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

Cashing in on Change in Canada.

by Peter Lowry

There seem to be no barriers that money cannot erase. Yesterday, we were talking about the frustrations with change and the situation of Canadians being unable to change their constitution. What we should not be doing is constantly bribing provincial bodies with federal funds. A case in point is reasonably priced daycare.

What Canada has recognized is that women are a huge resource. Reasonable cost daycare can free much of that resource to contribute to Canada’s economy. The failure to recognize this is what keeps most of the Middle East in the Middle Ages.

But the simple expedient of getting the provinces and territories to respond to bribes hardly speaks well for our country.  I guess the fact of Medicare in this country is the single largest bribe. We should not forget though that the initial input on this idea came from the province of Saskatchewan. Under the Canada Health Act, Medicare requires that all provincial and territorial health plans must be accessible, comprehensive, portable and publicly administered. While some provinces constantly beat on the doors of those requirements, it has proved to be a highly successful program. Canadians are proud of it and politicians besmirch it at their peril.

I somehow get the feeling that inexpensive national daycare will not end up at $10 per day. Inflation is already doing damage to that idea.

But the public acceptance of a national daycare program is creating some strange bedfellows. When the act creating the national daycare program passed in the house of commons recently, the vote was 315 for yes, and no votes opposed. Despite the negative comments from the conservative benches during debate, it seems that conservative leader Pierre Poilievre had an epiphany. He came over from the dark side. He realized that Canadians wanted this program.

This seems to be digressing from Poilievre’s usual dyed-in-the-wool libertarianism—his extreme right-wing stance. Some of the talking heads are prophesizing that he will even be on side for a national drug program and the coming national dental care program. I guess it is just the possible difference between staying in opposition or maybe winning the coming election.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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Protecting Provincial Powers.

by Peter Lowry

The other day, I mentioned that Oliver Mowat, Ontario’s premier for much of our country’s formative years back at the end of the 19th Century, fought with prime minister John A. Macdonald over provincial rights. At the time, he was right. In today’s world, he would be very wrong. What is very wrong today is that we have been left with a constitution that is almost impossible to fix. We end up trying to work around the country’s constitution.

The problem is that our major social programs, that are more of a right than a ‘like to have,’ have to be negotiated piece by piece with the provinces and territories.  It has become a form of self abuse that most federal politicians enter into with caution.

Every few years we re-open the arguments over Medicare. And yet we want to add a national drug plan. People would have laughed at you if you brought it up as Queen Victoria’s ministers were writing our constitution. So, what if daycare was only something a neighbour would offer at the time? Our constitution split the responsibilities of the different levels of government as they were viewed in the 1800s. Aldous Huxley, and his book Brave New World, were not born yet.

So, where does that leave Canadians? I doubt we would have a revolution. Hell, we get into better brawls in hockey games. It is doubtful that we are going to start a civil war. The péquistes in Quebec City have proved they are just a malicious bunch of bigots who want power exclusively for themselves. Compared to them, that silly woman who is premier in Alberta and her “Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act” has people across Canada laughing.

Our world has just muddled its way through a deadly pandemic and our constitution proved to be a barrier to healing for Canadians. We had the federal government trying to shore up the country’s economy while the provinces struggled with trying to support our medical delivery system. Here in Ontario, we had a conservative government bleeding out the healthcare system. They blocked the hospitals from the extra funding needed to encourage medical staff. They just watched as our hospitals fell into disrepair.

But the feds and the provinces remained true to our outmoded constitution.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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The High Price of Buying Jobs.

by Peter Lowry

When I was working for a computer company back in the 1970s, our manufacturing manager came into my office one day with an idea. He had looked ahead at our manufacturing situation and all he could find was bad news. The markets were changing. Desk top computers were popping up in our offices to do accounting and even the word processing for my department. He wanted some government money to develop a new product for his manufacturing teams.

His idea was what were called work stations at that time. He figured that a bare bones development of a miniature work station might cost as much as $50,000. I shook my head. I explained to him that the project had to be related to keeping his plant growing and creating jobs. And besides, if we were not talking in millions, the government would not be interested.

Only today, you have to be talking billions. The batteries for electric vehicles are the latest buzzwords in government support. And as these companies need to build special plants to produce these batteries, the provincial government can be included for its support. It is all done in complicated tax incentives and financial supports.

Back in the 70s, the plant manager and I worked up a deal worth $100 million. All we wanted from the feds was cash to the extent of $40 million. That was the proposed cost of the hardware and we would find the other $60 million to develop the initial software needs of this new product. We got a lot of skepticism from the company’s head office in Minneapolis but they signed off on our proposal. And I got the okay to take the proposal to Ottawa. There were a couple Silicon Valley start ups in California heading in the same direction and we needed to move fast.

It might surprise the reader that no politicians were involved in the transaction. I did the whole deal in one department with sign-offs from the deputy minister, assistant deputy minister and director general. I even had an old friend who worked for the department involved to do the due diligence on the proposal. He spent an entire day grilling me on the ins and outs of the deal. It was a Friday, so the Ottawa day ended at 4 pm. He ceremoniously handed me a government of Canada cheque for $24 million as the down payment. I caught my flight back to Toronto and went home with that cheque in my briefcase for the weekend.

This was never a success story. The Minneapolis company was bought by one of those Silicon Valley start ups and I heard they gave all the money involved for the project back to the Canadian government. I had already moved on to other challenges.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

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Waiting for Some Leadership.

by Peter Lowry

This is not to complain about John Fraser’s performance as interim Ontario liberal leader at Queen’s Park. John has been doing his usual good job without much resources. It is just that the sooner we can have a new leader in place at Queen’s Park the better. We have to ensure that Ontario lives up to its liberal heritage.

And it was that liberal heritage that built this province. It was my relative Oliver Mowat, who was a Father of Confederation and who served as liberal premier of Ontario for almost 24 years at the end of the 19th Century. It was his determination that strengthened provincial rights in those early years. From the Upper Canada Rebellion onward, it was the early liberals who pushed to create the open and progressive type of government that liberalism offers Canadians today.

It is why I was so disappointed with Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie’s opening salvo in the current liberal leadership contest. She actually complained about the McGinty – Wynne years in the premier’s office in Ontario being too left wing. If either Dalton McGinty or Kathleen Wynne were left wing, then I must be a butterfly.

Sure, the last two liberal premiers at Queen’s Park did some things that might have come across as progressive, but in balance they were certainly not aggressive lefties. McGinty might have moved us forward on the Greenbelt and ended the era of coal-generated electricity in the province but I got the feeling from him that if we did not go along with his concern for the environment, we were in for a spanking.

And as a lefty, Kathleen Wynne was a joke. I could never think of her approach to beer and wine in grocery stores as anything more than a yawn. That was not only silly the way she did it but it made progressiveness a joke.

And if any other politician ever concedes an election before the polls close, they should be pilloried for the rest of their lives.

There was some good young talent running to replace Kathleen Wynne, but the powers-that-be in the liberal party hand-picked Steven Del Duca to replace her—which was a really dumb move. He never went back to Queen’s Park, he never talked like a leader and he never looked like a leader.

This time, the party has a chance to pick a real leader. I think there are a couple good possibilities in the race already.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

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Is Brown on the In or Out?

by Peter Lowry

You are never sure who is in with Ontario premier Doug Ford. Here he is breaking up the confusion over who does what for whom in Peel Region. He is making Brampton and Mississauga free-standing cities. He has even appointed an expensive group of overseers to make it all happen expeditiously.

We know that Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie doesn’t care what Ford does as she is going for the brass ring of Ontario liberal party leader. She wants to get into Queen’s Park where she can go after Doug Ford mano-a-mano, so to speak.

But that leaves Patrick Brown with Brampton as a form of booby prize. And we all know that Patrick has much greater aspirations than just mayor of Brampton.

He still wants to get even with the conservatives on the committee that kicked him out of the last federal conservative leadership race. That guy is so desperate for publicity, I am surprised he wasn’t the judge for the latest hotdog eating contest, or one of the contestants.

But we were all surprised that if Caroline Mulroney can get an instant promotion to Ontario lawyer and a King’s Counsel without bothering to pass the bar admission, why was Patrick overlooked. He is not embarrassed that he graduated from Windsor University and in all those years in politics in Barrie, he never seemed to bother to pass the bar admission to practice law in Ontario. His buddy, Walied Soliman, had acquired the legal credentials to be chair of his law firm and was one of the few who might have deserved having a KC designation—for something other than being a good conservative.

There was a bit of confusion about former premier David Peterson already having a KC designation. He was given that in an era of progressive conservatives in Ontario who gave the designation to the new liberal party leader at Queen’s Park. They had no idea that he would have the support of the new democrats after the election, to push them out of office.

They also did not know that he would cancel all the KC foolishness that had become such a joke to the legal profession.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

Poilievre’s Problems.

by Peter Lowry

Federal conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has had one objective in his life since leaving the University of Calgary. He wants to be prime minister of Canada. He seemed to be on his way to his objective last fall when he won the leadership of the conservatives. Only now are conservatives and their opposites in the other parties questioning if defeating the liberals is possible.

He is going to need to do a heck of a lot more than trade his glasses for contacts. The problem with that is he let that his button-down look become a trademark. Dumping the glasses just makes him look myopic.

His basic problem is his own determination. Nobody really believes that this little man wants to improve the lives of Canadians. He is more of a libertarian than a conservative. He is doctrinaire in this extreme conservatism. He seems to promise to make you like it.

But he also has the problem of how he is trying to get to that brass ring. He has spent some 19 years in parliament both as a back bencher and as a member, briefly, in the Harper cabinet. If he ever did anything worthwhile in parliament, Canadians have yet to hear about it.

While some polls have his conservatives edging out the Trudeau liberals, these are a long way from the next election. I expect that the edge for the conservatives is among younger voters. They are the toughest to get to the polls in an election.

But those younger voters will also be finding out more about Mr. Poilievre and they will not like all they find.  He made his name in politics as a trouble maker. He welcomed the infamous Trucker’s convoy to Ottawa. That got him some attention. He also promoted bitcoin as the great inflation protection before it did a nosedive. He does not seem to know anything about economics.

It is interesting that women do not like him as much as men might. And despite his French name, Quebecers are not enamoured with him.

In Ontario, he is known for his Alberta birthplace and his pledges to the westerners to build them more pipelines and his lack of concern for global warming.

I only wish he had Justin Trudeau worried. I think Trudeau has run his course. A new liberal leader in the next two years, could do wonders to allay concerns about the future of our country.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Chow’s Impossible Job.

by Peter Lowry

Not being a fan of the new Toronto mayor, all I can do is commiserate with my Toronto friends. The truth is that Olivia Chow has taken on a task well beyond her capabilities. She was never a good councillor when she was on city council. She was waste of a seat in parliament, the time she was there. She never has been a leader or had any of the attributes of a successful mayor.

And the tasks facing her are daunting. She has Doug Ford running things at Queen’s Park and he is waiting for her to fail. She might have a bit of an edge in Ottawa where Jagmeet Singh might put in a good word for her with Justin Trudeau. She should not count on it.

The feds would likely choke if she goes to them for the full $1.5 billion of Toronto’s budget shortfall. And even then, this might be the least of her problems. How do you get the housing so desperately needed built today when the run-away renovation business in the city is drawing off so many of the trades needed to build new homes.

I was in Toronto on the weekend and I kept seeing all those towering new condominiums and wondering why the roads are in such crappy shape. Aren’t all those new buildings paying their taxes?

Since Mike Harris slammed the city together as a megacity, we have had a succession of mayors trying to make the city make do on less. The city at least could hold its head high with John Tory at the helm, but even he struggled with cheapening the service of city hall. It is a long time ago that people criticized my friend Phil Givens when he was mayor of the smaller city for buying a large piece of art for Nathan Phillips Square. The Givens, Dennison and Crombie era of mayors for the old Toronto was a time of increased pride in our city. We were growing rapidly and Queen’s Park might have been run by conservatives at the time but they understood their responsibilities to the cities of Ontario.

I liked how John Tory handled the job of mayor but even he failed to restore some of that pride, people felt for the city as it was back in the 1970s.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]

That King’s Counsel Crap.

by Peter Lowry

The conservatives at Queen’s Park must have spent a busy day last Friday presenting all their close friends who happen to be lawyers with King’s Counsel (KC) designation. They got so enthusiastic for it they even made the mistake of giving the designation to Caroline Mulroney who has never taken the Bar Admission examination in Ontario. It is just one more stupid move by Doug Ford and his conservative followers.

It might have been the current solicitor general who dreamed up this dumb move. It was discontinued over 30 years ago by the liberal government of the time. It had become nothing more than idle patronage. All it did was confuse the gullible that these lawyers were something special other than just conservatives. Some people thought that these lawyers actually did the King’s (or Queen’s) legal work.

I must remember to bow low and address my member of the legislature (the current solicitor general) as ‘Your Worshipfullness’ if we ever find him in Barrie. We think of him as our absentee member of the legislature. He was dumped on us as a parachute candidate from further north in Severn, Ontario. He is the typical ward healer type of lawyer that the conservatives like to present with a King’s (or Queen’s) counsel designation. It is the cheapest form of patronage ever. It costs the government nothing but their credibility.

I was invited to join a poker group many years ago by my lawyer. I always admired him as a good friend but the guys in the poker group always kidded him for wanting to be a Queen’s Counsel. I knew how much it annoyed him when liberal premier David Peterson cancelled all the foolishness. Despite all the foofaraw about being a Queen’s Counsel, my guy was a damn good lawyer. He died a few years ago.

I think the funniest part of this entire business is that former premier, Hon. David Peterson is connected with the owners of the Toronto Star today and was already a KC.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

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Corporate Greed at Woodbine.

by Peter Lowry

The wife and I just got back from a busy long weekend in Toronto. It has been a tradition for many years to spend an afternoon at Woodbine Race Track. And we did it up strong because there was also a new casino to check out. That was the only disappointment. The new casino was a disgusting example of corporate greed.

For someone who cut his teeth on single-deck blackjack at Binions in downtown Las Vegas sixty years ago, I won’t be so stupid as to return to the Great Canadian Gaming operation at Woodbine. Sure, it was Canada Day, July 1, and they knew they would be busy. They ramped up all the table games to a $50 minimum bet.

When you are surrounded by more than 4000 slot machines, the place certainly sounds like a casino. I actually got lost rejoining my companions and had to stop an employee for directions. The washrooms were clean and well looked after. And the employees were friendly. My problem is that the management think they can screw the gambler.

The wife wasn’t interested in the place at all. To her, if the joint doesn’t have a full-sized craps layout, it is not a legitimate casino. She was not even pleased with the bar where we had arranged to meet. It seemed that all the bartenders were still in training and ignored her call for a drink.

But I know blackjack as well as, if not better, than most casino employees. I checked with a pit supervisor and found out that they have eight decks of cards in each of their new continuous dealing machines. With eight decks, and continuous operation, the card counting player can go home. The only positive surprise was the payout for a sucker-bet on a perfect pair. (That is betting you get two cards of the same value and suit in your first two cards.) They actually pay 30 times your bet instead of just 25 times as in other Ontario casinos.

By raising their minimum wager to $50, the casino is hoping to win more money faster. Ontario gamblers might not be the smartest, though you can hardly blame them for not increasing their bet when they win. Most would be happier making $15 to $25 bets and being able to play longer. The casino knows they will end up with lots of money from those bets. The casino has no need to increase their edge by only paying six to five on blackjacks and hitting soft 17s. I appreciate that they still have live dealers taking and paying out the chips but I will stay away from continuous machines with eight decks of cards. They don’t seem to be compatible with basic blackjack strategy.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

A Devil’s Pact?

by Peter Lowry

Just some thinking today about where our parliament might be heading. In a polarized situation such as the Canadian parliament, it would not take the transfer of many seats to upset the liberals and transfer the largest number of seats—but not a majority—to the conservatives. That thought leads us to some interesting considerations.   What if, for example, the only party in the commons with a large enough number of seats (other than the liberals) to be able to create a voting majority for the conservatives was the Bloc Québécois? Could there be a deal struck? Would Pierre Poilievre make a deal with the Devil?

You have to admit that Yves-François Blanchet and his fellow Bloc separatists love being the trouble makers. They have no other purpose in the House of Commons. They will say that the purpose is to ensure that Quebec always gets its share-or more.

But recently, on the issue of foreign influence on elections, the Bloc has been working hand-in-glove with Poilievre and the conservatives—all the more to embarrass Trudeau and his liberals. Blanchet and his colleagues could not be further away from any foreign influence problems but once trouble-makers, always trouble-makers.

I would hardly put it past Poilievre to be willing to make a deal with Blanchet. Believe or not, Poilievre would love to get off the hook on his position on climate change and energy policy. The only seats where his change of position might mean trouble are in Alberta but to lose a few seats in Alberta and gain ten to twenty in Ontario and Quebec would be worth it. One of the things that Poilievre has probably noticed in his life in politics is that not many voters really worry about your policy positions that do not affect them directly.

Besides, supporting the conservatives comes easily for Quebec premier François Legault. He already showed that stripe in the 2021 federal election. Poilievre’s offer of hands-off Quebec and his repeated promises of a laissez-faire federal government is right in Legault’s wheel house.

It is likely that the only action by the liberals that could really screw up Poilievre’s plans is Mr. Trudeau’s resignation and replacement in the next two years.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry            

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

[email protected]