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

Death Wish of Conservatism.

by Peter Lowry

At a time when Justin Trudeau is busy busting liberalism in Canada, the conservatives are doing themselves no favours. It is as if there is no place for the old political parties. Even the new democrats are losing their grip. That old time socialism ain’t what it used to be.

But today, let’s stick with the conservative’s problems. And those, they have a plenty. Ruction in the ranks, pathetic provincial leaders and disparate directions are just a few. When you realize that Justin Trudeau is the longest serving first minister in Canada and that only one province and the Yukon have liberal governments, you get a sense of the problem.

And where do you start. Just because the Coalition Avenir Québec doesn’t call itself conservative does not mean it is not conservative. It has its own ideas on what is fair and the federal government is going to have to take the Quebec government to the supreme court to get them to stop discriminating against religion and the English language.

Ontario is likely to present the most ongoing problems. There are actually people who say they will vote conservative next June and if enough commit that act of lunacy the province would have four more years of an incompetent government intent on creating a dynasty. One almost hopes that Doug Ford and his buddies are stupid enough to turn down the federal offer of ten dollar a day daycare.

And none of the Prairie provinces is helping. There is a new gal in Manitoba, a nerd named Moe going nowhere in Saskatchewan and then Jason Kenney in Alberta. Things are so bad under conservative rule in Alberta that Albertans, at least in Calgary and Edmonton, are starting to vote liberal.

With Alberta and Ontario headed for provincial elections next year, we can have a contest to see who is the most distrusted conservative leader in Canada. The conservative party of Canada will be having a vote to see if Erin O’Toole has legs for the next federal election or is to be cast aside.

And to think there are liberals who are dissatisfied with the leadership we get in our federal and provincial liberal parties.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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Carry on John.

by Peter Lowry

Despite having sat on many boards over the years and chaired a few—and this includes business boards as well as charitable and political and (the very worst) condominium boards, I have never been paid a cent for my efforts. I thought it was all done for free. Sure, I know that there are honoraria for outside business directors but when you are also an employee, it is part of the job.

But lately we have been hearing about annual honoraria in the category of $100,000 and up. And we are wondering why?

Why would Toronto mayor, John Tory, be paid $100,000 per year by Rogers?

Many of us were aware that Tory had worked for Rogers in previous years. Until the Toronto Star dropped the bomb on us the other morning, we might not have known he is still being paid by Rogers. The Star tells us he is paid for being an advisor to the family trust that runs Rogers. No doubt the Star’s minions at city hall are busy searching the voting records to see how many times the mayor should have, or did, declare a conflict of interest.

I would expect that a person of Tory’s integrity would have bent over backwards to avoid any complaint or possible conflict.

With this present term, Tory will complete eight years as mayor of Toronto. And despite his conservative party background and leanings, I was delighted to support his initial candidacy. He might be old school, but he is one of the good guys.

In the past eight years, John Tory has earned our trust. He has been an outstanding mayor in a rapidly growing and complex city and in troubled times. He has been there for the city, for its people and has been relentless in serving their needs. He has been a mayor in the style of a Hazel McCallion of Mississauga, a Naheed Nenshi of Calgary, though not quite as acerbic as the famous Charlotte Whitton of Ottawa.

More than anything else, John Tory has been there for Torontonians in the face of a 100-year pandemic. He has provided leadership, confidence and good sense for millions. He has done the job.

And we can view his annual stipend from Rogers as just part of his pension. He deserves it for what he has to put up with. And if he wants a third term as mayor, the only answer is: Carry on John!

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

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Why not shoot the messengers?

by Peter Lowry

Did you hear that they are creating a social media channel just for Donald Trump? That will teach those wimps at Twitter who dared to banish him. It will make the crap from Trump easier to ignore. Parents will also be able to block it as they would a porn site.  

As a person who used computers for communications and research before there was an Internet, I have never had any patience for social media. While I did some testing of how some of the early programs worked, I found I was neither impressed nor interested. Though the wife uses Facebook. Like many, she uses it to keep track of our far-flung family and the growing numbers of third and fourth generation youngsters. That seems an appropriate use for Facebook that was reportedly created in the beginning by Zuckerberg and friends to help get sex partners for college-age geeks.

But today, we read articles discussing social media as though its use defines this generation. Thankfully it is not my generation, although you can include writing a blog as a form of social media. While I might be too caught up in the dark side of politics today, it has not always been thus. I found politics fascinating and lots of fun back in the years of Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau. I enjoyed some of the perks and took many of the bruises.

I started this blog as just another test of the Internet and was pleased that people were reading it. I found that there was actually a need for insight into politics. It has become more than just a hobby. Of course, readership peaks during elections. There was also considerable interest in Donald Trump during his misadventures in Washington. Like many who follow politics, figuring out the appeal and ongoing influence of that despicable man is a serious challenge. He continues to act as a malevolent child.

Yet politics in Canada can also be depressing. It is hard not to get caught up in the name calling and recriminations. We wallow in poor leadership. You try to encourage the good guys and gals in elected positions even if they are so alone in the dreary political swamps of today. As Walt Kelly’s favourite possum Pogo used to say: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

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The Bored of the Board.

by Peter Lowry

There are many boards of directors needing better chairpersons today. Boards can be skittish, they can be confrontational, they can be overly conservative. A good chair is the driver and needs to understand techniques that can help in getting that bus where it wants to go. It goes even further when a board has to always be ready to answer to regulatory agencies and politicians.

This subject is front and center today as the public spectacle of the rape of the Rogers empire’s board spends itself in the news media. It shows how little sympathy is left for that multi-billion communications conglomerate since the death of its founder. Ted Rogers is remembered as a giant, a progressive, a strategist and as a man whose success was ordained.

But his successor, his son Edward Rogers, seems to have fallen too far from the tree. Where Ted could use his board wisely, young Edward tends to abuse.

At a time when the Rogers operations are under microscopic study by three major government agencies as well as the commons committee on industry, science and technology, young Rogers has blotted his copy book. It will jeopardize the company’s effort to acquire Shaw Communications for some $26 billion in cash and debt.

If this merger is approved, Canadians would be almost guaranteed swiftly rising rates for cellphone services, Internet and television distribution.

Luckily lenders are leery of high price acquisitions when a company is having conflict at the board level. And when Rogers hopes to become the largest company in the industry in Canada, the Rogers’ scion is playing with fire.

As it seemed the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) had to consume lots of antacid to allow the collapse of CTV into Bell Canada, any further concentration of the industry has to be contra-indicated. At the same time, the Competition Bureau and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) are doing their own studies. Yet, when all is said and done by the various reviewers, it will still be a political decision.

But in this case, Edward does not have the political contacts and smarts of his father. I think he has driven the stake into his own heart.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Failing Voting 101.

by Peter Lowry

You would think that the scathing comments I get about first-past-the-post voting would discourage me. They do not. I also want to see change in the way Canadians vote. The only problem is that I see it as one of many changes needed in our constitution. And if you ask Justin Trudeau, he will likely tell you that he does not want to open that can of worms.

Canada’s constitution is a constantly aggravating mess. Having an appointed governor general is a bad joke. Having a non-elected senate is a disgrace. The growing disparity in population between provinces creates many of the problems our country faces. The ‘fathers of confederation’ could not see past their noses what this country was to become and they created the blockages in our constitution that exist to this day. We really need to decide whether we want to be a confederation of provinces or a country. And only the people can decide that question.

And just changing how we vote is no panacea. I watched most of the hearings of the government’s special committee on electoral reform in 2016. I was appalled at the number of so-called expert witnesses who came to share their ignorance with the committee.

Canada, as structured, has unique requirements. For example, we have services to people that need to be funded federally and yet are controlled by the individual provinces. And yet we have a province that ran a stupid referendum the other day that wants to end the equalization payments that attempt to balance out those problems.

What I find most annoying is the ignorance of our news media who let people write opinion pieces denouncing first-past-the-post voting as though it was some sort of criminal plot to muddle the minds of the populace. Even calling it first-past-the-post is denigrating. Our voting system enables us to choose who will represent us in parliament. That is an honour and privilege we should not take lightly. Lazy people just vote for the representative who stands for a certain political party. That is how we sometimes get the village idiot elected.

But luckily, even stupid people have the right to be elected, and often are.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

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Alerting Alberta.

by Peter Lowry

It can be a delight to read one of David Climenhaga’s reports on Alberta politics. He seems to be a knowledgeable and fearless reporter of things political in Calgary and Edmonton. He does not seem to share the general public’s admiration for the Jason Kenney administration and its leader.

But dammit, I was waiting breathlessly for the report of Kenney’s Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns. It was like sitting outside the walls of Fort Zinderneuf in Beau Geste waiting for something to happen.

And what do we get? Nothing, nada, zilch. What do they always say: Follow the money?

Albertans paid $3.5 million for a 697-page report of nothing. In fact, Climenhaga was somewhat critical of the clarity of the prose. For the amount that Albertans paid for that report, it could have had some decent editing.

But I was waiting to find out who was paying money for critical commentary on Alberta’s foolish energy aspirations. I wanted my cut of the pie. Here I have been critical of Alberta tar sands operations all these years and never been offered a bribe to write more.

From the first time I saw open pit mining of the tar sands, I was revolted. Now that they are forcing bitumen up from the depths with steam and establishing vast acreages of settling ponds, I am even more revolted.

I have seen the warming of the glaciers, the rising of the seas, the swirling clouds of bitumen dust from the oil refineries, the smog of polluting coal smothering our cities and none of it offers hope for mankind.

And yet our ignorant world leaders are getting together for a soiree this next week in Glasgow to pat each other on the back and make stupid promises to be good and be kind to mother earth.

Meanwhile, back in reality, Kenney’s War Room carries on its expensive fight against truth, justice and the Canadian way—of ignoring the obvious.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

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Doug Defends Dougie.

by Peter Lowry

There was an opinion piece in the Toronto Star the other day about the trials and tribulations of Ontario’s attorney general Doug Downey. It was about him trying to defend Ontario premier Doug Ford. It would certainly be a tough job if the attorney general did not owe fame and fortune to the premier.

According to the opinion piece by the Star’s Martin Regg Cohn, it is tough to defend stupidity. Maybe if Doug Ford had not parachuted that ward healer from Severn into my riding, I would be more sympathetic.

And contrary to Regg Cohn’s column, Downey is not a Barrie lawyer. We already have enough lawyers in Barrie. Downey was the conservative’s go-to guy when he was on the local council in Orillia. He lives further up the road in Severn. His appointment to my riding of Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte was probably just another way for Doug Ford to tell former conservative leader Patrick Brown that he was no longer wanted in Ontario politics.

Not that we were looking forward to having Brown in our riding but oddly enough, Downey turns out to be worse. We had no idea that Downey was the contemplated replacement for Ford’s first choice of attorney general, Caroline Mulroney. Her training and experience in law in New York State seems to require a different outlook than we need in Ontario.

Downey’s job is obviously not to protect our charter of rights and freedoms. Doug Ford called back Downey and the entire legislature from summer holiday when he wanted to use the ‘Not withstanding’ clause of the charter to suppress third party advertising for 12 months before an election. Downey was the guy who rewrote the act taking away our basic right to freedom of speech.

It seems we can still say whatever we wish about our premier. We are just not allowed to pay for it to be said where too many people might notice. He can lie to us, he can make outrageous promises, he can cheat us, yet we are not allowed equal time or equal access to communications to question what he is doing.

Despite Regg Cohn’s sympathetic view, I think Doug Downey might just be another front man for a con man.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Promises, Promises.

by Peter Lowry

Ontario liberal leader Steven Del Duca is promising to resign if he does not change how we carry out elections in Ontario. He might as well resign as leader now and save us all a lot of time and trouble. It is like premier Doug Ford’s promise of a ‘Buck a Beer.’ It isn’t going to happen.

Any serious study of existing alternative voting systems will find that all have weaknesses. Inventing a new system is not going to happen and be accepted by Ontario voters overnight.

And no political party is likely to get the support to change how Ontario votes without a referendum. At present we use the Westminster system of constituent representation in a bicameral parliament federally and unicameral provincially in Ontario. As old and as creaky as this system might be, our voters know it and trust it. Attempts at changing how we vote have been made in three provinces and each attempt has been rejected by the voters.

It is not that change itself is being rejected. People are not going to rush into a system of voting that they do not understand. Change that can gain acceptance across party lines can go a long way to reassuring people. Change that benefits some parties and not others are non-starters.

There are two basic types of voting that some people are promoting.

Preferential voting, what is erroneously called ‘instant run-off,’ can be an advantage for what are called middle-of-the-road party candidates. You saw how crowded that ‘middle-of-the-road’ can become in the last federal election. Mind you, it would be an interesting experience to have an election where all the candidates tried to prove how lovable they could be. They would all campaign hard for your second preference.   

Proportional voting is another alternative. This one has the advantage that we could reduce the space needed for the legislative chamber. All you would vote for is a party. The leader of each party would have a list available for people who would sit in parliament as though you also voted for them. There are many variations on this around the world but they all have the same problems with minority parties trying to negotiate with other parties to form a government.

And I would miss not having a local member to take me to lunch in the parliamentary dining room when visiting.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

Dougie Dumbs It.

by Peter Lowry

Ontario premier Doug Ford will always revert to type. He is basically dumb and there is no way to hide it. He has the political savvy of a gerbil and reminds us, at times, of Napoleon in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. That was the mean pig that ran things because he was ‘more equal than other animals.’

Obviously, our least favourite premier just did something else stupid. It is his nature. It was enough to curl all the hair on your body. It was a news clip. He was advising immigrants to Ontario not to come for the lavish life style of being on the dole. The wife and I were laughing so hard, we missed what the news reader was saying about it.

Dougie actually cut the amount paid to those on the dole when he came into office. And if you can figure out how anybody could live on about $1100 per month anywhere in Ontario, good luck. Dougie sure doesn’t give a damn.

Dougie doesn’t give a damn for anybody that cannot do anything for him. The problem for the people on the dole is that they lack the advocacy of, for example, autistic children. Dougie tried to cut the program for autism and the hue and cry of parents and other advocates was in full throttle. He had to backtrack.

The Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) is obviously an orphan without advocates. It was starved under the Wynne liberals and crushed under the boot of the conservatives. Nobody cares for those ghouls of charity forgotten, as they roam our streets.

What our premier has done is literally turned loose a horde of about 900,000 hunter gatherers in Ontario communities. These are street people who have to beg or steal their next meal.

Yesterday was a bright sunny day and the wife and I had driven to a nearby town for lunch. I parked the car when we arrived and realized that there were two street-wise gentlemen doing some business there. They were drying out their marijuana crop on the street in the thinning rays of the October sun. It seems that frost is threatening and they told us they had to do a rushed harvest. I asked them what the building was a couple doors down the street with all the police cars parked out front and a big sign saying ‘Police.’ One of them looked where I was pointing. “Oh,” he said, “We call them ‘customers’.”

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]

A Stomping Mouse.

by Peter Lowry

No doubt you are aware of the stalking horse that hides the intentions of another politician. You might not be as familiar with the stomping mouse. The stomping mouse is the politician who quickly deserts the scene when the news media start asking awkward questions. Some politicians are known to answer the question. Others are known to ignore the question. The classic reaction of the stomping mouse is to stomp out of there.

To my surprise and disappointment, I find that our deputy prime minister, finance minister and minister of anything else is a stomping mouse. The Honourable Chrystia Freeland PC MP, with all her savvy and experience as a reporter and editor herself, is a stomper.

And I am not just taking the word of Edward Keenan, the Toronto Star’s bureau chief in Washington for it. He reports, more in sorrow than in anger, I am sure, that Chrystia Freeland stomped away from reporters, away from the catbird seat in front of the U.S. White House last week.

And Chrystia Freeland is the heir apparent to the prime minister’s job? I doubt that very much. She has to do better.

I think we had a hint of this when she walked out of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) in Europe at one point. It seemed to be her way of negotiating. The only problem is that she knows there is no negotiation with the news media. It is like the broccoli your mother put on your plate for dinner. If you did not eat it, you were sure to find it still there for breakfast.

She knows that the news media are wolves that travel in packs and will tear the uninitiated to shreds, if they show fear. I have always been of the communications school that believed in overloading the answer to the point that the reporter would be all the way back to their typewriter before they realized that in your lengthy answer, you had, accidently, missed answering the initial question.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

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

[email protected]