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

Does Sir Douglas Do It?

by Peter Lowry

It all started with the conservative Ontario attorney general. He and some of his fellow conservative lawyers in Ontario wanted to be able to use the ‘King’s Counsel’ designation.  It could help fool the public into thinking they were the more important lawyers in the province. They would be allowed to wear silk robes in court. This honorary title had been stopped by the liberal government back in 1985 because it had been abused as cheap political patronage for too long. It cost nothing for the conservatives to reinstitute it and suddenly there were 90 lawyers in Ontario showing off their new ‘KC’ title.

But this left premier Doug Ford out in the cold. He complained to the news media that he had not even been consulted about the ‘KC’ for lawyers. And attorney general Doug Downey KC said that was true.  There was little that Downey could do for a premier who was not a graduand of any college or university.

But when checking the statue of Sir Oliver Mowat outside the Queen’s Park legislature, the premier got some ideas. The Nickle Resolution passed by the federal government in 1917 was to specifically ask the United Kingdom to stop bestowing titles on Canadian citizens.

There were exceptions, of course. There always are. And nobody has ever said that provinces cannot have a system of honours for people of exemplary character and of service to their province.

While, this writer does not like to promote gossip, the rumour out of Queen’s Park is that the province might expand its provincial honours system to include the bestowing of provincial knighthoods. No doubt the editors of a certain American-owned Postmedia chain are champing at the bit to release the story of this new honours system for Ontario.

There seems to be few objections to the conferring of provincial knighthoods for men but the debate continues with the cabinet members who object to women being called “Dames.” We would not be surprised if the objectors where being led by Caroline Mulroney KC. Mind you, we are not sure if this is not because she already has her ‘KC’ title. She got it when she had only been an Ontario lawyer for three days.

But, no doubt, Doug Ford already has the premier’s office staff used to calling him ‘Sir.’

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

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Taking Off the Training Wheels.

by Peter Lowry

This summer the federal conservatives are road testing their new leader, MP Pierre Poilievre. They have been trying to analyze why so many Canadians are doubtful that they want him as prime minister. You would think that the numbskulls might have checked that out before letting him become conservative leader.

The conservative brain trust decided to spend the summer road testing some ideas for him. They started remaking his image by taking away his glasses. They probably thought they made him look too bookish. And when you think about it, this is one guy who needs to read more. He tends to be very shallow. Luckily, he is not walking into too many walls as he commutes around the country.

But without his glasses, he just looks myopic.

He even went home to Alberta for the beginning of the Calgary Stampede. That gave him a chance to wear a black Stetson and dark glasses. If he was trying to develop his Darth Vader look, he failed. He just looked like a kid wearing daddy’s hat.

I thought the funniest clothing change was to take away Poilievre’s plain white shirt, his dull ties and his blue suit. He treated it as though it was a uniform. I referred to it as his ‘button-down’ look.

The hardest thing to change about Poilievre is his mouth. When he sticks to the key talking points for the conservatives, housing and, inflation, he can be effective.  It is just that he sometimes reminds you of the World War II slogan, “Loose Lips Sink Ships.” The problem is that his knowledge of economics is minimal. And the problems facing the home building industry are complicated. Simple slogans don’t always work.

I get the impression that Poilievre and the premier of Alberta are getting most of their strategies from an Edmonton-based communications firm called MASH Strategies. These people seem to deal in negative campaigns. They claimed the dubious credit for defeating Ralph Goodale MP from Saskatchewan in the 2019 federal election. No doubt Ralph is enjoying his appointment in London, England as High Commissioner for Canada.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

The Trains to Nowhere.

by Peter Lowry

The Last Spike was a momentous event in Canadian history, a hundred and thirty-eight years ago. The completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway across Canada also marked the beginning of the end of a dream. In a country that pioneered inter-city rail, passenger traffic on our railway’s has given way to freight. We have crassly declared that passengers are not as important and relegated them to the asphalt of the highways and to the pollution of air travel.

But it will only be by reviving enthusiasm for high-speed travel by train that we can bind our country back together. We’ve talked about high-speed rail long enough. The Quebec City to Windsor corridor needs high-speed trains today. Halifax to Vancouver is the challenge of the next decade.

And the Americans are already beating us to the punch. High-speed trains in the 160 miles per hour category are already being prepared for the Boston to Washington corridor. The first really high-speed line is being built from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Forbes Magazine tells us that billions of dollars are already committed to high-speed trains. Even the gamblers cannot wait.

But what is Canada doing? Nothing. If any prime minister ever needed a positive legacy, it is Justin Trudeau. Is it a proud legacy to have fired a justice minister for doing her job? Did it make Canada proud when Justin Trudeau and his family visited the Bahamian island owned by the Aga Khan, or when they played dress-up in India?

You need to do something positive for our country Mr. Trudeau. If Sir John A. Macdonald can leave us the first cross country rails, you can do it one better.

This cannot be left to provincial governments. The Ontario government of Kathleen Wynne was preparing for a high-speed test track west from Toronto. The next step would have been Toronto to Ottawa and Montreal. And that needed federal and inter-provincial cooperation. Yet the plans for trains and the electricity from Quebec were all swept aside by the Ford government when it came to power.

The only thing worse than the failed legacy of the Trudeau government is the rapacious and self-centred role of the Ford government in Ontario.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

Doug Ford’s Summer.

by Peter Lowry

This could be Ontario premier Doug Ford’s last best summer on the Muskoka Lakes of Ontario. As he speeds around the lakes on his personal water scooter, the storm clouds are gathering. Doug has made it a better time for the liberals to sign up those disquieted voters who do not buy into his schemes for the Ontario Greenbelt, for our highways, laying waste to our hospitals and schools and privatizing Medicare.

The good news is that the Ontario liberals are choosing a new leader before the year ends. There are already five strong contenders. One will be a potential premier and the other four are a good core group for a strong cabinet.

But they have to show that they are all liberals. They need to be advocates for human rights. They need to showcase their progressive views. They need to show how Ontario grows and progresses under liberal governments.

A liberal supporter asked me the other day how he is supposed to prove he is a member of the Ontario liberals. I asked him, “Do you get e-mails from Ontario liberals asking you for money?”

“All the time,” he said ruefully.

“Congratulations,” I told him. “That proves you are a member of the party.”

I remember many years ago when people paid an annual membership in the party and we had some by-elections coming up. I thought at the time that the party should put the arm on our 75,000 members to contribute money to the effort to win those by-elections. As this was before e-mail, I soon had all the begging letters ready to go to the post office lined up on the party headquarters’ boardroom table.

The party treasurer came in, looked at all the piles of letters, shook his head, and said, “You’re doing it all wrong, Peter.”

I will admit that the results to that first letter were not earth shaking. It has taken a long time to change the financial structure of our political parties across Canada. We need to remember that seniors and others without a lot of discretionary funds, who are willing workers at election time, also make a very large contribution in terms of their time and efforts. So, our candidates should bear that in mind when asking, nicely, for funds.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

Cyclists Capture Toronto City Hall.

by Peter Lowry

It is hard to believe that the replacement mayor of Toronto came to her first day at city hall by bicycle. You have to wonder about the voters in Toronto who promoted this mayor. The city is going to have to pay her almost $200,000 per year and she rides a bicycle to city hall.

I am not opposed to bicycles. I grew up in Toronto at a time when you could ride around Toronto on a bicycle in summer months. Vehicle traffic was lighter and roads were less crowded. I got to know my city. I was always disappointed in the fall when I had to store my bike for the winter.

No sensible person rides a bicycle year around in a city that can be beset with ice and snow for almost half of the year. And while I share the general concern about global warming, I hardly think it is going to eliminate winter any time soon. Cycling is a questionable practice even when it is just raining. When drivers’ view is impaired, bicycles become a road hazard.

It is hard to believe that the current mayor claims that she does not have a driver’s licence. That sounds like trouble. Is she going to forbid traffic on the streets where she wants to cycle? The thing to remember about Toronto is that it is mostly on the level east to west but from the lake north to the city limits is an up-hill haul.

A good friend of mine was a member of city council when they first started promoting bicycles at city hall. When they challenged him to ride his bike to city hall, he would arrive at city hall on his bike with a flourish, telling everyone how enjoyable it was. He admitted to me, quietly, that the bicycle conveniently fitted into the limousine trunk for his trip home, up-hill.

But this is a new day at Toronto city hall. The bicycle riding ones have won. She made much of her accomplishment as she took office. She brought her own claque of bike-riding supporters to cheer her on. Accomplishments of John Tory’s time at city hall were all but forgotten. The new mayor claimed that Toronto could find its feet again. To find its swagger, she said. And that is something I would like to see, someone swaggering on a bicycle.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

Marquess of Queensberry Rules.

by Peter Lowry

You need rules in politics just as you do in boxing. And if there are none, we need to write some. I note this because the chemistry of the Ontario liberal leadership has gone off track. A gentleman, for example, does not comment negatively on a lady’s age. It is especially inappropriate when the lady’s predecessor as mayor of Mississauga was a highly productive mayor into her 90s.

It reminds me of the time that True Davidson, long-term mayor of East York (later part of Toronto), was running for the provincial liberals in that area. She called me and said “I’m turning 80 during the campaign, how do I handle it.”

I told her to throw a party. I also advised her not to put 80 candles on the cake. It could be considered a fire hazard.

But I am not going to be overly critical of MP Nate Erskine-Smith for his oblique criticism of fellow leadership contender Bonnie Crombie. He should have been prepped better for a one-on-one interview with Bob Hepburn of the Toronto Star. Bob is a very experienced reporter and while he might have buried the remarks Nate made about Ms. Crombie in his think-piece for the Star, he would have been remiss to exclude them.

Hepburn tells us in his article that Bonnie Crombie’s leadership bid is obviously weighing on Nate Erskine-Smith’s mind. At the same time, Bonnie might be shooting from the hip and not waiting to assess the needs and concerns of party members. I think both candidates need better communications advice.

For Bonnie to deny the progressive side of Ontario liberals makes no sense. The liberal party of Ontario is a big tent party and progressives make up a large share of that membership. You piss-off progressives at your peril. For a candidate to say they are not needed is seriously paring down the percentage of liberal votes she needs to win the leadership.

She also needs to bear in mind that the Ontario liberal hierarchy has blundered badly in opting for the conservative’s ranked ballot approach to voting. It leaves the candidates having to worry not only about that first vote but second choices as well.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

What’s News, Pussy Cat?

by Peter Lowry

It feels like we are all having our chain pulled here. I do hope that the average person on the street knows that there is a lot of crap on the Internet. As a writer, I spend more time researching than pounding the keys of my computer. And I can still make mistakes. It is when I don’t take the time to double and triple check my facts that I can get in trouble.

Any good researcher is aware of the biases of the various search tools on the Internet. You can skip the first purchased entries on Google. You can reject the supposed news feed on Facebook. I am not sure those organizations can tell the difference between news and scams. You believe their news at your peril. They feed ignorance with false news. They mix advertising that looks like their news to fool you.

And yet, we hear from pollsters that 29 per cent of Canadians get their news from Facebook. If you have ever hoped the pollsters might be wrong, that is the time for it.

It was many years ago that I worked for the Globe and Mail in Toronto and yet I still believe I get a better balance of news from the Toronto Star. When digging deeper into world news, I try to check the opinions of the North American edition of the Economist with the New York Times.

You have to feel sorry for the people who do not tune in to the broadcast news on radio or television, or read a newspaper. There is a world out there and we need to be attuned to what is happening. And by the way, Blogs are not news. Blogs are opinions.

I still do not understand why news articles found by Google and other search engines, should be paid for. If the newspaper or magazine does not have a pay wall, that is the media’s problem, not the search engines.

And you can hardly blame the legitimate news media for wanting to be paid for their output. Costs keep rising and you can be very frustrated with people who think it should be free.

I am not charging anyone for this output because, it is what it is; my opinion.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

Doug’s Deniability.

by Peter Lowry

“I know nothing,” claims Ontario premier Doug Ford. He reminds you of the role of Sergeant Shultz in the popular television series ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ that ran from 1965 to 1971. The fat concentration camp guard always blustered that he knew nothing. Just like Ford who told the media that he had more important things to think of than the machinations of his attorney general, who had appointed himself to be a King’s Counsel (KC).

Since one of the recipients of the privilege of having the KC initials after his name was the premier’s personal lawyer, he might, at least have heard a ‘thank you.’ And since Mr. Ford could hardly fall asleep at all cabinet meetings, transport minister Carolyn Mulroney’s acceptance of being called to the bar in Ontario—without any of that troublesome bar admission stuff—three days before receiving her KC—must have been remarked on in cabinet.

And obviously, Mr. Ford has hung his hand-picked attorney general out to dry. If he was really the instigator behind the return of the King’s Counsel designation for conservative lawyers, he is going to get laughed out of my electoral district. The liberals in my riding might have more than a few annoyed lawyers to chose from for a candidate in the next provincial election.

When liberal David Peterson was elected and won the premier’s office in 1985, he ended the, at that time, Queen’s Counsel (QC) designation. He said the designation had become corrupted and was seen by the public as a patronage tool. And besides, the conservatives had already given Peterson the QC title as a courtesy when he became opposition leader at Queen’s Park.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

When in Doubt, Nuke It.

by Peter Lowry

The conservatives at Queen’s Park have played the nuclear card in trying to solve Ontario’s electrical power problems. The incompetents have grasped at the most expensive to build, bought into the centuries of after-life in the fuel and the least favourite solution of Ontario voters. Their less than brilliant solution adds a larger reactor on the Bruce Peninsula and some smaller reactors to be added down at the Darlington nuclear plant on Lake Ontario.

It was not the solution that the government would be smart to promote just before a provincial election. I doubt the public attitude towards nuclear plants has changed very much since I last studied the situation.

It was 35 years ago that I wrote a report for the then Ontario energy minister about the attitudes of experts and citizens about nuclear power in Ontario. The liberal government of that day was struggling with the same questions as today.   

While many would assume that the assignment was something of a pay-off for my helping the energy minister get elected, they would be right. I was so annoyed at that appearance of patronage that I deliberately ran the expenses on the project over budget. It annoyed my partners in the firm but it produced a report that surprised the deputy minister and the civil servants in the ministry.  

Instead of a few pages of boiler plate, I gave the ministry a lengthy and detailed analysis. One of the steps in the process was a series of focus groups. I wanted to find out the why’s of the negative reaction to nuclear electrical production. It turned out that the respondents did not care if the nuclear plants were as far away as the North pole, they were not happy with nuclear power.

At the time, there was little hope for the ability to store electrical energy in the quantities needed to make wind or solar power an adequate solution. We ended up recommending negotiating the integration of the water power of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec into an interlocked grid that could answer the need for electrical power for many years.

But that did not happen then. And when the conservatives took over at Queen’s Park in 2018, they cancelled all the plans the liberals had for wind, solar and the better electrical storage capability.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

The Wicked Witch of the West.

by Peter Lowry

We’re not talking Kansas here, Toto. It’s true, blue Alberta that is today’s Land of Oz. And its yellow brick road meanders through the tar sands that can destroy our planet. And the wicked witch of the west is the premier who denies global warming. She can even deny the tornado’s path of destruction through central Alberta on Canada Day.

You also had to wonder at the symbolism of Canada’s prime minister wearing the white hat at the opening of the Stampede in Calgary while the Grinch who heads the conservatives wore the black hat and dark glasses. Calgary is Mr. Poilievre’s home turf. You would have thought he would understand the symbolism.

While the world is being consumed in forest fires in the east and west, and the air pollution hangs heavy in the air, that witch Danielle Smith told the prime minister that he was attacking Alberta with his ask for the tar sands industry to lower its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While the world burns, Alberta wants to keep pumping more bitumen up from the depths to fuel the destruction.

The witch denies the power of the winds that blow across the foothills of the Rockies to offer sustainable, non-polluting electrical power to the province. She scoffs at the power of the sun to turn the mills of industry. She would rather deny Mother Nature’s anger at the abuse of pollution by the greed of tar sands exploiters.

The witch envisages a spiderweb network of pipelines putting some of the polluting carbon back underground. The very cost of capturing and storing a portion of the GHG will eventually make bitumen cost far more than any other fossil or other polluting fuel.

You get the impression that the wicked witch might have signs made for the Trans-Canada highway, where it enters Alberta, saying there is no fuel in this province for electric vehicles.

There is a serious global shift away from fossil fuels around the world and the Wicked Witch of the West needs to get with the program.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]