Babel-on-the-Bay – Page 118 – Babel-on-the-Bay is the personal website of Peter Lowry. It is a vehicle for political commentaries.

It’s all bad news for Jason Kenney.

September 16, 2020 by Peter Lowry

If you had a Voodoo doll, would you call it Jason Kenney and stick pins in it? Well, somebody must be!

Of all the business indices listed in the Toronto Star yesterday, oil was the only commodity showing its usual downward spiral. It is so bad that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has claimed that the pandemic has impacted the demand for energy harder and for longer than was previously feared.

It is expected that demand for crude oil will fall from last year’s 9.5 per cent by another 9.5 per cent this year.

But what do you expect of a guy like Kenney who puts all his eggs in a basket made with the dregs of the Athabasca and Cold Lake tar sands? This is the guy who fights with the provinces’ doctors instead of protecting the public from the looming pandemic. He pours Alberta tax dollars into pipelines that might never be completed. He vilifies the prime minister who risks his reputation providing just one of the pipeline possibilities.

Jason Kenney came home from Ottawa, where he had been a senior cabinet minister. He came to unite the right. He came to lead that right. He came to show his distain for women. He came for himself—not to help the people of Alberta.

He also came at a time when the United States is increasing its fracking capabilities and oversupplying its home market.

And to top it all, the Alberta premier seems to draw some of his remarks about the coronavirus from Donald Trump in the United States. During a speech to the legislature late in May, Kenney kept referring to covid-19 as a flu. That Voodoo doll must have been working overtime that day.

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Who listens to Canada’s bankers?

September 15, 2020 by Peter Lowry

Canada’s bankers admit that there is no fixed limit to Canada’s debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio but they think everyone should follow them in their customary caution. It is probably why more and more cash-rich businesses are eyeing aspects of the banking field for future expansion.

It is certainly why Canadian retailer Loblaw is clearing the way to expanding its banking activities. The food giant has announced that it has ended the relationship with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in its PC Financial operations and is coming out with a self-funded version of PC Money to replace PC Financial. These on-line accounts will include the ability to accumulate loyalty points through Loblaw stores and Shoppers Drug Mart.

Loblaw is expected to gradually expand the banking offerings. This will likely include financial products such as mortgages and insurance.

The one thing that the new Loblaw-based bank might restrain itself from doing is giving our governments advice on handling money. The latest from Canada’s major banks has been to tell the Trudeau government that it has to set a finite limit on budget deficits.

This was a direct challenge to the liberal government as it is trying to plan for new investment to drive pandemic recovery and plan the bolder investments needed for Canada’s future.

The best the banks could come up with was the suggestion that the government should help families pay for child care. This is an old chestnut that most political parties parade through election campaigns and promptly forget once elected. (I certainly agree that there is the need but it is hardly innovative.)

What our Canadian banks tend to ignore is that Canada has the lowest debt to GDP of any of the Group of Seven countries. The real authorities on debt ratios are the bond rating companies. And Canada is doing just fine with those people.

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The enemy of my enemy…

September 13, 2020 by Peter Lowry

It came as a shock. I just found out that Toronto writer Tiffany Gooch and I agree on something. Neither of us is a fan of Mr. Trudeau’s public safety and emergency preparedness minister Bill Blair. This came as a surprise as I had written her off as a ‘black is beautiful booster’ who assumed that all white men are racists.

Gooch’s antipathy with MP Blair connects with her primary assumption that policing in Canada is built on being systemically racist. Despite her seeming inability to explain what ‘systemic racism’ means, she builds on this assumption. She sees former Toronto police chief Blair as unable to do anything more than support the status quo.

If she had quit there, I would have been in agreement.

But Gooch seems to blame Blair for any and all events that happened over his career in policing. She uses the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS) as a case-in-point. She blames Blair for this provincial strategy that she says “blurred lines between protecting and terrorizing black communities.”

What Ms. Gooch seems to forget is that just because I am Caucasian racially, does not mean I speak for the white community. Being black, in itself, does not entitle her to speak for the black community.

And just because some of the children were frightened by the big police people with guns is not a substantive reason to withdraw the police from schools where they were getting mixed reviews. She should be aware that children are sometimes frightened by clowns with balloons. That is no reason to ban clowns from our schools.

It might be that neither Ms. Gooch nor I consider Mr. Blair to be the ideal person for the prime minister to choose as a point person on police reform in Canada. That might not be much but it is a start.

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Ties that bond.

September 12, 2020 by Peter Lowry

A friend sent me a copy of a letter he sent to two liberal members of the Ontario Legislature the other day. He was concerned about Ontario’s lack of planning for electrical generation in the next couple of decades. He is particularly concerned that Ontario’s nuclear generation capabilities are well past their ‘best before’ dates and have to be taken off line in that time.

This leaves Ontario few options. I can tell you from a study I did for the Ontario ministry of energy back in the 1980s under the Peterson government that new nuclear plants are not an option. They are too expensive to build, they are not wanted anywhere in the province, and they take too long to run up to full power and too long to shut down.

The only really flexible form of power generation, at present, are gas-fired plants that can be located where needed—when users allow them.

But the negative is that you have no way of knowing what the cost of gas will be 10 to 15 years down the road. This is just another craps shoot.

The other choice for Ontario is to contract with Manitoba and Quebec for our long-term electrical energy needs. Both provinces want to export energy as they have the water power resources for the growth of large-scale hydro plants that can provide low-cost energy for many years to come. And committing to Ontario’s needs is a far better deal for them than selling into the U.S.

In addition, provinces can get support from the federal government for the interprovincial transmission lines. As Canada moves to meet its commitments to reduce global warming, all provinces will want to share in our hydroelectric resources.

High-speed national rail lines, high-efficiency commuter lines and the continued move to electric vehicles all depend on reliable sources of low-cost electricity. It is a resource for all of us.

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This fails the smell test.

September 11, 2020 by Peter Lowry

It must have been the final political straw for Bill Morneau. After taking some of the heat off the prime minister in the ‘We charity’ imbroglio, the former finance minister is still being criticized for his naiveté. Not only is he being pilloried by the opposition in parliament and ridiculed by the news media, he is being charged with violating the elections act during last year’s election.

This is an inexcusable situation. Bill Morneau was just one more of Justin Trudeau’s elite choices for a key role in his cabinet. As a lamb to the slaughter, he deserved better. Trudeau used him and tossed him away when he was no longer useful.

The Morneau name meant more in the Toronto business community. It was also useful to have the connection with his wife’s family, the Florenceville, New Brunswick McCain’s.

But when you bring someone into politics like Morneau, you can hardly expect him to be flying solo as soon as his new political career is launched. This guy needed ongoing help and guidance and Trudeau and the prime minister’s office let him down. Morneau needed something more than a service dog to keep him out of trouble.

He needed one or two experienced people in that office to help keep him from the gaffs he made because of his lack of political experience.

But if Trudeau did not think he needed that kind of help, why should he expect his underlings to need it?

Looking at his staff working with him in 2015 election, was disquieting. There were actually two people working with him whom I was aware had as much or more political experience as Justin Trudeau. And one of them had to quit because of a conflict.

Trudeau had gotten rid of the old liberal party workhorses in the Senate and ignored the experienced people out in the ridings. He was running his own campaign. And, as luck had it, that was also what the Canadian voters wanted.

But, how often are you that lucky?

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Ontario’s petulant premier.

September 10, 2020 by Peter Lowry

After more than a year of silly stickers on our gas pumps, Ontario voters have got the message. And the Ontario Court System has finally got around to noting that that the Ontario government’s stickers are in breach of the retailers’ Charter rights. Is this a fair resolution to the foolishness?

If it were not for the surveillance cameras mounted in gas stations across the province, many of us would have liked to make our own comment on Doug Ford’s affrontery. And what is the court going to do to recompense Ontario citizens for this inaccurate and appalling politicizing at the pumps where they go to get fuel for their gasoline-guzzling automobiles?

It looks like the Canadian Civil Liberties Association let us down this time around. We do hope that the court, at least, saw fit to award costs of the action to the association.

It seems appropriate that the court should announce its decision on the same week as we are having an official visit by the premier of Quebec. It was an excellent opportunity for the citizens of both provinces to note how much smarter the premier of Quebec is than the premier of Ontario.

This was the smart premier who stuck with his province’s promises to California in the ‘Cap and Trade’ deal. Cancelling Ontario’s participation probably cost Ontario taxpayers more money than their premier would really like to admit.

But then we never seem to know which Ontario premier we are getting these days. There is the petulant Doug Ford who wants to get even with his old foes at Toronto city hall. And then there is the warm and fuzzy Dougie who refers to Toronto’s mayor as his best friend forever (BFF).

And what about his other BFF, prime minister Trudeau?

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Doing what they do best.

September 9, 2020 by Peter Lowry

It is time for the conservatives in parliament to return to what they do best: criticize. They are so good at it that they have more people lined up to criticize the liberal cabinet members than there are liberal cabinet members to criticize.

It would be easy to just give you a list but it is important to note that only five of the positions seem important. Obviously, the leader of the opposition gets to criticize the prime minister most of the time. And then you get that nasty Pierre Poilievre taking on the finance minister and deputy prime minister.

The surprise pick was our old nemesis, former conservative leader, Andrew Scheer, who will criticize the liberal infrastructure plan that the liberals promised Canadians.

Because of the importance of health in this time of a pandemic, Alberta MP Michelle Rempel Garner will cover that portfolio.

Another choice that caught us off guard, was Ontario MP Michael Chong as foreign affairs critic. Chong has often been a critic of his own party for its failure to develop policies more in tune with how Canadians are thinking. It will be interesting to see how Chong handles the job.

If there was one standard complaint about Canadian conservatives over the years, is that you always know where they stand. They tend to be knee-jerk reactionaries, with little thinking of benefit to the average Canadian in mind.

What will be uppermost on the conservative mind will be the supposed deficit that Canadians will be faced with for years to come because of the supposedly wanton spending of the liberals. This is basic conservative cant and at to-day’s interest rates, inflation will save us more than we are likely to have to repay.

If the conservatives were really sincere about paying off some of this debt, maybe they would agree to replacing the two-per cent cut that Stephen Harper took from the HST. That would be a good place to find some money in a recovering economy.

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The Death of Democracy in America.

September 8, 2020 by Peter Lowry

It is sad to watch democracy die. The more we see. The more we hear. The more we understand is happening south of the Canada-U.S. border, the more our concern grows.

And why are we only watching? Mr. Trump’s friend Vladimir Putin is actively supporting this demolition of what once was the bastion of freedom in the Americas. The Chinese wrote off the Trump regime as a worthy ally or foe after few attempts at partnering.

The Chinese now treat Canada as but a Quisling to a corrupt regime in Washington. And the vaunted open border between the long-time allies remains closed to the careless denial of the Corona pandemic by the Trump white house.

But did America not bring on this low point in history on itself? Or is it just the end of times as foretold in the Book of Revelation?

Is the colour of one’s skin the determiner of opportunity? Can a nation for long bar the gates to enter its realm? Does a wall make you safe? And from what dangers?

Can an autocrat declare this or that religion safe to proselytize in the land of the free? And in a land of free speech, who speaks the truth?

And is it just the Beast who speaks the truth of America? Can constant lies hold sway over so many believers?

Philanderer, egomaniac, narcissist, you betray the Americans who call you Commander-in-Chief. You seek to suppress a free vote. You betray the very origin of America.

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So, who wants an election?

September 7, 2020 by Peter Lowry

Americans do it every four years. Canadians sometimes do it more often. We are talking about federal elections here. Americans have never seen one like this one: the vote seems all locked down two months before the actual election. Given that intention and the determination of the voters, Donald Trump should be out on his ass in just two months.

There is a ‘maybe’ in that statement. It takes almost three months for the transition from one president to the next anyway. And what if Trump baulks? He likes being president. What happens if all his supporters do vote twice?

And what happens in Canada if the liberals and conservatives have a tie? Do we have to settle for the prime minister the Bloc, the NDP and the greens choose?

Maybe in Canada we have to wait and see what Justin Trudeau’s liberals have in mind on which to spend money. One thing for sure, the conservatives have never saved us much, as they seem to like giving all the tax breaks to their rich friends.

The rule of thumb is that you never worry about how much a government wants to spend until they scare the bond rating services. The opposition are just fear-mongering.

Many people are looking forward to just how green this new liberal program will be. It will hardly matter though if Trudeau does not dump the TransMountain pipeline that is being twinned to carry three times the amount of oil sands bitumen over the Rockies.

The one thing for sure is that there will be much sabre rattling about an election on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border until we hear this new liberal plan.

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A Paywall for All?

September 6, 2020 by Peter Lowry

It looks as though the news media people who are trying to collect from Facebook, Google, et al for using their output are going to regret it. Having government involved could cost them far more than they have gained. We have to face the fact that governments are better at collecting money for their efforts than the rest of us.

And media people need to face the fact that what is one person’s garbage can be another person’s treasure. Databases, archives and collections have been gathered on computers from many years before the standardization of the World Wide Web. And for every verifiable fact there are probably two or three times the dubious data.

It is the source of the information that matters. I expect that within reasonable time we will have algorithms that will measure the validity of the data for us. In the meantime, we will just put our trust in the paywalls, we can afford.

Or contrarily, we can put our trust in the sources, our enemies hate. My favourite non-North American source is the Economist. CNN in the U.S. and the Toronto Star in Canada. I am probably showing my age by staying mainly with print media.

I once wasted some time on Twitter because my grandson suggested it. Frankly, I could not see the point.

I recently spent three weeks in the hospital with nothing better to do than watch CBC News Channel. For the life of me, I could not believe I put myself through that experience.

But pick your poison. The government is soon going to get into the act and I think we will all regret it.

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