’s has proposed that will end the union shop at the very successful Ontario-based EllisDon construction company. We have not heard what he is doing about that either.

Frankly it seems somewhat unfair that Babel is represented by two seemingly useless Conservatives in Ottawa and in Queen’s Park. The federal member has all kinds of staff and is constantly in our face with everything except information about his individual contribution to our Canadian government.  The provincial Conservative stands (or sits) somewhere out of the limelight at the Ontario Legislature. Neither one appears to be doing us any good!

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

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

Quebec Premier Pauline Marois is using us all. She is using the ingrained bigotry of Quebec to turn Quebecers against fellow Canadians. She is using the liberal multiculturalism of Canada to insult Canadians. She is scratching at wounds on both sides of the Canadian language divide. Her Charter of Values is a vicious attack on Canadian values that could tear the country apart.

And in his ignorance Employment Minister Jason Kenney is playing right into Marois’ game plan. By threatening to use the courts to disavow the Quebec Charter, he has added another argument for separation to the Quebec psyche. And no matter who wins the argument, Marois has accomplished her objective.

It was former Premier Jacques Parizeau who complained bitterly about Quebec’s ethnic minorities after losing the 1995 referendum. Pauline Marois is solving the problem that Parizeau perceived. She is telling the visible minorities to conform to Quebec or get out of her province. The Charter of Values is discriminatory and bigoted and racist and she wins if it starts the exodus of visible minorities from Quebec. It is the same type of pogrom as was used to get rid of many of the Anglophones who shared Quebec prior to the draconian language laws that have never been properly challenged.

But you cannot solve this problem from outside Quebec. Somebody should have explained that to Calgary’s Jason Kenney before he started shooting off his mouth. Bigotry has to be addressed head on. One of the problems in Quebec is that bigotry seems to be confused with being devoted to your own religion. There is probably a vulgar word in French for bigotry that says it better but we will leave that to people in Quebec.

This values charter can probably be handled best by Quebec politicians such as Justin Trudeau. He appeals to the younger Quebecers who are the target of Marois’ plan. They are the ones most susceptible to the casual bigotry of Quebec but Trudeau can show them where it is wrong. He can appeal to them for a fairness that they can understand. He can also appeal to them with the opportunities that a more open society can offer to them and their children. He can help them shut the door on the bigotry of Quebec’s past.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

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

The Ontario Legislature met yesterday. Premier Wynne was in the white of a bride to launch the fall session. She had already told the opposition that they will need to cooperate or she will call an election. If that is a choice she is offering, we respectfully choose an election.

And the reasoning is simple. It is because we have absolutely no idea where this Ontario government is headed.

It is not because we do not want to hear any more about cancelling the damn gas plants in Mississauga and Oakville. That is now a decision for Ontario voters. If you tie up the Legislature with that argument, you are not doing anything constructive.

And before you sneak that Ellis-Don legislation through the Legislature, maybe you should make it government legislation and explain it better to us slower voters. How does throwing out its union shop benefit anyone other than the owners of the company? And why should our legislators vote to do that?

It seems that Mac’s Milk has thrown down the gauntlet on beer sales and your government is being left at the starting line. It is very easy for the government to turn that around and say ‘upgrade your convenience store and you too can sell beer.’ It does not need to be cheaper. It does not have to be in big packages. It just needs to be convenient. Somebody has to bring this province into the 21^st Century!

Or is Ontario some wondrous Brigadoon that appears every hundred years from the mists of time? Is the Family Compact that runs this province now just a bunch of lawyers in expensive suits?

There are so many opportunities for Ontario to progress. It needs new controls on election spending and you should have no problem getting the other parties to agree to outlaw groups such as ‘Working Families’ who had so much influence in the last Ontario election. And how about ending all business and union contributions?

What Ontario must have is a government that will be proactive in creating meaningful employment opportunities. It has to be an open and honest government. It has to be a government that ensures the voters of a level playing field for all parties. Let’s not let Ontario disappear again into the mists of time.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

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

Reading a political survival strategy for Ontario Conservative Leader Timmy Hudak proposed by Bob Hepburn in the Toronto Star the other day, it seems that what he says applies at all political leaders—and not even just in Ontario. Mind you, Ontario has been without leadership for some time now and you wonder when there will be some solutions. And it is sure not just thinking of yourself as premier.

Even Kathleen Wynne does not think of herself as premier. She might be sitting in the seat but it sure does not fit her. Here she is talking about conversations and conciliation when nobody gives a damn. Wynne does not seem to have any clear grasp of the role, responsibility and rigours of the office. She appears to have done nothing in six months as premier except keep herself in office by sucking up to the New Democrats.

Not that New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath can even think of herself as premier. She is the type of person mixed fruit drinks were invented for—she would be confused picking a single fruit drink for breakfast. She neither thinks, acts, talks nor leads her party in any direction that would justify thinking of her as premier.

And then here was Bob Hepburn trying to propose Conservative Leader Timmy Hudak as a solution. Bob notes that Timmy needs a plan to convince voters that he is the best person to lead the province. The only problem with Timmy is that he wants Ontario to be just like Alabama. Timmy seems to seriously believe that Ontario should have with no minimum wage and a right to work law.

Bob complains that the position papers Timmy’s office has released are just full of vague generalities about how he would cut all the government services and jobs. He thinks Timmy needs to be more positive.

He also advises Timmy to be more personable and to be a solutions provider. He also suggests that the Tory leader tell us more about the private Timmy Hudak. He says that Timmy could be wasting his time at political gatherings and might better speak to the populace at cultural and sporting events. (If he tells us his story between hockey periods it could really increase the beer sales.)

Mind you, this advice might not work as well for the other two leaders. While all three party leaders need public speaking training, better writers, clearer direction and to act more human, we might not want to know all that much more about their personal lives.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

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

Quebec’s sovereignty soliloquists believe they have a free hand to sell separatism to their captive audience. Quebec Premier Pauline Marois bragged to the media recently that her Parti Québécois are planning a campaign for sovereignty without a referendum in sight. It is like an uncomfortable rash on our country’s backside and we will have to pony up the money for some anti-sovereignist salve. Most Canadians are weary of this separation crap and she might just be counting on the backlash.

But Canada has more important problems. And Marois is kidding herself if she thinks any campaign will influence Prime Minister Harper’s attitude towards Quebec. He figures he owes nothing to Quebec and being loved there is not high on his bucket list. There is little to be gained from him in the time he has left in the big-boy chair.

Marois’ bigger problem is the two federal party leaders from Quebec. New Democrat Leader Thomas Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau are part of the reality with which the Parti Québécois has to deal. How do you sell Quebecers that they are inferior to the rest of Canada when two of their own are vying for the top job in the country? The myth that Pierre Trudeau betrayed them is ancient lore and does not tarnish the son.

And what is Pauline Marois selling? In a world where people strive to learn to work together, what is the point of separatism? What does anyone in Quebec gain if they did get rid of the blockheads from the rest of Canada? At least the Canadian blockheads cared. Try all that shit on American blockheads and Quebecers will really learn about discrimination. It is bad enough in the areas of Florida where Quebecers like to congregate in winter.

The only people who have anything to gain from separation from Canada are Quebec’s notables—the bilingual intelligentsia and industrialists who could then become bigger fish in the smaller pond. The only barrier to Quebecers being abused and used by their own notables is that the rest of Canada cares.

What Pauline Marois does not understand in her separatism efforts and in discriminatory sallies such as her silly charter of values is that Canada is considered to be one of the most tolerant and friendliest countries in the world. She is harming our reputation.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

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

An old friend down in Windsor has posited in a blog that Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa is running a covert campaign for Kathleen Wynne’s job. While it is a mildly amusing hypothesis, you have to remember that the Windsor area of Ontario thrives on putative political putsches. And the Liberals in the area have yet to forgive Wynne for defeating Windsor’s own Sandra Pupatello for the job of Premier.

But to accuse Charles Sousa of plotting anything more complex than where to eat lunch is paying a disservice to the gentleman. With Charles, what you see is what you get. He lacks duplicity. He lacks ideas. He is a banker for goodness sake.

Frankly, Charles could not scurry fast enough over to Kathleen Wynne’s side when he saw how the voting was going at the tightly controlled convention that chose her. He had obviously been offered the finance job for his obeisance and he bought the deal. Our Morning Line had positioned him at 9 to 1 odds and he seemed to agree with us. And the only reason we gave him those good odds was because he is also a nice guy.

But he has disappointed us in the finance portfolio. By agreeing to force down the automobile insurance rates to please the New Democrats, you know that the insurance people are just going to deliver less on claims. Consumers are going to lose and we can all blame Charles.

And he is continuing to ignore the need to sell off the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) stores to the private sector. Just because Tory Leader Timmy Hudak’s henchmen have convinced him to get on that bandwagon is no excuse not to do it. Charles is ignoring the best way to solve the deficit problem and look like a hero at the same time.

While he obviously does not have the final say in who heads what board, he has not helped the situation at Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) and at the LCBO by appointing safe, uninspiring chairs to two critically important boards.

Neither Charles nor Kathleen Wynne have stimulated very much in their first six months in their jobs. At a best guess they have another six months to get their act together. And there is little hope if they continue down the path where they are now headed.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

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