Babel-on-the-Bay – Page 389 – Babel-on-the-Bay is the personal website of Peter Lowry. It is a vehicle for political commentaries.

Joyce Murray MP has odd statistics.

March 7, 2013 by Peter Lowry

Where do these statistics come from? In the Halifax debate between the Liberal leadership candidates, MP Joyce Murray said that two-thirds of Canadians want proportional representation. That is an unlikely figure.

It is very surprising when you consider that Ontario voters rejected proportional representation by about two to one in 2007. And British Columbia voters rejected a change from first-past-the-post voting twice in referendums. As writer who follows voting systems and trends very closely, we can assure you that there has been no groundswell of support for proportional voting systems or proportional representation.

This blog cheered MP Joyce Murray when she first proposed change in our voting system as it showed a willingness to change. We need that kind of open mindedness in Canada. We need to be willing to examine our shibboleths—those things that distinguish us as Canadians. We also need to open our constitution to the realities of the 21^st Century.

How we vote and choose our governments is part of a much large series of questions. To change the way we vote without addressing the underlying institutions would be a very foolish and careless approach. MP Justin Trudeau was quite right when he told Joyce that proportional representation actually increases political partisanship.

You need to remember that proportional representation was developed for voting by people who were mainly illiterate. They were influenced to vote for a party symbol that they could understand. It was a step towards democracy but in no way did it resemble the depth of direct democracy that we enjoy in North America. We have learned that direct democracy means that you select the actual people who represent you. That is a giant step forward from just voting for a political party.

One of the great disappointments in politics in Canada is the number of people who vote for a leader without considering the qualifications of the actual candidate in their electoral district. We have too many members in parliament today who are not making a contribution. They are not speaking to the issues, they are not contributing ideas, they are just voting the way their party leader tells them. To willingly increase that type of representation in parliament would be an ignorant and destructive step.

Yes, Canadians need to look into change. We need to re-evaluate our institutions. Nothing should be done though in isolation. It is all part of our future and everybody has to have a voice in building that future.

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Let’s let Timmy have his election.

March 6, 2013 by Peter Lowry

Ontario Conservative Leader Tim Hudak wants a provincial election and everyone seems to be advising him against it. Actually it might be a good idea. With the three major provincial parties at a virtual tie in the public opinion polls, a volatile minority legislature and the economic pressures facing Ontario, we really need to make up our minds. This province needs stability, leadership, vision and jobs and an election would be well worth the cost.

There is no question that the Tory’s Tiny Tim has reached his ‘best before’ date and by having an election, the voters could help the Conservative Party get rid of him. While he has a hard core of supporters for his politics of division, he will make the more progressive voters think carefully about their vote. There are more than enough serious voters in Ontario who remember the days of Hudak’s mentor Michael Harris and that is more than enough to get them working against Timmy.

And the voters also have to make a decision about Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne. She is a premier without a mandate from the voters. After that mish-mash of a throne speech she foisted on the public and an upcoming budget that promises little, she needs road testing. Ontario has to understand where she is going. If she really wants to make the deficit an objective, we might as well elect Timmy. At least with him, you know he will attack the deficit and everyone else he hurts will just be collateral damage.

If Wynne is as progressive as some say she is, it is damn well about time we heard what she is progressive about. And sexual orientation counts for nothing.

What everyone needs to look out for is the third party in this legislative ménage à trois. Those few points difference in telephone coincidental polling are meaningless. There are three parties in this race and best you do not forget it.

While nobody has high expectations of New Democratic Leader Andrea Horwath, she could be the safety valve for the voters who are sick of Conservative and Liberal lectures on the economy while doing nothing. If she actually came out with a plan that made sense to the voters, there could be trouble for both Hudak and Wynne.

And yes, elections cost money. We pay it to ourselves. It keeps the economy working. We need this election.

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Pipeline battle is a war of words.

March 5, 2013 by Peter Lowry

The escalating public relations war on pipeline naysayers has certainly won adherents. Just last evening, we were treated to Global’s regular 6:30 pm (EST) national news program coming to us from Calgary that was an unabashed commercial for the tar sands producers. And this morning we note that the Toronto Star editors have been visited by a coterie of Enbridge crusaders reassuring Ontario of their good intentions in reversing Enbridge Line 9 to send bitumen slurry through Toronto and across Southern Ontario. It is a clever quiver of words they use to carry their message.

The Enbridge experts have realized that Ontario motorists (most of us) are pissed about being gouged on the price of gasoline at the pumps. They tell the Star editors that the solution to this is to have Ontario and Quebec refineries use cheaper oil from bitumen. If the Toronto Star editors buy that story, they might also be interested in some swamp land you have for sale.

Up front, industry experts know that the eastern pipeline reversal plan is a way of getting bitumen slurry from the tar sands to Saint John, New Brunswick and Portland, Maine where it can be loaded into tankers. The slurry can then be shipped to countries that do not care about the increased damage to the environment in making synthetic oil out of the bitumen.

What these wonderful people from Enbridge seem to forget to mention is that Enbridge Pipeline 9 is an old pipeline that was designed to carry normal foreign crude to the refineries at Nanticoke and Sarnia from the east coast. To run bitumen slurry through the system, it has to be heated to higher temperatures and pushed through at a greater pressure. When we find the weak points in that pipeline, we will certainly hear about it—as well as smell it and live with it. Nobody can assure us of 100 per cent safety and reliability of the line.

These public relations people from Enbridge are about as subtle as a crutch. One of them is quoted by the Toronto Star as saying it is in the interest of Ontario drivers to keep the Montreal area refineries in business. One suspects that if they had to, the Montreal refineries could—at greater cost and much higher carbon emissions—process the bitumen from Alberta. They would certainly not want to pay world prices for it.

The good news is that some members of Toronto City Council have heard about this pipeline change. They also realize that it runs across the city. The fact that it crosses the two main water courses and could foul Toronto’s drinking water has also been noted. Maybe they will do something about this. The Toronto Star does not seem to be worried.

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Lines in the sand disappear with the tides.

March 4, 2013 by Peter Lowry

Timing is everything. After the stock market closes on Friday is a good time for bad news. It is also a good time for questions for which there is no rush for answers. For government it is a good time for making announcements on which you do not want serious questions. These were recurring thoughts on the weekend when considering provincial matters. New Democrat leader Andrea Horwath gave the news media the weekend to harry the Wynne government on lowering automobile insurance rates.

Andrea drew a line in the sand on Friday: You shall lower insurance rates by 15 per cent or face an election. It is unlikely that the demand will seem as serious today (Monday). The problem for Andrea is that the auto insurance football is badly worn and tattered over time and no longer has the bounce and interest that it once held.

Her biggest problem with it is that the new bosses of the auto insurance game in Ontario are the big banks. They are a federally protected preserve and provincial politicians screw with them at their peril.

And sure, the banks can lower the premium rates if you tell them. They will also tell you that what they lose on the swings, they will gain on the roundabouts or something like that. What you have to remember is that the banks have you coming and going and they never lose money.

Look at the last time there was a directed drop in insurance premiums in Ontario. What was done at the same time was a government directed drop in coverage. You ended up getting what you paid for. And it was not happy news for many motorists.

The answer from any insurance expert is that Ontario first has to solve the problem of insurance fraud. It is hard to believe the figures they quote but we can all understand the difference in price between an insurance job and a private citizen’s job at a repair shop. Due diligence on behalf of your bank account should save you at least half the cost of that fender bender. As well, dealing in cash and being recommended by a member of the repair shop boss’ church can sometimes save the HST as well.

The complexities of the problems with auto insurance are not going to be solved overnight. The Ontario government certainly has no King Solomon on staff to solve these types of problems.

But Andrea is hardly wasting her time. She knew that auto insurance is always good for a shot. All she really needs is some new writers and a smarter brain trust. She would then be a problem.

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Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Deborah Coyne: good try, goodbye.

March 3, 2013 by Peter Lowry

Maybe there is a bit of nostalgia in kicking Deborah Coyne off the leadership island but it is the time to do it. The Halifax debate today was the second last debate before voting starts for the federal Liberal leadership. It is time for more house cleaning. In this debate Deborah kept reminding us of the final days of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker. It must have been the way she referred to her approach to ‘One Canada.’

Unlike ‘Dief the Chief’ of old, the Liberal Party does learn. It did a good job (we think) on this fourth debate. The only qualification is that we lost about 15 minutes of activity starting just before one pm and we have no way of knowing whether it was the Internet feed from Halifax or just our computer acting tired. What made no sense was that when we got back on Liberal.ca, the show wanted to restart at the beginning. Maybe by the time of the last of these shows, we will find a television channel we can get carrying it.

It also helped in the Halifax show that most of the candidates were on their toes and looking more like contenders. It is amazing to see how much MP Justin Trudeau has improved. He is inclusive and serious when he offers viewers the opportunity to share their hopes and dreams for Canada with his leadership. There were no gaffs on his part or unwarranted attacks by others.

Oh sure, MP Marc Garneau took a few friendly swipes at his friend Justin but you knew that the two were just trying to add to the show. His remarks about leadership not being an entry-level position were telling but hardly malicious. Marc has lost his previous stiffness during this campaign and he was certainly homey in identifying with the Halifax audience. He was just another sailor, home from the unfriendly seas.

Former MP Martha Hall Findlay has been in a tenuous position in the contest but she has come back well from her error in criticizing Justin’s wealth. She even had good comeback for Marc Garneau when he equated the countdown for the show to lift-off for space travel. She pointed out that she had something similar when having three babies. Her only error was in closing when she once again tried to go back to something earlier in the show. If she had better advisors (or listened to them) she would have been told firmly that this is a no-no in a debating situation. You should always move forward.

It was MP Joyce Murray who seemed off her form today. She did not handle the attacks on her cooperation with the NDP well and she seemed to be losing the argument by default. She was also fighting the next election against Stephen Harper instead of looking at the directions of the Liberal Party.

But well done Halifax. You did a great job!

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Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Liberals need to review, renew and change.

March 2, 2013 by Peter Lowry

Maybe federal Liberal Party members have been looking at the 21^st Century from the wrong end of the telescope. Are they being fretful and small minded at a time of wide-open opportunity? Is this current contest just another foolish exercise in personality leadership? What is it that we are doing wrong?

One of the questions we have been asking contenders on their travels through Babel is how they describe a Liberal. Frankly, most have no idea. Martha Hall Findlay actually used the words ‘Liberals are good managers.’ At a time when they have an opportunity to meet and talk with Liberals about their party, these people have been routinely testing their election speeches damning Harper’s Conservatives. It is the only thing they know about. They have never been questioned on their liberalism.

To be honest, the public could care less about the polemics—the philosophy behind our political actions. Not many Canadians would be interested in the party’s idealism. They understand actions. You have to go directly to the hoped for results of your proposals.

Prime Minister Kim Campbell had it right in 1993 when the media claimed that she said an election was no time to discuss serious issues. That was not exactly what she said but the truth is that if you do try to discuss serious issues, you risk a great deal. Unless you frame the discussion very carefully, you have absolutely no idea how the media will handle it. Kim Campbell ended up that election without a seat in parliament for herself or for another 153 former Progressive Conservative MPs.

That was, in effect, the end of the Progressive Conservative Party. Within ten years the Canadian Alliance/Reform Party and the remaining Progressive Conservatives had united as the Conservative Party of Canada. They may have waved a Conservative banner but it was the same old wild-eyed Reformers.

You would think that when the Liberal Party came out of the 2011 federal election in third place, that it was time for review, renewal and change. You would think the party would learn something from the experience.

But it seems nothing has changed. MP Joyce Murray appears to be the only leadership contender to even think about where our party is going. Do the other contenders even think? Is MP Justin Trudeau really going to become leader of the Liberal Party without stopping to understand what liberalism is all about and how it applies in the 21^st Century?

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Premier Wynne, have you considered grovelling?

March 1, 2013 by Peter Lowry

Was it only a week ago that the Ontario Liberal government was touting its brilliant solution to the teachers’ failure to do unpaid work? Yes, peace and tranquility had returned to that front. Or so we thought. The problem is that the Ontario government is fighting battles on so many fronts, it is getting hard to say how to solve them all. At least with the teachers, we know that a little grovelling would help.

The basic problem with the teachers is that Kathleen Wynne was there as a Minister of Cabinet when the decision was made to screw the teachers. She cannot claim to have been down the hall primping her hair when the dirty deed was done. And she cannot send this Sandals person to do her grovelling for her. Wynne has to take the hit herself.

It is sad to see it come to this but when you decide to screw your friends it is very different than screwing someone who expects it. Former friends make quite tenacious enemies. Their memories of hurt feelings last a long time. You have a lot of ground to make up. It can be done but you have to be genuinely contrite and you have to rub a lot of salve into those hurt feelings. You might even need a looser purse.

The impasse is such at this time that the Ontario Government is going to have to say: To hell with the deficit, let’s be fair to our friends the teachers. It is also obvious now that teachers’ duties are going to have to be better defined. There are requirements and nice-to-haves. Maybe some things can be traded between columns.

The hardest thing for Kathleen Wynne is to turn on her friend Dalton McGuinty. She should not feel bad about that. He took the bullet when he resigned last fall. He is already toast. If she could just accept the fact, dump on Dalton and go on, she would be much better off.

It is not that Kathleen Wynne is particularly interested in our suggestions but we will throw this one in gratis. You should examine why and how the party made friends with the teachers in the first place. It was not just their mistreatment by the Mike Harris government. Maybe they still bear a grudge from the Rae Days of 17 years ago. Whatever it was, it is something Ontario Liberals have to rebuild.

Do not forget that Tiny Tim Hudak’s hordes are gathering in the hinterlands. They are going to march on Queen’s Park, chop down those damn windmills and return us to the medieval times of half-day kindergarten. The Twenty-first Century never happened!

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Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Babel, by definition, is corrupt.

February 28, 2013 by Peter Lowry

A regular reader of Babel-on-the-Bay admitted the other day that he was not interested when the subject of the day is Babel. He likes the description of Babel as a one-pony town but he claims that it is just not an interesting venue for political discussion. Despising the local Conservative MP is hardly unique in his estimation. He lives in Toronto and he ignores that city council. He probably voted for Rob Ford but he keeps it quiet. What he does not realize is that with his attitude, he is in fact encouraging the corruption of that government.

We have to give a damn. We have to watch what is going on. To give do-nothing assent to incompetence and indolence and chicanery means you will get the corrupt kind of government that you deserve. And in Babel, we have the conditions that breed corruption.

We lack the important safeguards such as a strong and knowledgeable news media. Between the TorStar-owned grocery flier wrap and the poor relation of the Toronto Sun, there might be one and a half real print reporters in this town who are grossly underpaid and expected to spend their time writing obits and editing information on pot-luck suppers and other coming events. The local television station provides secondary runs of shows for the CTV network and the local Rogers cable station seems to have difficulty in distinguishing between reporting news and making news. And what people think of the local radio outlets is best left unsaid.

Well-funded and interested ratepayer associations are key to making citizen voices heard by council. The only effective one in Babel was euchred recently when it failed to support its own candidate in an ill-timed by-election in its ward. It did not even seem to know the business in which the winning candidate was involved.

Citizen participation in council committees can be an important source of two-way communication but not in Babel. Those bringing ideas to the committees or directly to council have their ideas brushed aside without semblance of consideration. Even if the petitioner makes it past council, the city staff will bury the upstart’s ideas forever. One of the really clever ways to manipulate the situation with a really persistent idea is to bring in independent consultants who will report exactly what city staff wants to hear.

Oh yes, you thought that the mayor and council were your voice on council. Not in Babel. The city staff manage this city the way they want, and you should not forget it.

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Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Is there a ‘political memory’?

February 27, 2013 by Peter Lowry

Quebec students are starting their warm-up exercises early this year. Their studies are, of course, important but there is nothing like a good protest to meet members of a sexual persuasion that interests you, to get some healthy outdoor exercise, vent your lungs and to get physical with thugs from the various police forces. And yet it all appears to be instigated by Quebec’s Pequiste Premier Pauline Marois. She seems to be blind to the reason she won the last provincial election.

Are political memories that short? What caused the downfall of former Premier Jean Charest? Was it not the same damn issue? Are not tuition fees in Quebec always the lowest such fees in Canada? And do the students care? They are students. They need little excuse to join the revolution. Any tuition fees annoy them. Any increase in tuition fees is, to them, an act of war. You would think that Pauline Marois would know that.

It reminds you of Bob Rae, now temporary leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, when he was New Democratic Premier of Ontario. He was sitting on the provincial throne looking good until he was convinced that some austerity was in order in the province. He turned to the teachers and other unionized workers in the province and told them to pony up. All he asked them for was for a wage freeze and some unpaid days off. Next thing we knew, a guy named Michael Harris was Premier of Ontario.

And yet there was Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty just a year ago telling the teachers and other unionists that they were going to have to, once again, help Ontario out of its deficit. And when you think of how hard those teachers worked to help Mr. McGuinty get re-elected, it was enough to make you cry. Nobody seems to have a political memory.

And sure, we can sit here in Ontario and laugh at the foolish Pequiste and her problems in Quebec but not for long. We in Ontario have lucked out with an apparently docile student population in this province whose parents have more money than brains. Yah, they want their son or daughter to be a doctor or lawyer or whatever but there is a tipping point on costs and we probably have already passed it.

Tuition rates in Ontario are an outrage. Any history buff can tell you that when students finally get mad, they can become a potent force. Fuck with them at your peril.

And any true liberal knows that individual rights include the right to learning. Our objective should be to eliminate tuition fees. Chew on that for a bit Premier Wynne.

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Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Can the Roman Church discover democracy?

February 26, 2013 by Peter Lowry

Canadian Liberals are experimenting with universal suffrage in selecting the party’s next leader. You too can vote. You do not even have to be a Liberal Party member as long as you are not actively supporting some other political party. We have even heard of people resigning their membership in other parties to join the Liberals in voting. Just think what might happen if the Church of Rome went along with that method? The mind boggles.

Would it hold the promise of never again having the church trying to survive the cloying conservatism of another Pope Benedict? Not likely. Not with what Cardinal Collins of Toronto said to the media who came to see him leave for the Conclave of Cardinals to replace Benedict. He told them that the biggest challenge facing the church in Canada is ‘rampant individualism.’ And can you believe that Collins is one of 118 fusty old men who get to choose the most powerful church leader in the world?

As Canadians, we should get down on our knees and thank some God for all these rampant individualists among us. The ones who fail us and do the most damage are those who quietly leave the church of their childhood but still allow their children to be indoctrinated. They are continuing on a path of failure. It is like driving a car that has a rear view mirror larger than the windshield. There is only a wasted past for such a church.

The Roman Church relies on its numbers and a third world that is still trapped in ignorance. Some in the church see this as a time for an African Pope to be chosen. It is possible that some might appreciate a Pope from a country where women are still traded and treated as cattle. Why would you expect more from a church run by dried up old men with only faint memories of the joys of female companionship?

But then universal suffrage would have its own problems. The Liberal Party in Canada might have already come to the conclusion that it is not the perfect solution. We already have our rock star!

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