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

In the Summer Heat.

by Peter Lowry

In the summer we are having, you have to be damn stupid to deny there is climate change happening. In the warming of the oceans, there is danger for humans. In the increased wild fires destroying our forests, there is danger for humans. In the increased imbalance between drought and deluge, there is danger for humans. Has the world that has fed us, nurtured us and offers us pleasures now forsaken us?

What puzzles us the most in this world, sorely in need of succor, is the failure of our politicians to understand or even express concern for the real challenges to our continued occupation of these endangered lands. Why would they speak so foolishly of targets in future decades? What the hell are they doing in the here and now?

Did Mr. Trudeau strengthen the ability of his cabinet to deal with climate change in his recent shuffle. Did he elevate the carbon tax to something meaningful that could not just be passed on to consumers? Or did he leave the status quo that tends to track the mud of the septic tanks through the living rooms of the nation?

And of what use is environment minister Mr. Guilbault?

Does Mr. Guilbault think that if we ship bitumen to countries, where they can refine it into ersatz oil, that they are responsible for polluting our world? Sure, just send that gunk through the Trans Mountain pipeline to the Burrard Inlet. Send it out through the Straits of Georgia and endanger more species of whales and fish. Wash your hands of responsibility Mr. Guilbault.

And please don’t tell us of carbon capture. This is a silly ruse that captures some of the carbon from the liquifying of the bitumen. Are you prepared for the cost of pipelines built in search of new voids in our earth, with space for more carbon?

Mr. Trudeau could have strengthened our response to climate change by giving the job to someone who might stand up to him. Someone that Mr. Trudeau and the rest of the cabinet respect is definitely needed.

What is clear to Canadians is that the conservatives will hide from environmental problems, the new democrats will bluster and do nothing and the Greens have more fun fighting among themselves than fighting climate change for real. This poor world really needs better politicians.

-30-

Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

A Matter of Some Concern.

by Peter Lowry

We interrupt this stream of commentaries to discuss a matter of some concern. It has to do with the leader of the American dip sticks. His leadership is in jeopardy. He is being threatened with incarceration. That means he could be headed for prison, you bunch of yo-yos.

That is right. Your Mr. Trump is headed for the gaol.

In all of the judicial joints, in all of the towns in this country, he will eventually find a democratic judiciary who will throw his sorry ass in jail. That is where it belongs you know. The prosecutors have the evidence. All you need do is watch the video of his address to the miscreants. It is called incitement to riot. It pointed them in the direction of their nation’s capitol and told them to attack, to pillage, to do harm to the innocent, to obstruct the proceedings of the country.

Yes, Mr. Trump is going to prison, tra-la.

It will be a trial four years in the making. The White House will not be part of the end result. The House Committee was but a passing fancy. Mar-a-Largo will be but a distant refuge. There are no golf courses in the Club Fed prisons.

Poor Mr. Trump will not make par.

But here is the rub, my friends. Will they or won’t they give Mr. Trump a prison hair cut? Will his golden locks be shorn? Who but his wife and girl friends would recognize The Donald without his hair? And who would recognize him in prison denim? Will the hair be preserved in a safe humidor to preserve its golden lustre? Will it be there for him when he is restored to his family and friends that so fervently wish him dead.

And will we finally learn the truth of the Trump billions?

It has all been a sham, has it not? If you have billions, why would you ask your fellow billionaires for millions?

Is the truth of the Trump billions now to emerge? The con that led him through the cons to the White House could now be laid bare. Has it finally been proved that a pauper can wend his way to the White House?

-30-

Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

From a Trickle, To a Torrent.

by Peter Lowry

Watch out Doug Ford, the liberals are going to get you. You pulled out all stops to win the two provincial by-elections last week. Local radio ads for your government must have run heavy in Toronto and Ottawa. You did personal canvassing with the media in tow. It was a hell of a time to campaign in that heat.

But you might as well have stayed in Muskoka. The liberals took both ridings. And what else can you expect? People are getting to know you. They are getting to know you are a phony. You don’t care about the people in Ontario. You only care about Doug Ford. Do you dare call another by-election? Unless you change the numbers needed to be recognized as a party again, the liberals will gain some more strength soon. You are not going to get through the next three years unscathed.

And, you, premier Ford, are going to learn that premiers have to answer to the people. As an old con artist (P.T. Barnum, maybe) was accused of saying, “You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

Every day, more people in Ontario are realizing that you disrespect them by lying to them. They are realizing that you are just a huckster, selling them out. You lied about protecting the Greenbelt. You bluffed your way into the premier’s office, promising to do a good job for us. Do you remember the foolishness of “a buck a beer”? You are letting us down. You are stupidly denying the problems of global warming. You are debasing Medicare to help your friends in making money. You are not interested in the problems of the sick. You see them as an opportunity for someone to make money.

And, you obviously have no interest in higher education. You turned a private schooled person loose as education minister. You were out there making promises to throw money at fixing things but somehow much of the money was never spent.

Recently, your attorney general tried to sneak in a new generation of conservative ‘King’s Counsels.’ This was stopped 37 years ago by a premier who said it was just a cheap sop for lawyers. And you bald-faced told the media you did not know about it. Are you telling us that it was never on a cabinet agenda? Liar, liar, pants on fire!

-30-

Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

Unpeeling the Onion.

by Peter Lowry

The tale has many layers as the Toronto Star continues to unpeel the doings of the last federal conservative leadership farce. The why of Patrick Brown’s ejection from the race is coming clearer in the mists of intrigue. The role of the weasel Poilievre’s campaign becomes even more understandable. The who did what to whom is told.

There is a wonderful quote by various questionable sources that says a definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. In my view, that sounds like the likely outcome of the way conservatives arrange their leadership contests. They start with the assumption that all electoral districts in Canada are the same. Any person with any experience in politics would know that is a ridiculous assumption.

Another conservative assumption is that the person who signs up the most temporary members in the conservative party deserves to win the leadership. That idea can sure bite the party in the ass. In modern politics, membership lists are being used as the party’s automated teller machine (ATM) and need constant cleaning.

And then, to top it all, the conservatives use a ranked ballot that can drive the leadership selection down to the lowest common denominator.

All you have to do is study the last three leadership contests for the federal conservative party and you will see what I mean.

But back to the Brown vs Poilievre debacle: If Poilievre’s campaign had not sabotaged Brown, John Charest might have won. I will admit that is hard to prove when you are not privy to the actual numbers but if the numbers really were secret, then Poilievre’s team were also in the dark, and with reason to worry. If Brown had stayed in the running, they would probably not have won on the first ballot.

What concerned the Poilievre campaign managers were the second votes available to Charest after Brown was the last contestant to be dropped in the counting. Brown’s second votes just might have been enough to push Charest over the top.

But now we will never know. Stupid conservatives probably destroyed the ballots.

-30-

Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

The Deckchairs Are Moved.

by Peter Lowry

It is not what we thought. You might have supposed that the best person available, in this recent cabinet shuffle by Justin Trudeau, would get the right job. That might be in an ideal world but Canada has to deal with regional realities and sex and skin colour when considering who gets what cabinet job. And have you ever considered how unpalatable it would be to mix Habitant pea soup with Campbell’s chicken soup?

And, quite frankly, I was impressed with the job Anita Anand had been doing in National Defence. I am appalled that someone such as Bill Blair has been given this responsibility while the war continues in Ukraine.

Blair was never charged with the kettling of innocent Canadians during the crock-up of the G20 meeting in Toronto in 2010. The Toronto police chief was spectacularly absent when the Black Bloc took over downtown Toronto streets, when Canadian citizens were kettled and arrested on The Esplanade in front of the Novatel Hotel, and then when innocent citizens, out for a Sunday walk, were kettled in the rain at Queen and Spadina. And all that time, Bill Blair was the boy in charge. The Toronto Police Services was ordered by the court to pay $16.5 million to the hundreds of people caught up in his breach of their civil rights.  He might like to think of his policing years as quasi military but they were not. He did a bad job of it and let the blame fall on an underling whose only excuse was he was following orders.

It sometimes appears that Justin Trudeau has some anger with lawyers. I cannot figure what the heck attorney general David Lametti, did to deserve being turfed from cabinet.

I was appalled that Marco Mendicino was being held to blame for his failure to communicate effectively. The man needed some help in his communications, not to be dropped like a hot potato.

It was very interesting to see how much was being heaped on the real deputy PM’s shoulders. Dominic LeBlanc has been moved to the highly sensitive arena of public safety. I, for one, will be fascinated by his attempts to tame the RCMP and to show the Security Intelligence Service their real job. In his spare time, he will continue with his responsibilities for democratic institutions and inter-governmental relations.

-30-

Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

Rape of the Greenbelt Begins.

by Peter Lowry

It seems redundant to tell you what Ontario premier Doug Ford’s word is worth: nothing. The Ontario Greenbelt is now the happy hunting grounds of his close friends, the developers who befriended him when he was spending some disappointing times at Toronto city hall with his late brother Rob.

And it seems to be no coincidence that one family in the development business and their employees have donated almost $300,000 to the conservative party in Ontario in recent years. I would not like to say that that the money came from the company—because that would be illegal.

But if it oinks like a pig, and smells like a pig, and has four little trotters like a pig, it just might be a pig.

It makes sense though to congratulate the De Gasperis family that seems to have a major interest in TACC Developments that has ended up with what looks like more than 400 acres of the former Greenbelt lands to develop. That would make TACC a very large—and very profitable—development company indeed.

Many of their planned homes are to be built on what is known as the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Reserve, which is considered to be among the most arable land in Ontario. This is the reason it was designated as reserved for farming within the Greenbelt. TACC and their good friend Doug Ford do not seem to understand that the people who live in their homes have to eat too.

What is amusing about this particular parcel of Greenbelt is the belief of the some of the staff of Ontario’s minister of municipal affaires and housing that some ten per cent of the housing will be designated “affordable.” What ‘affordable’ means seems open for debate.

All we know is that seems to be in a part of Pickering well north of any viable public transportation that might get the transit riders to Toronto where the jobs are. It is also in Toronto that the availability of affordable housing seems in very short supply.

-30-

Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

Chow’s Choice.

by Peter Lowry

Olivia Chow had a Hobson’s choice. And both choices were wrong. The temporary mayor of Toronto soon found that she was out of her depth. She was never expected to get along with the federal or provincial governments and the foolish voters of Toronto, who voted for Chow, got the rebuff that they deserved.

What did you expect from a person who rides a bicycle to work? The new mayor thought she had two possibilities to fix the immediate problems at city hall. All the problems needed was money. She picked what she thought would be the easiest mark.

Did she need to be told that provincial governments were responsible for the municipalities in their province? And wasn’t it a bit presumptuous of her to ask the federal government? It was finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland who took the trouble to explain to Ms. Chow where she had erred.

Ms. Freeland not only explained to Ms. Chow how the system worked but she also made reference to the many billions already provided to the province by the federal government and to the city so that they could supply the services required by the citizens in Toronto. She politely did not reference the recent disclosure that the province had tucked away some $10 billion that it had not spent to help restore the healthcare system in the province.

Ms. Freeland also reminded Ms. Chow of the communications with the previous tenants in the mayor’s office—including mayor John Tory and deputy mayor Jennifer McKelvie. She had told the two of them that while the federal government had willingly helped Toronto with some billions of dollars for some of its major projects, the province was the proper source for the funds being requested. The provincial government had the legal and moral responsibility. It also had the money.

Freeland lectured the one-time member of parliament that the spending capacity of the federal government was not infinite. The federal government hardly runs a never-emptied ATM for the provinces and the cities of Canada. As much as the government might like to, there are limits.

And Ms. Chow will have to take her problems to Mr. Ford’s government at Queen’s Park. And, of course, we all wish her well in dealing with those skinflints.

-30-

Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

“We Have Met the Enemy”

by Peter Lowry

Recently the wicked witch of the west told us that her Land of Oz was beset with arsonists who were razing millions of hectares of her beautiful province. She told us that she is going to hire investigators to find these evil doers. If she was older, she might have remembered the sage wisdom of Walt Kelly’s indomitable opossum, Pogo. He told us many years ago that “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

What Alberta premier Danielle Smith does not seem to understand is that those lovely people who pour millions of dollars into the Alberta treasury—for her to spend so frivolously—are the incendiaries. With every barrel of ersatz oil garnered from the oil sands, they push Mother Nature into pushing back with climate change.

What I fail to understand is the willingness of Alberta’s voters to blame all the ill effects of climate change on those damn liberals. Here Kenney and company were draining Alberta hospitals of competent staff and they were still only electing conservative governments. I could have told them that they would end up hating the man for his hypocrisy, and cheap conservative patter. Yet they cheered when he united the right against the NDP.

And I am not saying that all the conservative premiers of Alberta were wrong. Some wiser premiers even warned against the practice of cutting taxes and using the oil revenues to buy votes.

But don’t try to tell Danielle Smith that. That woman is having a ball. She is drunk with her supposed power in that office and she belittles Albertans in the process.

An Alberta writer recently wrote that there would be no way that Alberta could shut down the tar sands operations overnight. And no thinking Canadian in the east would expect that to happen.

But some sensible forward planning is necessary. What is their future in Alberta when the tar sands are stripped of their benevolence? What happens when there is no more production to send down to the ships that will take bitumen to foreign ports?

Nobody expects the premier to suddenly act more intelligent or more gracious. That would be asking too much of her.

(With thanks to L. Frank Baum, who wrote the Wizard of Oz books, and Walt Kelly, the cartoonist who showed us the wisdom of Pogo, for helping me mix my metaphors.)

-30-

Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

The Gospel of the Right.

by Peter Lowry

It seems to be fate that the right-wing crazies in Canada search me out to send propaganda. The most recent e-mail from the so-called Montreal Economic Institute is a case in point. I might as well think of it as the Montreal office of the Fraser Institute. They only seem to send out opinions that would please members of the Peoples’ Party of Canada.

While the research is credited to the Ipsos research organization, research experts can tell you that it is how you ask the questions that helps determine the answers. For example, the first result reported by the institute is that ‘two out of three Canadians think the amount they pay in income taxes is too high.’

Well, surprise, surprise. If someone asked you if you think the amount you pay in income taxes is too high? Wouldn’t you agree?

But if the questioner gave you a long list of expenses such as Medicare, the military, medical research, federal courts, port facilities, icebreakers and airports, would you maybe think that those expenditures are necessary?  You might make a very small contribution to those expenses, yet you can be proud of that contribution.

It is the same for the second item trumpeted by the institute. They say that ‘fewer than one in four Canadians believe that the federal government spends on the right priorities.’ That is a stupid question deserving of a stupid answer. No doubt many of us have different opinions on spending priorities. How many times have you told your member of parliament what your priorities might be?

What the federal government spends each year is a very thick book. Have you ever studied the public accounts from Ottawa?

And that leads us to the third concern of the Montreal Economic Institute. It makes you wonder if these people have the slightest awareness of economics. They pick up the leader of the conservative party Pierre Poilievre’s line about government spending having caused Canada’s inflation. All he does is show his ignorance when he says that. The current inflation is a worldwide phenomenon contributed to by the medical costs of the pandemic, the disruption of world distribution systems, the ongoing war in Ukraine and the greed of industries such as the oil industry and grocery chains.

This so-called economic institute tells us that their research tells them that ‘six in ten Canadians are dissatisfied with the accountability and transparency of the federal government’s spending.’ Have six in ten Canadians bothered to verify this?

Maybe this institute should volunteer to write Mr. Poilievre’s speeches. They certainly seem to deal off the bottom of the same deck.

-30-

Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry             

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

[email protected]

Poilievre Paid?

by Peter Lowry

Not being on the inside with the conservatives, I do not make accusations about things that I cannot prove. Knowing Patrick Brown, as I do, and having followed Pierre Poilievre over the years, it was no surprise when the Toronto Star accused Poilievre’s campaign of sabotaging Brown’s candidacy for the federal conservative leadership. It was so damn obvious but there was no way I could prove it. The Toronto Star could.

It was like Brown’s financial reports on his federal election campaigns. You knew he knew the rules. He also had the knowledge of how to skate around the rules. In his last federal election, I could never find his bus in his financial reports. It annoyed me that he could hide the cost of more than a month of renting a forty-passenger bus in his report. That bus was covered with Brown’s signs and it showed up in the most interesting places. The only time you could complain was on election day and it was supposedly taking seniors to the polls. By the time the returning office official could get to the poll where you had reported it, the bus had moved on. 

It was no secret though that Brown was a stalking horse for his friend John Charest (the former Quebec premier) in the last federal conservative leadership race. Poilievre’s concern was not that Brown had more sign-ups as temporary conservatives than Poilievre. The concern was that Brown’s second votes were all expected to go to Charest. If this was the case and Poilievre did not have more than 50 per cent of the first count votes, the vagaries of ranked voting might cause Charest to win.

But by disqualifying Brown, you not only burned his first votes but you have gotten rid of many of his second and third votes with them. And besides, with Brown out of the race, Poilievre was obviously a first-vote winner.

Were the conservative party officials right to kick Patrick Brown out of the leadership race? They probably were. What does not make sense is the word that got out was that he had broken some election laws. If this was true, the conservative officials had a responsibility to report it to the chief electoral officer. If the infraction was illegal, the chief electoral officer would have turned the matter over to the RCMP. I am not sure that happened. That detail is not included in the Toronto Star story.

-30-

Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]