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

Mr. Ponzi would be so Proud.

by Peter Lowry

It is getting harder every day to support the unedited freedom of the Internet. Do we have to get used to faux sites, false advertising, scurrilous accusations and outright thievery? I just ran into an ersatz version of the CBC news site that purported to show a segment from Global Television’s Morning Show.

Setting aside the question “Why would the CBC do that?” You are caught up in what appears to be prime minister Justin Trudeau promoting what can only be described as a Ponzi scheme. What you saw was people putting $320 into this cryptocurrency site from their bank and then watching their money grow.

This is a very elaborate ruse. It was hardly built in a day. The reason they would have everyone start with the same amount is that they can show different results but they need to know an exact starting point. Everybody thinks they made money. They watch their money supposedly grow.

But the site goes on. There are faux ads on the site. Any attempt to leave the site sends you to a crypto currency site that shows supposed supporters of the scheme telling you how great it is. This site allows you to put any amount you like directly into Bitcoin. Anyone who goes along with this should take a picture of it before sending the money. That is the only way they are ever going to see their money again.

No doubt you think this is too obvious a scam. It’s not. It is just subtle enough to draw you in. My problem is that I know Justin Trudeau and he is far too stiff necked to be so silly as to do something such as that as a joke or anything else. And if you are still drawn into it after you hear the amount of money required to start, you might need the services of a financial conservator.

Of course, if you are as gullible as the premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba that might be a problem. Did you hear that the federal justice minister was asked by the Assembly of First Nations if the federal government was planning to take over mineral rights that are currently managed provincially. Mr. Lametti, with his tongue firmly in his cheek, assured them that he would keep them posted on that change in the constitution.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Poilievre’s Poison.

by Peter Lowry

If you are wondering who is poisoning the political air in Canada, it is that smarmy little man who leads the unfortunate conservatives in parliament. Pierre Poilievre has little time for civility, decency or truth. He is a little man in a hurry and hardly cares about those things that make Canada a very liveable country.

Poilievre is like a poisonous snake striking out at institutions such as the Bank of Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and even Canadian charities. He promotes gambling with uncontrolled Internet money as opposed to the respected Loonie. He wants to politicize the Bank of Canada. He wants to defund the CBC and Radio Canada after many years of unbiased service to Canadians. He attacks a reputable Canadian charity because it has the same name as the prime minister.

Mr. Poilievre stands in the House of Commons and sneers at our institutions. There is no telling what this man might do to Canada if he ever gets his wish to be prime minister. He regularly insults the prime minister instead of making any headway. He has no respect for the rules of parliamentary behaviour.

He is like an attack dog, cut loose. He attacks the liberals at every opportunity. He scorns the new democrats. The Bloc Québécois delight in his perturbations. The House of Commons is his playpen.

He attacks the carbon tax which is an attempt to cut back the harm greenhouse gasses are causing our environment. He has no answer when you ask for his solution. His friends exploiting the tar sands for ersatz oil will tell you that the impossibly expensive capture and store is the answer—but that solves less than half the pollution problems they cause.

He has no constructive plans if he can win the next election. I think he knows that Canadians want good government. That is not what he is offering.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

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Ford versus Smith.

by Peter Lowry

It appears to be a race to the bottom. It is amateur Ontario premier Doug Ford against amateur Alberta premier Danielle Smith. Neither has the experience or competence to be premier. As an Ontario resident, I would gladly trade Ford for Smith any day. Alberta voters might not know what to make of a dingbat but they sure know what to do with someone who wants to spend their money foolishly.

Both provinces are in serious trouble over their healthcare. It was Ford who took our Ontario hospitals downhill during the pandemic. He thinks he is fixing the problem by privatizing some of the hospital’s business. What he has never adequately explained is where the medical staff are coming from for these privatized clinics. He is passing a law authorizing these clinics into existence which is not fully thought through. He has not planned for suitable regulators or inspectors.

But then Smith passes laws that constitutional experts are puzzling over. It seems that if the federal government passes a federal law, she wants to take her time to decide if she wants to obey it.

The main difference between the two premiers is that she is a professional communicator and he seems to prefer to use bombast. What she communicates might be ditzy but she is a good communicator. She has shown that she can switch scripts when forced. She also has a convenient memory. She has been known to talk to people about their cases that are before the courts and that has got a lot of judges, lawyers and opponents talking about her inappropriate behaviour.

At least there is some professionalism to her Sunday show on Corus Radio in Alberta. She has been refusing to talk to those nosy reporters about her oopsies but that has not stopped her from telling her radio audience. The late Rob Ford, the former mayor of Toronto, tried to teach brother Doug how to do a regular radio show but the lessons did not seem to take. He has been having a hard enough time trying to learn how to use a teleprompter without being so obviously reading.

I am sorry to hear that Ms. Smith is facing some really annoyed voters at the beginning of May. And Happy May Day to you too.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Trusting Doug Ford?

by Peter Lowry

It’s an old maxim: Never trust anyone who says “Trust me.” And when it comes to Ontario premier Doug Ford, you should tell him to sell that worn-out jalopy to someone else. He thinks he is a great salesman. He is having trouble selling Highway 413. Nobody believes him. He is carving up the Greenbelt for his developer friends. There is a growing distrust in that. He wants to change the way we appoint the senior judge in Ontario. He tried to sneak that by us. Now, we find that his privatization of medicine in Ontario is without any inspections or other scrutiny.

We have peer review in our hospitals and yet no inspection for private surgical clinics? That is outrageous. That is a license to steal. Oh, I’m sorry. It seems these places will be licenced by some appointee who is probably not qualified to pass judgement on their expertise. There are no qualified people to be appointed to approve them. No wonder a conscientious minister of health refused to run on the Ford team in last year’s election.

What do you think you are doing to our Ontario Mr. Ford? You have loosened up liquor regulations to the point where every city and town can have a Gin Alley. You have licenced more casinos that any Ontario resident expected to see in their lifetime. Those heavy-handed ads for Internet casinos are becoming obnoxious and too much.

I always thought Kathleen Wynne was a bit too cautious in opening up beer in grocery stores. Compared to Doug Ford she was a Puritan. I’m expecting him to allow the grocers to convert their end isles to mini bars to give shoppers the nerve to continue on to the frightening cash registers. Maybe the grocers would prefer to convert some of their end isles into payday loan kiosks to pay for those few groceries.

I feel sometimes that we are just aiding and abetting stupidity when we complain about Doug Ford. Some people, somewhere are laughing at us. Did we do something to deserve Ford?

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Passing a Party in Purgatory.

by Peter Lowry

We might have to ask the Roman Church for help on this. It seems the liberal party in Ontario is stalled in some phase of existence that might take strong prayers to bring it through.

But just where it will end up is a good question. What the party leaders suggest is simply a leaderless phase, it still needs to get through. It could easily turn out to be terminal. I, for one, would be sorry to see that happen.

It was over 60 years ago that I joined the combined federal and Ontario provincial liberal parties. There was a liberal government in Ottawa and a conservative government in Ontario.  The attitude was that all the party needed was a good leader in Ontario and all would come together.

I found out that it was not that simple. While Ontario voters do not always differentiate between the federal and provincial levels of politics, they are known to show different attitudes depending on many factors.

I was deeply involved in leadership contests in my early days with the party and later on I organized a few. They were always delegated conventions in those days. There were more than 75,000 paid-up Ontario members and there was no venue that could hold that number. We had to settle for delegated conventions.

The largest of those conventions was the federal party convention in Ottawa that ultimately chose Pierre Trudeau in 1968. Of course, in my usual contrariness, I was working for second place candidate Robert Winters. I spent two months working in the labyrinth under the old Skyline Hotel.

Today it is possible to have every party member vote. Hopefully not in a ranked ballot. We need to think between ballots. We need the best candidate to win, not just the least offensive. The Ontario liberals need strong leadership and there are some good possibilities in the offing.

And we have time to choose a new federal leader. Justin Trudeau’s day is done. It is time for him to wipe off the grease paint and retire to the back benches.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Lament for Losing Liberals.

by Peter Lowry

Canada has now had ten years of Justin Trudeau and his version of liberalism. It is ten years since he assumed the leadership of the liberal party of Canada and set about changing the party to suit his purposes. It is now but a fraction of its former self and unprepared to meet the challenges of an election.

But Justin Trudeau, with his ego, clings to power. He makes a bad deal with the new democrats to stay in the prime minister’s office. Yet he has little of the real liberal party left to support him. It used to be a party active and prepared to meet the challenges of winning.

Trudeau is looking at his major opponent and saying I can beat this person. That might be true if they ran against each other in one electoral district. Elections in Canada require strong, organized, committed support in every riding. They need candidates who can put their commitment and strengths before the voters. They need dedicated teams to support them. They need to raise funds for the campaign. They needed writers to help put the campaign concerns in local riding terms. Every riding needs experienced leaders and workers for the ground game. They need to know how to get out the vote.

But no. Mr. Trudeau abuses his listed supporters with endless requests for money for the central party. Nobody seems to care for the needs of the individual electoral district. Do they have volunteers, trained and ready? Nobody seems to care. Are the party people in the riding active in community affairs? Are they recruiting liberal-minded supporters? Are they encouraging potential candidates?

The liberal party has a leader who thinks he can put on an act for the voters, take a selfie with them and win their support. We have an elitist leader who leaves the party to his henchmen, who know little about the party they are supposed to be leading.

Justin Trudeau is but an actor. He pales in comparison to his father who saw the potential for Canada in a turbulent world. The younger Trudeau enables the bigotry and sedition of Quebec. He buys the Alberta cowboys a $22 billion pipeline and then says he is helping save our planet.

Mr. Trudeau should resign before he completely destroys the party of his father.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Arguing About Alcohol.

by Peter Lowry

Luckily, I am aware of some of the problems in medical research. At one time I was signing cheques for medical research in the millions of dollars. This was for research in Canada related to Multiple Sclerosis. If a responsible researcher had a valid study, they knew that the proposal would still have to be approved by rigorous review by an expert panel as well as being checked out against research, already being done around the world. I often sat in on these meetings, when president of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.

I mention this subject in the public interest. There was some research done recently that stated baldly that alcohol is not good for you. I assumed, at first, that they were saying that excessive use might be bad for you. Yes, excessive use of alcohol can even make you fall down. And when you fall down you can hurt yourself.

But, to my surprise, this research actually said that any or all booze was bad. It caused some rude words from my wife when I (jokingly) hesitated at opening the bar later that day. She wanted her Scotch and soda.

And we were not about to ban booze in our home because of just one study. I was always a fan of the studies that said a glass of wine was good for the stomach.  

I remember one time talking to a lady who worked for a well-known Gin distiller. She was appalled when I said that I liked her gin for my summer glass of gin and tonic. She told me that her gin was the best and purest but that tonic was bad for me. She never did tell me what she thought about the slice of lime and ice cubes.

I was surprised when I found out that this recent study was based on 107 studies done over the last 40 years. It tended to debunk the theory that a couple glasses of wine a day was healthy. This one study has debunked them all. The problem is that there were far too many factors in daily living that influence our longevity. But, it is disappointing to report that instead of sitting at the computer writing these blogs, I should be out doing a daily five-kilo run. I should also be eating more green veggies. I think when you have lived to my age, I must be doing something right. I think it is possible I have chosen good doctors. Ones that don’t nag about your alcohol intake or eating your veggies.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Buying the Right Polls.

by Peter Lowry

It seems to be the way you ask the questions that determines your answers. You can sure be surprised by the different answers that public opinion polls can produce. I was seeing this conflict in polls related to questions about privatized health care. Canadians have very mixed attitudes about the subject.

But before getting into the polling questions, it is only Quebec, Ontario and Saskatchewan that have mistreated their health care system to the point that they are considering privatized services. What they have told us is that all expense incurred at private clinics will be billed to the province. And we know that is B.S.

I can only reference Ontario in this but the private clinics and surgeries presently active in Ontario are rife with options and upgrades in service. While provided through hospitals, Ontario ophthalmologists have been profiting from upgraded lenses and other ‘extras’ for many years now. Even the Shouldice Hernia Hospital in Thornhill, Ontario, that was grandfathered into Ontario’s Medicare, has extras that some private insurers will pay for but not the province.

This subject occurred to me in reading another news release from the right-wing Montreal Economic Institute. MEI was, of course, shouting praise for seven out of ten Quebec residents supporting privatized health care. First you destroy the confidence people had for their healthcare delivery—and then you throw them a lifeline such as privatization. Why are you not surprised that some 70 per cent of respondents in Quebec will take whatever is offered. Mind you, the same survey said that only six in ten across Canada agreed with the Quebec results.

My personal antenna says that more Canadians are in favour of Medicare than are really in favour of privatized medicine as practiced in the United States. The reality is that most Canadians think the government should pay all the medical and dental bills rather than any of it come direct from their wallet. I know from some personal experience that there are limitations to the government service and payments in Alberta and British Columbia and Ontario is a disaster under the Ford conservatives.

They discouraged our nurses from staying in the profession during the pandemic by passing a law saying they could only have a one per cent raise in any one year. They further mistreated our hospital employees, and locked down their budgets when so much more was needed. We have been paying the price for their penny pinching. Even the minister of health refused to run again last year for the conservatives.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

What About Ontario, Justin?

by Peter Lowry

No doubt many Canadians were pleased to hear that prime minister Trudeau had criticized prime minister Netanyahu of Israel for the attack on the holiest of Muslim mosques. It was particularly heinous in that it was during Ramadan, a major time of worship for the world’s Muslims.

The right-wing Israeli prime minister has already been under siege by Canada’s foreign affairs minister and the prime minister for his attempting to take away the independence of the Israeli courts.

Yet little has been said about the similar attempt by the Ontario government to politicize the Ontario superior court of justice.

Maybe nobody has told the feds that the Ontario attorney general has told the Ontario superior court of justice that he wants a larger number of applicants from which to choose. He is actually understood to have said, he wants to choose someone who is like himself.

And that is a very sad thought. The attorney general is my member of the provincial parliament (MPP) and in that position alone, I consider him useless. I don’t even know if he is ever in the riding other than when his limousine drives through Barrie on Hwy 400 on his way home to Severn.

He was the go-to guy in Severn, Ontario for the conservatives and a small-town councillor in Orillia. He is, at best, a ward healer. He was Mr. Ford’s second choice for attorney general after he found out that Caroline Mulroney was not allowed to practice law in Ontario.

But back to Israel. Mr. Trudeau said that Canadians were deeply concerned by the direction the Netanyahu government was taking. Sending Israelis into the Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan was the height of disrespect. Our prime minister also expressed solidarity with the huge number of Israelis demonstrating against the attempt by their prime minister to politicize their senior judges.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

‘Send in The Clowns.’

by Peter Lowry

There is a sad feeling to Stephen Soundheim’s haunting ballad “Send in the Clowns.” It also has a special meaning to me when dealing with the also rans in elections. They are a sad lot. They get little respect and few votes. And yet, you can not talk them out of it. It might be just a dream but it is their time in the sun.

The reminder of this category in the current mayoralty by-election in Toronto came the other day when Celina Caesar-Chavannes, former member of parliament from Whitby threw her bonnet into the by-election. She was reported as being candidate number 29. Anyone who has tried to read her book on her experience in Ottawa is rather unlikely to see any merit in putting her in the Toronto mayor’s chair.

While the 2015 federal election was an easy time for liberals to get elected, the sunshine did not last for the next four years. Ms. Caesar-Chavannes did not realize that the role of the parliamentary secretary for prime minister Trudeau was similar to American vice presidents, to be seen and not heard. It was obvious that it was not the treatment she was prepared for. She did not last in federal politics.

Nor is there likely to be a future for her in Toronto city politics. With no municipal experience, she might not be fully prepared for the demands of the mayor’s office in a city the size of Toronto. It might not be her cup of tea either.

Some time in the next month, the media are going to decide who the top three or four might be and give them the close attention. While they will list the others there is no way they can waste much time or space to help them promote their hopes.

In my last mayoralty campaign I was asked to manage the ground game. This involved the training of volunteers, directing their canvassing for the candidate and also supporting the candidate’s canvas—making sure that he was seen canvassing in every key part of the city. The bad news I found was that the city had few experienced canvassers and the canvassers I had were from all three political parties. I had the embarrassing situation of conservatives calling me during the subsequent federal campaign thanking me for the training. One of my best pupils used my advice to help a conservative win one of the two city electoral districts.

Another difficulty with that last campaign was the feeling of tension from the out of town campaign manager who knew how to spend money but not strategically. I was there one time when he and the candidate were discussing numbers and that is part of the ground game planning. He told the candidate that 10 to 15 per cent of votes would go to the bottom three also-ran candidates. If he had looked closer at his own polls, he would have known as I did, that those bottom three would not garner three per cent of the vote. He made the mistake of saying I was wrong. He would only put ten dollars on it but I took great delight in claiming the ten bucks at the victory party for our team.

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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]