Provincial Politics – Page 97

Do Ontario Tories need a leader?

May 8, 2015 by Peter Lowry

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party will announce its new leader tomorrow. Will anyone care? Is it going to make a difference? With three years to go before an election in Ontario, will the voters notice the change? When you hear that timing is everything in politics, you get the idea that this is lousy timing.

And what possible difference in leadership potential is there between MPP Christine Elliott and MP Patrick Brown. Has either ever shown any? Has either one suggested in any concrete way how they would make life better in this province? Is either in demand as a speaker for Kiwanis or Rotary meetings? Has either ever held people spellbound by the brilliance of their argument? Both candidates have been in politics for nine years. They are both lawyers.

Christine Elliott’s claim to fame is that she was married to the late federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. She took over his old provincial electoral district in 2006 when he had moved to federal politics. She ran for the Ontario party leadership in 2009 and was defeated by Tim Hudak. Hudak appointed her deputy leader and then ignored her.

And if you think Christine Elliott is dull, you have never met MP Patrick Brown. There are three things in Patrick Brown’s life: they are political organization, hockey and marathon running. He is not very fast on ice or track and found he needed to make his money from politics. His only problem is that in politics, he is a drone. He does nothing, he contributes nothing and he is barely responsible enough to be on time for votes. He would rather be out running or playing pick-up shinny.

And if you think this guy is boring when reading other people’s speeches, try his cocktail conversation. Have you ever been to a cocktail party and been told afterwards that a person was there. And you do not remember them being there. Patrick Brown is not memorable in a crowd of three. He has no appeal, personality or possible reason to be chosen leader of the Ontario Tories.

You could flip a coin between these two for leader of their Ontario party and if you are really lucky, you will lose the coin.

There is no question that between the two, Christine Elliott is the more appealing person. She even has the blessing of Ontario Conservative icon Bill Davis. Mr. Brown has absolutely no redeeming qualities. It seems that most of Mr. Brown’s supporters have no knowledge of Ontario politics, probably did not pay their own membership and might not even be eligible yet to vote in an Ontario election.

Surely there is a better way to chose leaders.

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Lessons learned in Alberta

May 7, 2015 by Peter Lowry

Nobody trusted the pollsters. They were the only ones who saw what would happen to the Alberta Conservative dynasty in Tuesday’s election. Babel-on-the-Bay failed to judge the extent of the anger. Everyone conceded that NDP Leader Rachel Notley was coming on strong. Who knew that Albertans were so mad at Jim Prentice and his Tories that the party would end up a poor third?

But there are only two lessons to be learned. Lesson one is that it is enormously stupid for a politician to tell the voters to look in the mirror if they want to know what has gone wrong. Lesson two is who will voters turn to when they are displeased with politicians?

Prentice can share lesson one with Prime minister Stephen Harper. He shares Prentice’s arrogance. Harper also shares the blame for the economy to have taken a dump. He shares the blame for the reliance on out-of-province pipelines that are not being built. He shares the blame for the economy being based on a volatile commodity such as oil. They both share the blame for a do-nothing approach to the environment.

Mr. Harper did not help Mr. Prentice. Now Mr. Prentice cannot help Mr. Harper.

But lesson two is the more complex of the two lessons. Remember NDP Leader Rachel Notley is the daughter of a once highly regarded politician. She is also the chosen leader of an established political party. Yet her advantage was that she was not perceived as being highly political. She is able to laugh at political missteps. She had a tendency to use simple logic to answer questions instead of giving a political answer.

Case in point: Rachel Notley was castigated by opponents for approving of two pipelines for Alberta bitumen but questioning two others. This was condemned as heresy by other parties because of the supposed economic costs to the province. While this was really just the stance of the federal New Democrats that she was raising but it was presumed to be apolitical by the voters. She might just be the better politician.

The person least likely to benefit much from Rachel Notley’s surprise win in Alberta is federal New Democrat Leader Thomas Mulcair. The one thing Tommy cannot deny is the fact that he is very much a politician. He looks the part. He acts the part. There is no point in his trying to hide it.

But what the Rachel Notley win in Alberta demonstrates is the need for political change. Alberta needs it. The country needs it. And the only two leaders of national parties who can benefit from that need are Elizabeth May of the Green Party and Justin Trudeau of the Liberal Party. They both offer change. And that subject needs more discussion…

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Thorncliffe slamming sex studies?

May 6, 2015 by Peter Lowry

Thorncliffe Park in Toronto’s Don Valley area has an interesting history as a racetrack, an area of low-rise apartments and now as an area of high density living. Hidden by the high-rise buildings is Thorncliffe Market Place which started life as a rather ordinary North American shopping mall and has more recently acquired many characteristics of an Arab souk—a typical middle east shopping area. It is in this environment that much of the protests of Ontario’s new sex education proposals are being created.

And a major problem is that arguments over the new course of studies are not helping race relations in the province. When a thoughtless television reporter recorded a gentleman saying that he would take his children back to Pakistan rather than subject them to this teaching, you can imagine the comments in reply. The obvious majority of Muslims among protestors has also embarrassed and annoyed many of the better-educated in the Ontario Muslim community.

What many of the protestors do not understand is that they brought their families to North America for the opportunities that Canada offers. They have to accept the fact that they are now living in a much more varied and accepting community. They find that most Canadians are fair and welcoming to them and are tolerant of their religion. And Canadians have the right to expect the same fair and tolerant view of their society.

There is nothing political or religious about the need for children in our society to be taught a common understanding of human sexuality and relationships. In a society that exposes children early to nudity and sexuality, it is critical that they have an understanding of what they are seeing. And we already have enough religious blue stockings and repressed conservatives to fight with without importing people from deeply repressed societies to add to the clamour.

Ontario educators have had to fight every step of the way to get to a point where students can call a penis a penis and a vagina a vagina. It is a little ridiculous to have people growing up calling their genitals their pee-pee. And that was not so many years ago.

Parents who say they will do the job with their children are in the minority and, if they really do, their children will benefit from both home and school teaching. Children need positive reinforcement in the home to appreciate what they are learning in school.

And people new to this country need better role models in their communities than those who think they can campaign against openness and freedom for all.

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The mad mathematics of Ontario’s Whigs.

May 4, 2015 by Peter Lowry

Maybe Ontario teachers were on strike back when little Kathleen Wynne and Charles Sousa were there to learn mathematics. It would be the only excuse for the utterly ridiculous decision of the Ontario government to sell part of Hydro One and not the Liquor Control Board stores. As children, our Premier and Finance Minister must have also missed being taught about the goose that laid golden eggs.

They have certainly laid an egg by suggesting that the province should sell 60 per cent of Hydro One. This part of Ontario Hydro does the distribution of electrical service throughout Ontario. Its pricing is entirely under the control of the provincial government and its agencies. It pays a reasonable dividend to the province of a controlled ten per cent into provincial coffers every year. By selling off 60 per cent of Hydro One you are giving up 60 per cent of that dividend and subjecting the board of Hydro One to constant pressure by the new shareholders to improve the profitability.

The point is Hydro One was never designed to be a stand-alone company. It is an integral part of the electrical services in the province. Since it is a monopoly, it only makes sense for it to remain a crown corporation.

Beer and booze are not integral to anything political except repressive control and lots of taxes. The difference is you can rent out this goose to lay some golden eggs for entrepreneurial retailers. The province still gets all the taxes. That is what makes selling the Liquor Control Board stores a brilliant move. The province can make more money from better distribution, convenience and better merchandising than it ever did before. And a smart sell-off of the LCBO stores can produce more than $9 billion in cash for other projects.

And we can also stand and admire the political wisdom of our sage leaders.

Sharing this wisdom with an old friend the other day, he said: “But I like the LCBO stores.” The good news for him is that in selling off the LCBO stores there will be many of them that stick with the old boring institutional style of selling booze. They will suit his comfort level.

For those of us excited by venturesome merchandising, weekly specials, special buys and case lots, there will be entrepreneurs out there to meet our needs. And convenience stores can provide the occasional six pack or that emergency bottle of bingo to go with our Kraft Dinner tonight.

Any Ontario resident who is satisfied with the how this government wants to retail alcoholic beverages is hardly likely to have any appreciation of good wines, single malt scotches or craft beers.

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Lessons to be learned in Alberta.

April 30, 2015 by Peter Lowry

The May 5 provincial election in Alberta is unfolding as anticipated. With pundits panicking, reporters rebelling, it will only be the final poll next Tuesday that will tell the real story. And in this cautionary tale of political progress there are entrails to be read that can foretell the political future of other provinces if not the country.

The funniest stories of the current campaign are the ones that have editors’ lower jaws hitting their desks as they read of the possibility of a New Democrat majority in the Alberta Legislature. Before there is a serious up-tic in heart failure in Alberta, it is important to remember that when reporters are unable to report, they speculate. The only good stories these days from the province are of all the fun New Democrat Leader Rachel Notley is having at the other parties’ expense.

And, you have to face the fact that Jim Prentice’s campaign style is like dull piled on dull. The guy tries to act suave without necessarily being able to pronounce the word. Rachel Notley is dancing rings around him. Could you imagine what Ontario New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath could do to Premier Kathleen Wynne if Horwath just had a sense of humour?

If you have any serious concerns about the continuing dynasty of the Alberta Conservatives, you might take heed to the recent Alberta Conservative budget. Prentice let ideology supplant good sense when he left Alberta with the lowest business tax in Canada. He is being seriously criticized for that in Alberta of all places. It goes to show you how times are changing.

There are some salutary thoughts in this criticism. The only cheerleaders for Joe Oliver’s recent federal budget are the advertisements that use taxpayer money to promote the Conservative Party. What those ads are buying is a great deal of cynicism. The blowback is hurting Conservatives first and all politicians second.

It is far too early to forecast anything other than the Alberta election at this time but all parties need to pay heed.

The Alberta Liberals could easily be cleared entirely from the provincial slate. That is a poor start on this fall’s federal election.

Wildrose has no justification other than to embarrass the Conservatives. They are losers.

It will be good to have Rachel Notley as Leader of the Opposition in the Alberta Legislature. It is like choosing a life-mate. If you have to have someone to nag you, it can be a better experience if the person is good looking and smart.

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With Patrick Brown you get bupkis.

April 27, 2015 by Peter Lowry

It seems we are supposed to do some sort of mea culpa in regards to Barrie’s MP Patrick Brown. Yes Babel-on-the-Bay originates in Barrie but we thought we had that covered by calling the place Babel. It just would not remain hidden.

In writing the other day about the relative voting strength of the two remaining Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership candidates, we used only the raw figures. How those votes are going to be counted by the provincial Tories is the only reason Christine Elliott MPP for Oshawa is still in the race. Barrie’s Brown might be ahead by more than 5000 basic votes but if they are not distributed properly, he can still lose.

There are 107 provincial electoral districts in Ontario. If there are less than 100 votes in any districts, all those votes are counted. If there are more than 100 votes, they are converted to a percentage and it is the percentage that is counted. It means that the maximum votes that will be counted are something less than 10,700.

If the party officials counting the ballots have a collective brain, they will do the right thing and lie. Losing seven or eight thousand Brown votes would be about right. It would be the honourable thing to do. It could save the Ontario Tories from oblivion.

And by the way, ‘bupkis’ is a very simple Yiddish word that derives from an expression that something is worth less than goat turds. (Growing up in downtown Toronto can do wonders for your vocabulary.)

And while we are talking about Bupkis and Brown, we should explain some other confusion in that recent blog. We have a number of readers who check us on spelling and other errors. And we really do appreciate their notes. Not that we err very often but we had a number of serious distractions last week.

The concern of these readers was that in the same article about Brown, they thought we had misspelled the American term ‘ward heeler.’ We wrote it as ‘ward healer’ because that is what we meant. The original concept back in the heyday of Tammany Hall in New York City was that these people were assigned to wards to heal the problems. It was a big part of the almost two centuries of success for Tammany Hall–even if they could not spell.

Patrick Brown and many MPs like him in the Conservative Party of Canada are tolerated because they win their riding. They betray their constituents because they make absolutely no contribution in Ottawa. They are just ward healers.

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Two Tory budgets for the price of one.

April 26, 2015 by Peter Lowry

It was Ontario’s turn this past week. How often do we get two Tory budgets at a time? On Tuesday, we had a laugh at federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver’s expense. And then, right on the heels, Thursday we had a budget redux from Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa. There was a new beer tax in Charles’ budget so he must be one of those tax-and-spend Liberals we hear about. Frankly, this liberal would not give you two cents for either budget.

Sousa betrayed Ontario Liberals when he agreed with Ed Clark of TD Bank to raise money on Hydro One—and on the backs of hydro users. Mind you Premier Wynne told Clark to do that and who complains when a banker does what he is told? What Wynne, Clark and Sousa failed to do was put beer in convenience stores where it would be more convenient for the purchaser. They also failed to sell off the Liquor Control Board that would have made much more money for the province than Hydro ever could.

But to follow on the federal budget’s long-term proposals, Sousa had his own ten-year plan for infrastructure. If it had been a 20-year plan, it could have been the most expensive ever. The only problem is that the voters are getting weary of the same-old, same-old promises. The Queen’s image on all those bills is fading badly.

In neither budget was there any help to get our young people working. Promises on the never-never plan are just not winners. What Joe Oliver and his friend Stephen Harper do not understand is that you need to have income to get benefits from tax credits and cuts. Now that Joe and Charles have told us what they are doing for the one per cent, maybe they can give some consideration to the rest of us.

And why the hell, would Charles Sousa decide that the only tax he wanted us to impose was on us beer drinkers? How much tax did he levy on himself and the rest of the Scotch drinkers? This is discriminatory and unfair and we still have to put up with those rotten, smelly, over-priced Beer Stores. Oh sure, now we can pick up a six pack along with the weekly groceries but who is going to take the time to go into a huge grocery store just to get a case of beer? It shows how little the Ontario Liberals know about merchandising.

What we have are two levels of government so out of touch with reality that they fail to pay attention to our real needs. They are offering us nothing but ideology in budgets that are supposed to be about the current tax year. Sure a ten-year plan helps the big plans but if it is vague enough, who knows what they are really doing?

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Discovering Barrie’s Patrick Brown.

April 25, 2015 by Peter Lowry

It has taken on all the elements of a farce. The Ontario news media are discovering Patrick Brown MP for Barrie. They are running lengthy, laudatory articles about him with flattering pictures. (And getting a flattering picture of Brown is no easy task.) The media think he has a lock on the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party leadership.

This is not good news for the Ontario Tories. Turning a ward healer into a party leader is a tough challenge. It has all the earmarks of changing a toad into a prince. Nobody has the stomach to kiss the toad.

Brown is a member of the Jason Kenney school of ethnic pandering. By being both minister of defence as well as multiculturalism, Kenney can make war on the newcomers who fail to vote Conservative. He taught Brown well. As a ward healer (Brown likes to refer to it as being a retail politician) he turned the sub-continent into a bank of new party members. He has somehow enticed a large number of new comers from there to take out party memberships and to maybe even support him in next month’s party leadership vote.

We would still like to know who paid for these instant Tory memberships. This question, may be mute when we find out May 9 how many each of the two candidates turn out to vote. Best guess, we expect that Brown will win by something like 25,000 votes to less than 20,000 for Christine Elliott, Jim Flaherty’s widow.

The first beneficiary of this outrage will be federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. After the initial shock of Brown as Ontario leader, the Conservatives will want him to be hidden somewhere until after this year’s federal election. His loss is certainly no skin off Prime Minister Harper’s nose. Brown was never going to go anywhere in the Conservative caucus anyway.

But the absolute paucity of plans for where he wants to lead the Ontario Conservatives has to be discovered at some stage. With the news media today, he is already in constant denial. The facts are that Brown is very much a social conservative. He is strongly anti abortion, anti same sex marriage, anti sex education in our schools and completely out of step with the majority of Ontario citizens.

And that is why the secondary beneficiaries of him being chosen Conservative leader are the Ontario Liberals. Brown with his lack of appeal to women could even erode the Ontario Tories rural base. As they say: This guy ain’t going to do no good for nobody!

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Doing without the politicians.

April 24, 2015 by Peter Lowry

This Ontario resident missed Treasurer Charles Sousa’s budget yesterday. Not that we shunned his budget. The day involved 12 hours at the local hospital. Given a choice we would have preferred to be strapped down and forced to listen to Charles’ budget.

Do not get all excited out there: it was the wife who needed the special attention. What started out as routine imaging tests—hoping to find the source of the problems—turned into a frantic rush back to the hospital to hurry up and wait. And we found out the difference between ‘acute’ and ‘trauma.’ The trauma patient gets looked after to prevent more bleeding. The acute patient can wait until you get around to them.

We spent about eight hours in total with a group of people in the Acute Waiting Room. We are not going to form a club. There were six patients and their assorted caregivers. Some were funny and some were sad. It got a bit rowdy at times. Most words were spoken with care. Some comments were regretted.

Charles, you would have been most interested in the political comments. And you think this blog is hard on you? Hah! These people lacked political knowledge and expectations. They frankly despised all politicians and their friends, the bureaucrats. Your O.P. Police guards would have had to search everybody for sharp instruments before allowing you to join us. We were cast adrift on this sea of budgets and bureaucracy. We gradually caused enough ruckus to be rescued by some very warm hearted staff who realized we were becoming rebellious.

Over the time we were together we broke many stupid rules. The rules of no food and drink were nixed at about hour five. We had a picnic dinner. If you can find out when to switch from the blue line on the corridors to the red line, you can actually find the food court in the bowels of that building. The place is like Toronto’s underground PATH easing pedestrians around downtown. It is just not as well planned. In Barrie’s Royal Victoria Hospital, it is a very friendly staff that turns you around and sends you on the right route.

All we can really tell you Charles is that your name came up a few times. It was more as an expletive than laudatory. What we can now confirm is that we need more fine staff such as we have at RVH and far fewer bureaucrats making rules. All your government has done with this regional health centred philosophy is double the bureaucracy and make it more difficult for the medical people to do their jobs.

Despite all the experts who tell you health care is science centred, the truth is it has to be people centred. That is the only way it works.

And the wife is a bit better now. No thanks to our politicians.

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The Morning Line: Alberta 2015.

April 23, 2015 by Peter Lowry

The May 5 provincial election in Alberta is something of a wake up call as Albertans shake themselves from the Tar Sands dream. It was probably the recent Prentice austerity budget more than anything else that told people that times are changing. There is no question but Albertans need to adapt to reality. There is just is no way they will like it.

In producing a Morning Line for this election you start by ignoring all the polls. Albertans lie to pollsters. They have been lying to them since the days of Bible Bill Aberhart. And if you had voted for Aberhart and his funny-money Social Credit, you would also have lied about it.

The only reality in this election is the 40-year record of the Longest Continuing Progressive Conservative dynasty. Prentice will not win the election with any rhetoric, he will just quietly accept the honour. The facts are that Albertans feel they have no choice. And they are hardly the type of people to take chances.

Progressive Conservative Party – 3 to 2

The only interesting question in the Alberta election is which party will come second. Rachel Notley and her New Democrats could be the comers. Notley has the political credentials and the trust that can make her the opposition leader. The provincial Liberals are lying low, waiting for the federal election and leaving the field open.

New Democratic Party – 5 to 1

And that leaves ‘what’s his name’ and the Wildrose Party. This situation is probably the hardest to read. The Wildrose is in disarray, lacking strong leadership or rational platform. It is difficult, even in Alberta, to be more right-wing than the Progressive Conservatives. It is too easy to think of Wildrose as a pale copy of the American Tea Party or the radical right of the federal Conservatives. Frankly, it looks like Jim Prentice’s strategy has hurt Wildrose more than him. It will be interesting to see the size of the rump that Wildrose will have in the Legislature after the election.

Wildrose Party – 12 to 1

To be fair, we should give a figure on the Alberta Liberal Party. The problem is we have never seen a situation where a mainstream party fails to nominate candidates in virtually every riding. A partial list is tantamount to surrender.

Alberta Liberal Party – 20 to 1

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