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

A Christmas Wish.

by Peter Lowry

Santa might scratch his head if I ask him for this: I want to hear the sounds of leadership throughout our land. And those sounds have to be about the future for Canadians and their beautiful, bountiful country. It is unlikely that anyone will object if elected or unelected liberals, conservatives, NDPers or greens sought out opportunities to speak out about the future our country offers its citizens. It is a big country and a critically important subject.

We desperately need thinkers in politics who can imagine a better future. For example, why does this country not think about small nuclear reactors to help open our near arctic lands to livability and productivity and the development of resources?  Why are we not replacing some of those highly polluting jet airliners with high-speed electric trains across the country? Why are we talking of restoring what is past, when we could have an enriched future?

No doubt, even Santa would remind us that we are still in the midst of a pandemic. We all know that. It is just that we have to see beyond. Who, but only an idiot, would suggest that Canada should go back to things as they were before?

It is obvious to Canadians that their future is in the East and the West and the North. The Biden administration in the United States is proving to be another downhill ride for our relationship to the South. That country has its own problems. It is time our politicians stopped whining about the U.S. ignoring us. With some leadership, we can solve our own problems.

Canadians have no wish to be looked down on in the same way as Americans treat Mexicans. We hardly want to be sycophants, singing from the same shallow foreign affairs song book as the Americans. We made a deal years ago that made us partners. If the Americans no longer want that partnership, we have other fish to fry.

I know there are a few men and women in the liberal caucus in Ottawa who are capable of speaking out about Canada’s future. It is hardly their nature to be sheep. There are even a few bright conservatives and new democrats. The message is: Your country needs you and it is time to speak up.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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The legacy of the least liberal.

by Peter Lowry

Never let it be said that Canadians do not need to see the last of Justin Trudeau. The only problem holding him in place is the lack of a potential candidate to replace him. You could see that in the staying in-place nature of the last election results. There was nobody standing ready for the job.

A leader is the person who can point into the future and say ‘follow me.’ In 2015, Trudeau forgot to point. He just said ‘follow me.’ Since he was not Stephen Harper, Canadians followed. In that election, he satisfied an unusual craving for selfies. He dumped the past of the liberal party who were in the senate. He cancelled memberships in the liberal party and inundated the party list with demands for money. He talked of reconciliation with Canada’s aboriginals. He talked of the needs of a vague middle class of Canadians.

But when some academics actually counted his promises and actions in his first four years, they found he kept about half of them. It was his failures that bothered many voters. There were also distractions. His family trip to India was an embarrassment for Canadians. Purchasing the Trans Mountain pipeline was puzzling. The Jody Wilson-Raybould matter punched a few holes in his claim to being a feminist.

Some of the failures in office were more noticeable than accomplishments. His medically supported death bill could not survive the smell test in the supreme court. As usual, Canada’s aboriginals were displeased with the progress at everything. And, to nobody’s surprise, Canada’s armed forces were accused of systemic misogyny at any and all ranks.

And to confuse things more, the American political experience was stood on its head by a gentleman named Donald Trump. American politics were far more interesting than the dull Canadian experience.

Canada is now into its second term of Justin Trudeau heading a minority government. We must admit that he has done a good job during the ongoing pandemic. We can only be glad that he, at least, understands the situation. He actually listens to good scientific advice.

But never forget how the Brits dumped their hero Churchill after the Second World War was over.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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Del Duca’s dubious desire.

by Peter Lowry

The Toronto Star is all aflutter about liberal leader Steven Del Duca’s promise to resign as premier if he does not immediately change Ontario voting to ranked ballots. It strikes this liberal that this is one of the dumber promises for next June’s provincial election. It is right up there with Doug Ford’s promise of a ‘buck a beer” in the last provincial election.

Ranked ballots in our democracy are a joke. The idea reminds me of when Torontonians elected two aldermen in each of the old city wards. The alderman with the most votes sat on both the city and Metro Toronto councils. And was paid more. Instead of harmony and cooperation between the two aldermen, the knives were kept out and sharpened awaiting the opportunity to do in the other alderman. And woe betide the political lackey who did not know to get every supporter to just vote once for alderman.

And it is ranked ballots that are fouling the contests for leader in the federal conservative party. You would think they would learn. Ranked ballots when there are a large number of candidates is a countdown to the least annoying of the candidates. It has very little to do with their competence.

The problem with ranked ballots are the voters, who think they have to number all the candidates. They probably know very little about some of those candidates and you have no idea how badly things will come out in the final count. You can feel a little more confident if there are only three or four candidates on a ranked ballot. The result can be similar to the present first-past-the-post voting.

But as people realize that any idiot can win in a ranked ballot situation, you could possibly see a deluge of candidates. Even worse, in a provincial election, you can end up with ten or more political parties. And that spells chaos for ranked ballots.

For some reason, liberal Steven Del Duca reminds me of a toothless turtle. He needs to come out of his shell and find out what Ontario voters want in the coming election. He should concentrate on how liberals could support voters.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

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Did the PM Do Nothing?

by Peter Lowry

In the roll-out of Justin Trudeau’s recent interview with Susan Delacourt of the Toronto Star, he complains about what he calls ‘casual cynicism.’ He says it comes from the left wing of Canadian politics. He said, it bugged him during his first four years in office. Being a charter member of the progressive left in politics, that whine from Justin pisses me off. We are hardly the only cynics.

It is hard to imagine anything more cynical than promising Canadians that 2015 would be the last time they would use first-past-the-post voting. Justin gave the job of making that happen to one of the least competent and less experienced members of his cabinet. His party failed to open the examination and debate on voting systems to all Canadians. And the ‘do nothing’ conclusion was pre-ordained by the closed minds in the major parties.

And in 2016, where did our elitist prime minister and his family spend Christmas? When you take your family to spend Christmas with one of the richest men in the world on his private island in the Bahamas, it does raise a few eyebrows. And as Iman of the world’s Ismaili Muslims, the Aga Khan was unlikely to have had a Christmas tree for the kids.

You tell me what was going on in 2018 that detracted from Justin’s accomplishments? We were watching a self-identified feminist prove that he neither understood women nor left them to do their job. We all went through the Jody Wilson Raybould episode when she was justice minister. How was any accomplishment going to compete with that?

And for this progressive, the nadir of Justin’s first four years was his cynical purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline. Why he would waste billions of the taxpayers’ dollars on that one project is the extremis. That self-declared environmentalist has done nothing to help save this planet but make foolish promises of meeting some unlikely targets in the distant future.

Surprisingly, this cynical progressive was pleased with one aspect of the Trudeau government from 2015 to 2019. He was not Stephen Harper. In that we had something to appreciate.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

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The Flexible Erin O’Toole.

by Peter Lowry

Federal conservative leader Erin O’Toole always has his legal career as a fall-back position. The lawyer who can quickly adjust his standards to suit client needs seems to always be in demand. And Canadians can attest to O’Toole’s flexibility during the 2021 federal election.

But, surprise, surprise, flexibility does not always win elections. It was like in Quebec where premier Legault’s Bill 21 won O’Toole’s support because he told us that a conservative government respects provincial autonomy. It did not matter to O’Toole that even though Legault said he was just expressing Quebec values, he still had to use the constitution’s ‘Not Withstanding’ clause to cover off the bigotry involved.

All O’Toole proved was that he has no concept of Canadian values.

And, who would question Alberta premier Jason Kenney’s ringing endorsement of his friend Erin O’Toole? It certainly said a lot that Kenney was always there for O’Toole and not a word was said about what Alberta was doing to the environment.

Of course, it was very different in Ontario where premier Doug Ford could never be there when O’Toole was in his own province of residence. It seems that Ford was not high in the polls at the time, so O’Toole and he did not see each other often.

But the point is that throughout that 2021 election campaign, Canadians became more and more confused by O’Toole’s flexibility. If a program did not appear to be working for his party, he would change it. This guy could flip-flop better than a fish out of water.

And yet, in the Commons recently, he surprised everyone by agreeing to his party sponsoring a motion to fast-track the conversion therapy bill and send it to the senate. That would have been fine if the bill was in danger of missing any legislative deadlines but it says very little for O’Toole’s due diligence in his role as opposition leader. This liberal, for example would have liked a little more discussion of some of the human rights questions that law touches on.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

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Brampton Brown Battles Bigotry.

by Peter Lowry

We just heard that Brampton mayor Patrick Brown has waded into the war with Quebec over their Law 21. That is the law that the provincial bigots in the Quebec City assembly passed against the wearing of religious symbols. Brown’s remarks are part of the mounting effort to force federal politicians to oppose the Quebec law in the courts.

Brampton Brown, who used to be Barrie Brown, has stuck his oar into the controversy probably to test his potential comeback to the federal political scene. At the very least, he is shoring up his hold on his present job in Brampton with its large number of immigrants from the Indian sub-continent. With the World Sikh Organization, one of the parties fighting the Quebec law, Brown is at least ready to take on anyone with thoughts of replacing him as mayor of Brampton.

We learned about his stand through the unusual route of Althia Raj, who normally reports these days on events in Ottawa for the Toronto Star. She tells us that prime minister Justin Trudeau is still straddling the fence on the issue until the Supreme Court gets involved.

The only federal party leader who has had a change of heart is Jagmeet Singh of the new democrats. Mind you, the involvement of the World Sikh Organization might have had something to do with Singh’s conversion. As a turban-wearing, kirpan-bearing Sikh and a follower of the Tenth Guru, Jagmeet could hardly stick to his previous provincial-rights stand.

There are some conservatives also pushing at Erin O’Toole to turn his back on the Legault government in Quebec. That might be a tough fight as Legault’s CAQ in Quebec is the closest party to conservative in that province.

The Quebec law is a non-starter in the rest of Canada. When you consider that the wearing of crosses, or turbans, or yarmulkas or versions of the hijab are just a fashion statement in a pluralist society and very few care. You have to admit, Canada is quite a diverse society and we are better for it.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

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The Long Walk.

by Peter Lowry

There is something cleansing about a walking interview with a good reporter. Susan Delacourt did a long interview with Justin Trudeau recently, while they were walking in the snow in Rideau Park in Ottawa. It seems to have given the Toronto Star reporter the leads for a number of stories. In this particular case, Justin Trudeau was complaining about the lack of recognition for the work his government had done when it had a majority after the 2015 election.

What Justin needs to realize is that missteps will hide any accomplishments, any day. And Trudeau the Younger had made more than a few missteps.

But the Delacourt opinion piece brought back memories for me. It was 55 years ago that I took a long walk around Peterborough, Ontario with a Globe and Mail reporter named John Dafoe. I don’t think I ever asked John about his grandfather. It was obvious that he would be the grandson of the famous Winnipeg Free Press editor, with the same name, who died in 1944. John had just met Pierre Trudeau, the new member of parliament for Mount Royal.

What Pierre and some other liberal MPs and party people were doing at that hotel in Peterborough on that fine fall weekend was only a by-the-way in the front-page story in the Globe and Mail the following Monday. That feature story, by John Dafoe, launched Pierre Trudeau on the road to becoming prime minister, replacing Lester B. Pearson.

The funny thing about that interview in Peterborough was that nothing of that sort had been planned. The liberal meeting was supposedly on the QT. And I was hardly the only person surprised by the local MP thinking that his invitation to the local CBC station would be kept within Peterborough.

When I asked Pierre Trudeau to talk to the TV people, he told me to ‘F-off’ in front of the entire group. And that led to a few vulgarities from me in response.

I will never know why Pierre suddenly relented and agreed to do the TV interview. The camera was set up in the hotel lobby. Everything was fine until the Globe and Mail, in the person of John Dafoe, wandered in. Pierre was eager to get back to the group and that was when John and I went for a walk

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Kenney’s Tammany Hall.

by Peter Lowry

Alberta’s premier Jason Kenney is hardly launching anything as endurable as New York’s Tammany Hall. As a student of politics, he would hardly be eager to follow in the paths of a Boss Tweed or Jimmy Walker of Tammany fame.

But manipulative, he is! Can you imagine selling memberships to political parties in Alberta in bulk? That is a new one in the annals of political corruption. I have seen hundreds of party memberships being supported with a single cheque. I have seen quite lengthy lists of new party members derived from local cemeteries. Yet it is hard to imagine the Alberta legislature passing a party membership bill that allows party donors to purchase up to 400 new party memberships, to distribute as they wish.

Sometimes, you just wonder where the political Jason Kenney is coming from? This guy can ignore the terrible plight of the neighbouring province British Columbia. Our country’s major west coast seaport was cut off from the rest of Canada by torrential rains, mud slides and flooding. Does Kenney roll up his sleeves and get in there and help clear the roads and rebuild rail and other connections to the west coast?

No. The braggart Kenney is too busy boasting about his province setting new records in extracting the highly polluting bitumen from the Alberta tar sands. He brags about the recent upsurge in oil prices that are helping eat away at the deficits, his party has created.

He makes no concession at all to the struggles of farmers and ranchers in B.C. whose livelihoods are endangered. Yet he rejoices at the higher costs of high carbon-producing fuels. He appears ignorant that his eagerness to exploit the tar sands is making a substantial contribution to global warming.

His weak leadership throughout the ongoing pandemic has left Alberta hospitals and their staffs exhausted and embittered.

I used to think that despite his manipulative ways, Kenney knew what he was doing. I’m beginning to wonder about that. He might just be the most hated premier in Canada. He has a tough fight for the title from Ontario’s Doug Ford.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Pierre Poilievre’s Priorities.

by Peter Lowry

The waspish MP from Carleton, in his best attack dog style, went after liberal finance minister Chrystia Freeland the other day. The deputy prime minister is scheduled to deliver a fiscal update to the House of Commons today. Mr. Poilievre did not politely ask for his opinions on the subject be recognized. He couched his opinions as demands.

And Mr. Poilievre went well beyond the opposition party’s responsibility to question and oppose the actions of the government. He based his entire argument on a lie. He blamed the liberal government for the current inflation.

When world-wide inflationary pressures are caused by the effects of a pandemic, it is hard to believe that the conservative finance critic would be so blatantly partisan.

He said it very plainly: “Our demands are very simple: less tax, less deficits, less inflation.”

At a time when gasoline prices are escalating, world-wide shipping and transportation services are tied in knots, and customer-facing services are failing because of the pandemic restrictions, this fool wants government spending to revert back to pre-pandemic levels.

He wants a freeze on government spending and taxation as our health care system staggers on the weary legs of worn out care-givers. He demands that the government bring spending back to pre-pandemic levels. He ignores the ravages of climate warming on our infrastructure and food supply and personal services. He wants a freeze on taxes at a time when extended services to people are in extremis.

Canadians are very lucky that Mr. Poilievre is not Canada’s finance minister at this time. His ignorant devotion to conservative philosophy is unworthy of even his political party in this time of troubles.

I have no idea just what Chrystia Freeland will say in her fiscal update this afternoon, but I certainly hope it meets none of the demands of the foolish finance critic for the conservatives.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

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And a Man Named Mel.

by Peter Lowry

In a life in politics, you deal with many a municipal politician. I expect the dorkiest I ever had to deal with was a little guy named Mel Lastman. Mel was an entrepreneur in business and in politics. He was a showman. He dealt with political controversy as though it was a marketing problem. He was a conservative without the philosophy. He was a politician who liked people. He died the other day at 88.

Mel sold himself short when he first ran in North York. At a time of shifting alliances in Toronto and its surrounding boroughs, he ran to be one of the four controllers in North York. Many of us liberals in North York were amused by his campaign but he had strong name recognition because of his furniture and appliances stores. The old hands at North York city hall and Metropolitan Toronto gave him a rough time. It made him more determined. The next election, he ran for mayor in North York and was unstoppable.

It is easy to admit that it was always fun to deal with Mel. He had the only city hall office that I had been in that had its own telephone booth. He was a bit quirky. I thought of his office as Mel’s Cabinet of Curios.

But he was also very fair. As a ratepayer president for my community, I always considered Mel the last resort. We shared a lot of platforms together for various events and elections. He was always unfailingly jovial and interested in what I had to say.

Once there was a dust-up over some proposed high-rise apartments and Mel stepped in to mediate. I knew darn well that he was a good buddy of the developer and that the only sensible solution was to get the most out of the deal for my community as possible. That meant taking a middle of the road position and I can tell you from experience that going out into the middle of the road in politics gets you run over.

I think Mel made his mistake when he took the leap from North York to the cloistered clamshell of Toronto’s city hall because of the forced amalgamation to the larger city. He had moved out of his comfort zone. He was too old and I think he missed his telephone booth. Mel Lastman was one of a kind.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]