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

Run-off Elections are Best.

by Peter Lowry

An acquaintance was berating me the other day for preferring first-past-the-post voting. The truth is though that I would really prefer run-off elections in every electoral district where needed. It would be simple and cost less than it does now if people learn to trust computer voting.

In any electoral district where a candidate has more than 50 per cent of the votes cast, you have a winner. In ridings where no candidate achieves 50 per cent, you have a run-off election a week later between the top two vote getters.

The first thing you have achieved is a politician is elected who represents the majority vote from your electoral district. They represent you—not just their party. They answer to you when the next election is called.

And I cannot emphasize enough the value of having someone representing you and your community in parliament or the legislature. It is the tension created by the possible conflict between the wants of the voters and the wants of the party. For too long now we have been witnessing the actions of parties that put political dogma ahead of their concern for the citizens.

All these various types of proportional representation are based on putting people into power who are not elected. These people sit in judgement of us without our agreement. They answer only to the leader of their party. I think people are damn fools if they want to give party leaders that much power.

There is a different problem with preferential voting. When there are just two or three candidates, you often find there is little difference from first-past-the-post voting. When there are many candidates, you reach a point where people have no knowledge of some of the candidates and yet think they have to rate them as to preference. What, in effect, happens is that the voting drills down to what might be the least objectionable candidate—without really knowing much about the individual.

It should be noted that a properly managed string of hundreds of secure computers would be needed for a national Internet vote. There are more than just a few ways of encrypting the network to ensure that any hackers are wasting their time.

And we can also count on reducing the costs by limiting voting to our phones and computers, as well as at libraries and government offices.

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Pierre Poilievre Pivots.

by Peter Lowry

Canadians laughed at Prime Minister Mackenzie King during the Second World War when he said “Conscription, if necessary…but not necessarily conscription.” Any serious student of Canadian politics understands what the old fakir was saying. In order to govern Canada, you have to have it both ways. And those divergent paths are those of Quebec and the rest of Canada.

And we see the evidence today of the continued vacillating. It is like the fan that moves in an arc to broaden its range of moving the air. It is a political tactic that is practised by many a politician. Take MP Pierre Poilievre…please.

Poilievre must have learned his French from his adoptive parents. In the French-language debate the other evening, he decided he was in favour of Bill 21—the Quebec law banning religious symbols on people of authority. While he had previously been opposed, he changed his mind when speaking mainly to Quebec voters.

There is nothing wrong with a politician changing their mind. It is less honourable when the only reason for the change is on which side of the Ottawa river you are speaking. This was the wrong time to pivot. Especially when opponents such as Jean Charest and Patrick Brown were there to comment.

(By the way, Patrick Brown has obviously been working on his French. Now, why do you think the mayor of Brampton, Ontario needs to brush up his French? He might just be plotting his return to Ottawa in support of his old friend Jean Charest.)

But it was Poilievre’s turn to be pilloried for his inconsistency. It is hardly likely that anyone really knows where Poilievre will end up on any issue. Anyone who seeks the approval of law-breaking convoy thugs, challenges the freedom of the governor of the Bank of Canada, belittles our Canadian currency does seem to be at odds with what Canadians understand as conservatism.

Maybe he got his strategy and tactics from Donald Trump in the United States. Trump has a peculiar distaste for truth. We can hardly expect Poilievre to waste his time with it.

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

America Bleeds.

by Peter Lowry

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.” Watching that hard-luck hypocrite, the governor of Texas blathering about the events in Uvalde, Texas, I thought of William Shakespeare’s Henry V. The only difference is that Shakespeare understood honour. Honour is what the State of Texas lacks.

And why must American states keep killing their children to prove their fealty to the gun nuts? Must the enemies that they imagine take precedence over their real enemies? And must American President Joe Biden only ask: “Why”?

In a nation reputed to have more guns than citizens, the National Rifle Association (NRA) rules. Is a second civil war in the offing to decide the issue?

And, yes, you can take guns away from the crazies. How difficult can it be when your enemy champions its leader, the liar Donald Trump? Does the liar lead his troops to battle? Or will the followers of Trump continue to be but a rump, sacrificing their innocent children to the gods of war?

Is Biden afraid of angering these fools? Is he but an old rooster scratching and seeking seeds of approval from the hen house? Is Congress so trapped in left and right ideology that no compromise or compassion is possible. Can they not agree, at least, to saving the children?

And cannot Americans live in harmony, with peace between the shades of black and white, white and brown, brown and yellow, yellow and red?

And will the racists continue to rampage? If you kill your brother, it is fratricide, if you kill your mother, it is matricide. And do you know what they call people who kill children? The word is ‘coward.’ Children must be the only ones who don’t shoot back.

But any place where people gather is vulnerable. When they gather in church, synagogue or temple. Who takes a gun there? Or how about going grocery shopping? That is even dangerous in Buffalo, New York. Is no one safe from this butchery?

And one final comment: That despicable governor of Texas can aid and abet murderers with the easiest gun laws in America. America has only the court of public opinion to try that fool.

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

This Campaign Sucks.

by Peter Lowry

The current election campaign in Ontario should go down as the worst campaign in the province’s history. I told liberal leader Steven Del Duca that a 15-day campaign was not to his advantage. At first, he did not understand what I was saying, and then, if he did understand, he ignored me.

I had never heard of an election wherein all voters could casually cast their ballots just 15 days after the election is called. And who do you think benefits from such a scenario? If you are a blowhard and an unreliable schmuck like Doug Ford, the less time people have to think the better.

But who is the bigger fool than the guy who has stayed out of the legislature in his first two years of being party leader? Does Del Duca think he is going to be better known in just 15 days? The truth is that people could actually go to the riding returning office and vote on the day after the writ but few take advantage of that. They usually just take away a mail-in ballot and hope it arrives on time.  

The wife and I had a very pleasant visit to the polls on Queen Victoria’s holiday. We chatted for a while with the staff. Business was slow. The poll clerks enjoyed having visitors. And, quite honestly, I don’t know what to make of the slowness of the voting. Are people disinterested in the election or are they too fixed in the habit of voting on the official voting day?

But what really concerns me are the biases and the inadequacies of our Ontario news media. And there is no point in complaining to the CRTC about the biased broadcast media. I was told by the CRTC minions that they only pay attention if all political comment during the campaign by that licensed outlet can be shown to be biased.

Lately I have been more concerned about the Toronto Star and all its little grocery-flyer deliverers around the province. I have had the feeling for some time now that the Star has dispensed with experienced news editors. The new owners and their lawyer seem to think a newspaper should be full of long-winded opinion pieces.

By way of example, on Tuesday this week, there was one news item and two opinion pieces on page one, with lengthy carries in the inner pages of the section. One of the opinions pieces was by the Star’s Martin Regg Cohn. Regg Cohn’s opinion piece on Doug Ford read more like hero worship than a fair discussion of Ford, the quality of his leadership and his campaign tactics.

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Legault’s Gestapo.

by Peter Lowry

History has a slower pace in Canada’s Quebec Province. Old wounds are often rubbed raw as the shibboleths of long ago, such as Duplessis’ Padlock Law, are repeatedly turned against minorities. And the hounds of l’office Québécois de la langue française are to be loosed on business large and small under an oppressive Bill 96.

In Bill 96, Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms is brushed aside with the use of the ‘Not Withstanding’ clause. If the National Assembly did not know that their proposed law was contrary to the rights and freedoms of Canadians, why else would they use the clause?

Legault’s government in Quebec has its own Gestapo ready pounce on the unwary firm that defies the purity of the French language. Like the “Racial Purity Act” of Germany of 1933, the law in Quebec has its language police who will not only determine who speaks French, and what is correct French and what is the forbidden anglicised French.

You can assume that you no longer can say “Le weekend.” And I guess, “Le hot-dog” is verboten. It is ignored that these terms are common in Parisian French. The Quebec version of French must be locked somewhere in the last 300 years. And, for gosh sake, don’t label your small store in Quebec as “The Olde Shoppe.” Let the tourists figure it out for themselves.

The most invasive part of Bill 96 is the provision of search and seizure, without cause or warrant, by these language police. You can bet a lot of long-standing piques are being satisfied as Bill 96 becomes law in Quebec.

It is not as though the Legault government has not been advised of the draconian nature of the bill. They know that the anglophones and allophones are angry and the politicians are laughing. They know that they will win nothing where the anglophones and allophones reside. They win without those seats. They just want their traditional voters to hang with them. That is all they need.

But they also annoy the rest of us. Canada is a country that wants to be an example to the world of racial and language harmony. People seeking sanctuary, or seeking peace or acceptance can find it here in Canada. Maybe not in Legault’s Quebec. Don’t dare be different there.

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Kenney’s Comeuppance.

by Peter Lowry

Jason Kenney is leaving the building. He is a political has been. I first noticed him in 2007 when he was a parliamentary secretary to prime minister Stephen Harper. Harper promoted him to secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity and then I paid attention.

What I soon realized was that he had found a much easier way to promote political involvement with ethnic groups than I had faced 30 years earlier. I had often thought you could do much more with money, position and staff.

While I made fun of Kenney—referring to him as one of the Bobbsey Twins—you had to admit that two fat and forty bachelors such as John Baird and Jason Kenney in a conservative cabinet—were something of an anomaly. Not that I gave a damn about their sexual orientation but it did not take long when Kenney went back to Alberta that there were complaints about him being a misogynist.

What concerned me most in the Harper years, was that Kenney was digging hard at a lot of votes that traditionally went to the liberals. I hardly wanted to see Harper in power any longer.

Kenney also fell into the category of politician I have come to despise. He is a career politician. I tend to have more respect for the person who builds a successful career in the private sector before turning their attention to politics.

All I knew when Harper was finally defeated in 2015 was that Kenney had lots of options. When he got the ten-gallon Stetson, the blue pick-up and the fat-boy jeans, I knew there was trouble in the offing for Alberta. I knew for sure that eventually, he would unite the right in Alberta against him.

And I knew Alberta was not the Calgary he knew. There is even a difference between the oil barons of Calgary and Edmonton. And there is a good reason why the University of Alberta in Edmonton is more respected than the University of Calgary. Calgary is the most Americanized city in Canada and the easterners who came west to work the oil and pipelines were another breed entirely. Kenney was defeated by a pandemic he did not understand and people, he came to dislike.

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Be Careful What You Wish For.

by Peter Lowry

We are often berated by people who favour proportional representation as opposed to the first-past-the-post voting we use today. They think proportional representation would be better. Well, they are wrong.

The reason that much of the world still uses proportional representation is because many of their voters are illiterate. They cannot vote for an individual but they can learn to recognize party symbols. And that is what they use to vote. Once the vote is counted, party members from a list are appointed to their governing body according to the party’s percentage of the overall vote.

In our democratically elected parliament and legislatures, we have our own member represent us. And that is something that we should appreciate more than we do. Four years ago, Doug Ford appointed a carpetbagger from a different part of the province to run as my riding’s conservative candidate. People are working hard to make sure that person is not re-elected this time. He spent little to no time in the riding. He ignored our needs. He did not represent us.

He is hoping there are enough people in the riding who always vote conservative. Maybe their parents voted conservative before them. Yet, to ignore the opportunity to ensure that the best qualified person represents us is a stupid thing. Why would anyone not want a good representative?

Good representatives are needed on both the government and the opposition side of the house. Good representatives, on the government side, take our opinions into account when planning legislation. Good representatives, on the opposition side, propose amendments important to us. They are not just there to carp or complain. They also have a constructive role.

The Toronto Star had an editorial the other day complaining about a couple of conservative candidates who refused to debate with their opponents. They were told not to by party headquarters. Maybe you agree with the final paragraph of the editorial:

“Candidates so deferential to their bosses, so willing to short-change the people of their ridings, are a discredit to democracy and an embarrassment to themselves.”

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Ford’s Frolic.

by Peter Lowry

If you want to frolic with an elephant, now’s your chance. It is the beast snickering behind you as you cast your ballot. Sure, you can vote for Doug Ford and his cronies. They are using you, as you think you are using them.

But that defiance on your part—that vote for Ford’s cabal—is not going to solve your issues. You think your vote is going to stick it up the backside of the man? Yet the only backside that will feel it is yours.

We have just come through the worst of a world-wide pandemic. There is the danger of a world war in the offing in Europe. Inflation is rampant everywhere and there is no easy fix for it. We can all visualize the fat cats in their office towers getting rich on their profiteering and our suffering.

But do you really want someone as ignorant as Ford to help you get even?

Doug Ford is there for Doug Ford, not for you. He has no time for you if you elect him and his cronies again. Ford is a fraud.

Maybe we can get his sticker company to print labels you can wear saying: “I’ve been screwed by Doug Ford.”

And you best keep that job you’ve got. There are two sides to an inflationary cycle. The second side is all downhill. Ford has already screwed all the destitute people on ODSP and Ontario Works. He cut those programs back four years ago. You might not have noticed. The food banks were all closing during the pandemic. You might not have noticed. On the downside, you are going to discover the truth of that “screwed” sticker.

Doug Ford wants to pave his way across the farmlands and wetlands of Ontario with superhighways you do not need. He is doing it for his developer friends. They know how to show appreciation to a politician.

Mind you, he has already told you what you will get for voting for him. He thinks your vote is worth five cents. And that is what he says he will take off the Ontario tax on gasoline—if you vote for him.

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

The Death of Conservatism.

by Peter Lowry

It dies with a whimper, not a scream. It collapses from within. It was unwieldy at the best of times. It never was the big tent in which few believed. It dies in Alberta as it does across the country.  Ottawa area MP Pierre Poilievre has crafted a eulogy.

When Poilievre embraced the “convoy to Ottawa” in the winter, it was the death knell. He picked the wrong side. When Jason Kenney found he could not control the far right, his days were numbered. The rift in the supposedly united conservatives in Alberta was down the middle. Even in Ontario, the pegs of the big tent have been pulled on populist Doug Ford and the wind is rising.

The annual federal conservative leadership contest is mired in Pierre Poilievre’s poison of the blame game. The divide between Jean Charest and Poilievre is too wide for one party. Leslyn Lewis and the also-rans stand apart as background to the game being played. Rancour rules and Patrick Brown’s legions of the sub-continent’s diaspora wonder in what farce they have signed conservative party memberships.

Ontario has started to vote and we find the progressive conservatives of our history and gentler times have passed on. Instead, we have the selfishness and uncaring of a rapacious cabal, calling themselves ‘conservative,’ seeking our votes. An ignorant Doug Ford said repeatedly on the province’s leaders’ debate the other day that he thinks the purpose of education is to get “good jobs.” This man who has been controlling billions earmarked for education in this province is obviously ignorant of the purpose of our education system.

It is really too bad that Mr. Ford only attended school long enough to want to be a sticker salesman. Many more of us want to be part of a better society. While knowledge is always very useful, we want education that encourages our children to use the power of their minds to learn, to analyze, to plan, to socialize and to care.

At least, in Ontario today, we have recourse. We have two choices. We can vote the Ford’s uncaring cabal out of office or we can suffer the consequences.

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Vote a better Ontario.

by Peter Lowry

People are already voting in Ontario. And I can assure you, it is far more convenient to vote in the ten days of advance polls than to get in line with the laggards on June 2. And I am sticking to my morning line predictions. I think Doug Ford will be unable to win a majority.

Women are making the difference. They really dislike Doug Ford. They see him as a buffoon. Nurses hate him. Teachers abhor him. And in the confidentiality of the polling booth, Ford’s fate will be determined.

We have to disagree with those who are waiting for Ford to defeat himself. He already has. His health minister is quitting and that is no surprise. Working for that buffoon would not be fun. Ford failed to follow the science from the beginning of the pandemic. The fact that the coronavirus is still taking a high toll in Ontario is because of the lack of leadership from Queen’s Park.

Our young people have suffered enough under a regime that would put private school people in charge of education in this province. Our children have suffered. Computer programs cannot replace a teacher’s guidance. Computers are never a solution to socialization.

Even the lock downs were a disaster. Ford asked Ontario to stay away from their Muskoka cottages and then went himself. He does not think. He doesn’t care about us. He is a self-centered bully and braggard.

He wants your vote! And you know why. He wants to spend $10 billion of our money building highway 413. The fact that the highway is hardly needed seems to be beside the point. He wants it so his developer supporters can make money building over-priced cookie-cutter homes around the highway interchanges that used to be productive farmland.

My feeling is that Ford will not cruise to a majority. A majority after June 2 is hardly likely. What is more likely to happen is that the liberals, new democrats and greens are going to have to step up and say we can work together and do a better job. It will take a lot of cooperation but we could have better government for the next four years. We need the liberals for their experience, the NDP for their drive and the greens for their concern for the environment. Give it a try, we might like it.

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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]