Provincial Politics – Page 42

Del Duca Doesn’t Do It.

February 28, 2020 by Peter Lowry

The Toronto Star actually endorsed a candidate for leader of Ontario’s liberals without telling their readers anything of importance about him. They tell us former MPP Steven Del Duca is a good organizer without giving any examples. They tell us he can raise funds without understanding where they come from. They tell us he likes the centre-right political playground instead of being a lefty like Kathleen Wynn.

And that is an endorsement?

Former premier Kathleen Wynne was the most reactionary of liberals. She was slow to listen, slow to react and unembarrassedly milked any media opportunity that made her look even a little bit progressive. To suggest Del Duca is more right wing than her is to put him in a similar political view as Maxime Bernier.

And Wynne seemed to have the political common sense of a gerbil. When she surrendered before the campaign was even over to that ass Ford and his collection of conservative connivers, it was her high-water mark of blundering politics. She gave no thought to the candidates and party supporters she was betraying.

But of the 20 or so of the liberal candidates who had a chance at the time of winning their seats, I hardly think Del Duca was included. Micheal Coteau and Mitzie Hunter were two we expected to pull through because of their strong riding support and their hard work.

The one thing for sure is that the liberal party has little chance of serious reform with someone such as Del Duca at the helm. The federal party has been changed under Justin Trudeau into a collection of easy marks for constant fund-raising. They have little input on where the party is going, its policies or in choosing its candidates.

It will be a sorry day next week if Steven Del Duca walks away with the party leadership. It will be when liberalism dies in Ontario.

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This gang can’t shoot straight.

February 27, 2020 by Peter Lowry

They must find these companies under a bush somewhere. We are talking about Gateway Casinos & Entertainment, a Canadian casino management company based in B.C., that is currently being taken over by an American company with deeper pockets. Gateway operates casinos in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. In Ontario, the company manages casinos in central, northern and southwest Ontario, including Casino Rama, Innisfil Casino and one to be opened in Wasaga Beach. As we live in central Ontario, we can report that Innisfil has no craps and is an ongoing disappointment, Rama has fallen on hard times and Wasaga is coming.

The wife and I picked a bad day last week to stop at the Innisfil casino. I do not know if the weather report that said it was the coldest day of the winter so far, was to blame for the technical problems but it might have been reason for missing staff. It started with no staff for the coatroom. There were also some very grouchy slot players who could not get their payoffs because of a computer glitch. The wife was pleased when I said we could come back when people are happier.

And we know better than to eat in their restaurant. We have heard various excuses for the food there but it just seems to be poor quality, cooked without caring.

The company downgraded our favourite restaurant at Rama. They turned it into a burger joint. One thing I know about successful casinos after years of trips to Las Vegas is that if you stay away from the buffets, gamblers can expect good food. At Rama, the only thing this management company did with the other restaurants seemed to be to raise the prices. And, while I might be wrong, they seem to have simply cut off the comps while taking three months to convert to their own “Club Rewards” program.

I expect leaner times when they get the program started again.

But I think the system of comping gamblers on table games should borrow elements of the system in early Las Vegas where the pit bosses controlled the comps. These are the people who can see the action best. They know the gamblers best. And the people who stimulate the gambling and make it fun are not the whales of years gone by.

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Buffalo Declarations and other Bull.

February 25, 2020 by Peter Lowry

There is an odour emanating from the politics of self justification in Alberta. And it is not that of the wild prairie rose. It is the greed and the false tears and it is the manure that helps it grow.

I remember as a young man, standing at the government dock on the shores of Cold Lake. I was looking across the water as I waited for the Beaver (the kind that fly) to come in on its floats to take me further north. I remember thinking this is awesome country.

But it does not need these avaricious politicians who pander to millionaires and foreign resource robbers who tear into the ground to attack our heritage and despoil our future. It does not need these mindless politicians who pander to their voters by blaming eastern politicians for their shortcomings.

Did all Alberta politicians fail Economics 101? Do they not realize that Teck Resources quit the idea of the largest, most polluting open-pit mine in the tar sands because the company realized that it could not make money? Any smart investment analyst will tell you there is no future in bitumen. There is no booming market in oil futures.

But then we have to contend with the ignorance of the Buffalo Declaration that underlines Alberta MP’s political efforts to undermine our Canada. Please, please tell me in what way is Alberta not an equal partner in this Canada?

And, for God’s sake, in what way is Alberta culturally different from the rest of the country (other than Quebec)? I have always found that I get excellent and friendly service in Calgary despite whatever accent people from Ontario might have.

The four Alberta politicians who wrote that silly Buffalo Declaration are not speaking for all their constituents nor is their whining very helpful. It is an interesting counterpoint to the LEAP Manifesto of the NDP. It is also going nowhere.

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The Beer Store’s small planning error.

February 23, 2020 by Peter Lowry

It was reliably reported the other day that Ted Moroz, president of Ontario’s Brewers’ Retail Inc., that operates the Beer Stores, has reported making a mistake to his foreign owners. It seems there was a shortfall of about $13 million of the usual $400 million, or so, in revenue last year. And why he would not have planned for this shortfall is the critical question?

The real question is why did it come as a surprise? At a time when the government was hustling Loblaws and other large grocery outlets to sell beer, why would the Beer Store not realize that a part of their potential retail sales were leaving the nest?

What was really a surprise is that Moroz claimed that the drop was only $13 million. It is obvious that the constantly increasing prices, that are set by Brewers’ Retail, are covering up more than a simple shortfall on cashflow.

And this was at a time when the LCBO and the grocers were only allowed to sell singles or six packs. If you wanted a better priced, larger package, your only choice was the Beer Store.

It also pays to remember that Brewers’ Retail is a giant in the recycling business. With all alcoholic beverage containers being recycled through the one retail operation, I would really like to know more of the detail in the business’ cash flow. You can say it is a private company all you like but it is still a monopoly.

This is one of the real reasons that the threats from the foreign Brewers, who own about 90 per cent of the beer production in Ontario, are such a joke. They say they will sue the government if it wants to sell more of their beer in convenience stores. Does a dog bite the hand that feeds it?

And how many companies do you know that have their prices protected by the government to prevent retailers from having weekly specials on the beer aisle?

Doug Ford tells us that he does not drink. He just knows that Ontario beer drinkers have waited for a very long time to get even with those bastards who have controlled our beer. Go get ’em, tiger!

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The difference between men and boys.

February 21, 2020 by Peter Lowry

It seems that the difference between men and boys is generally believed to be the size of their toys. We might see a real-life difference soon if former MPP Steven Del Duca wins the leadership of the Ontario liberals. And, then again, we might find that Del Duca is not all that different from Ontario premier Doug Ford.

They both like playing with trains. They do not seem to like just being observers. They want to pull on those engineers’ caps and toot the whistle themselves. Organizationally, Ford should leave the job to his transport minister, but since that is currently Caroline Mulroney, she knows far less than he does on the subject—not that he knows much!

Del Duca, at least, did a stint as transport minister under Kathleen Wynne. He got demoted before he could get Metrolinx to add a GO station in his riding. Not only is it considered a no-no at Queen’s Park to interfere with an arms-length planning agency such as Metrolinx, the station in Del Duca’s riding had already been considered and found unnecessary.

But we should all be more curious about Doug Ford’s ‘Ontario Line.’ This is a Toronto subway line that starts from nowhere—somewhere around the Exhibition Grounds—and ends up at the extremely busy junction of Don Mills and Eglinton Avenue. It makes you wonder just what he has in mind for the Lake Ontario end of the line? And why is the plan feeding that supposed relief line into an already congested junction at the Eglinton end?

But his problems are hardly as obvious as when Ford wanted the provincial police to provide him with a large van with a bed in it for him to tour Ontario. We will have to write that one off as inexperience. Our only concern might be if Ford ever gets to understand his job. He would be even more dangerous than he is now.

Mind you, two years from now, Ontario voters could be faced with continuing to write off the NDP and having to choose between a more experienced Doug Ford and a Steven Del Duca, who understudied Kathleen Wynne.

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Coteau fights on for Ontario leadership.

February 17, 2020 by Peter Lowry

In an e-mail the other day, Michael Coteau promised his supporters that he will fight on against the status quo for Ontario liberals. With Steven Del Duca poised with a majority of elected delegates, Coteau stands Canute-like challenging the tides. It will be decided quickly on March 7 at the Mississauga International Centre when the ex officio voters join the delegates from ridings and various liberal clubs. There is little reason to expect a majority of ex officio voters to vote for party reform. They have an invested interest in the status quo.

With the Del Duca campaign orchestrated by Queen’s Park denizen, Tom Allison, I have no expectation of any surprises. Allison was the supposed organizing guru behind both Ontario liberal leaders Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne.

While my days at Queen’s Park pre-dated Allison’s, I always wanted to keep the party moving forward. I felt that Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne would have been more comfortable in a conservative government. I did give McGuinty credit for his better protection of the Ontario environment and cleaning up the mess left to Ontario by the Mike Harris conservatives.

But I saw Wynne as reactionary and more interested in the news conferences about what she intended to do rather than the actual action. I was appalled at the manipulation she did in the deal with Glen Murray, the MPP in Toronto Centre, the week before the delegated convention that chose her as leader of the liberal party. By his stepping out of the race at that point, he dropped all his delegates into the independent category, knowing the ones from his riding would vote for her. The move added to the corruption of an already corrupt system of choosing the leader.

I do not trust Stephen Del Duca to be a progressive leader of the liberal party. Real liberals can do better.

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Playing with trains.

February 16, 2020 by Peter Lowry

Is Gillian Steward, formerly with the Toronto Star, now working for Jason Kenney’s pipeline and bitumen propaganda war room in Calgary? In an opinion piece labelled “Shipping oil by train is too dangerous.” Steward seems to be framing the argument for the Trudeau cabinet to move ahead on the Trans Mountain pipeline despite the new $12.6 billion price tag for twinning the line. That approval will then trigger approval of the massive Teck Resources Frontier open pit tar sands mine in North-Eastern Alberta to feed bitumen to the pipeline.

But in the meantime, Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railways have procured thousands of tanker cars to meet the needs of the landlocked industry. The province even stimulated that tanker car acquisition by buying 4000 of them.

Having some of those tanker cars getting derailed is not good advertising for the railways. Two of those derailments near Guernsey, Saskatchewan are being touted as clear evidence that rail transport is not safe. Maybe there would be some believers if we just knew exactly what was in those rail cars and what caused those derailments.

First of all, diluted bitumen is not all that flammable. A lot depends on what material has been used to dilute it. And why would transport minister Marc Garneau tell the railways to slow down rather than getting them to inspect their tracks more frequently?

Raising the spectre of Lac Mégantic in 2013 has nothing to do with the transport today of bitumen. In that disastrous incident, highly flammable crude oil from the Bakken fracking operations in North Dakota was mislabelled and carelessly handled. It was a disaster just waiting to happen.

And, for another matter, not all tanker cars are carrying crude oil. Many materials can be carried in these cars. These materials need to be properly identified and precautions taken when necessary. I always assumed mislabelling is a criminal offence.

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Ontario liberals need leadership.

February 12, 2020 by Peter Lowry

Ontario liberals voted this past weekend in stage one of what is hoped to be the last corrupted Ontario leadership contest. This stage was to elect the delegates who will represent the ridings and liberal clubs at the delegated convention that will choose the new leader. This is to replace Kathleen Wynne.

The key question at this time is whether front-runner former MPP Steven Del Duca has the first-ballot strength to decide the convention?

If he does not win on the first ballot, he will have a strong movement for reform of the party with which to contend. Both Toronto MPP Michael Coteau and former candidate Kate Graham from London, Ontario are spearheading the reform movement.

Del Duca’s weakness is that he is mired in the past of the liberal party. He is best known for when he chose to argue with the independence of Metrolinx, Ontario’s planner for the construction of commuter transit in the Toronto area. He wanted a GO station in his riding at Kirby.

But Del Duca’s organization also sold the largest number of new liberal memberships in preparation for this race. And why that would be any measure of his ability to lead the party is beyond me.

Leadership of any enterprise requires the ability to bring people, ideas and collective action together to meet a perceived need. The only need Mr. Del Duca seems to want take collective action on is his wanting to be leader of the liberal party.

The core of the concern of Coteau and Graham is that there is a need within the liberal party to once again make it a progressive instrument of political use to Ontario citizens. Their campaigns, to this point, have reflected that need.

After listening carefully to both candidates, I believe that MPP Michael Coteau can provide the leadership. At the same time, we need people such as Kate Graham to help provide the substance.

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News from the ‘Working Families’ of Vaughan.

February 10, 2020 by Peter Lowry

Vaughan might want to be known as the city above Toronto but it seems to have also earned attention as a city of some unusual politics. Most recently, it has become the home of “Vaughan Working Families.” This is the fictitious group running attack ads against the teachers’ unions in the current labor dispute. I have always thought of this area of Ontario as where Toronto Mafia have their summer homes.

Of course, you do not expect Ontario’s major newspapers to refuse to follow industry guidelines or to not be prepared to tell other media who is sponsoring those advertisements. You certainly expect some honesty and standards from the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail. Or maybe, money today buys silence.

But there are better ways than having a lawyer book your ads. I had once been called into a mayoralty campaign in south-western Ontario. It was an awkward situation. The nominators of the opponent for the mayor were the publisher of the local newspaper and the owner of the radio station. They were quite happy to take my friend’s advertising too, provided he met their unusual rules of delivering his material two days before the material was to be run.

There was no point in getting into a lawsuit with these guys, so after studying what was needed, I told my friend’s staff that we could run weekly full-page ads in the newspaper under national advertising rules. That meant the newspaper would get full page mats several hours before press time that would simply be put into the production run. We even paid for page three positioning to keep it simple for them. I ordered the ads through a Toronto advertising agency that was also doing the advertising for a mayoralty candidate in Toronto. They not only won with my mayor but were paid the national advertising commission. To add a little frosting to it, my ads won a national newspaper campaign series award.

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Is it ‘The Peoples’ Pipeline?

February 9, 2020 by Peter Lowry

After checking further, it is confirmed that Global Television news anchor Dawna Friesen actually called the Trans Mountain pipeline, ‘the peoples’ pipeline.’ I suppose it seemed appropriate when the following story was that the federal government estimates for twinning the line were now running at 12.6 billion dollars. Remember that it is more than just twinning the line when the plan is to warm the diluted bitumen and force it through the pipes at much higher pressure. Premier Jason Kenney’s Calgary-based propaganda machine seems to be working over-time these days.

When you consider that the Trudeau government has already spent $4.7 billion buying the 66-year old pipeline, an additional 12.6 billion might not be a gamble that smart business managers would take.

It does seem a little deceptive though when local conservative politicians are told to claim that pipelines are a safer way to transport it every time there is another train derailment carrying flammable goods in tank cars. There have been two serious derailments on the main CPR line that runs through Guernsey, Saskatchewan in the last two months. (There is also lots more tank car traffic.)

One question that has never been answered is who is really making money from this bitumen business? The province wants the royalties and taxes yet most of the climate change conscious resource companies have already backed out of the bitumen business. When the giants such as ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell pulled out a few years ago, the attitude has been that there was no profit to be had from the tar sands. The tar sands account for less than a third of Alberta’s gross domestic product. That should continue to decrease as the world shifts gradually to non-polluting energy sources.

While Jason Kenney and his conservative colleagues continue to threaten and cajole the Trudeau government, it is becoming more and more obvious that the tar sands are not the answer to their greed.

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