Babel-on-the-Bay – Page 92 – Babel-on-the-Bay is the personal website of Peter Lowry. It is a vehicle for political commentaries.

What’s in a Name?

July 12, 2021July 11, 2021 by Peter Lowry

Now they have done it. The lame brains on Toronto city council are actually discussing changing street names because of real or imagined transgressions in the past. All I know is that Peter Street in Toronto is a fine name for a street. I have no idea who it was named after and I don’t care. It’s a keeper.

But John Street is another matter. There have been some disreputable John’s over the years. I had a brother named John. It would probably be nice to honour him, though his first wife might disagree. She is a nice lady, check with her.

Some of my other brothers could be appropriate street names. George Street in Toronto was a fashionable address some hundred or so years ago. Since then, the downtown street has fallen into disrepute. Maybe the city fathers and mothers could find a nice street in Rosedale or Lawrence Park more befitting my late brother George. He was a great and much-loved guy but he would be embarrassed having St. George Street named for him.

Two more brothers, who live in the United States, already have nice Toronto streets bearing their names. I noticed in checking one of the streets, that a house there was for sale for two-and-a-half million. That is not much considering today’s prices but much more than in the Wellesley and Sherbourne area where we lived as kids.

Maybe Toronto should solve the whole stupid naming business by numbering the streets. That way, north-south streets could have the even numbers, east-west streets would have the odd numbers and roads that curved or ran diagonally could be named crescents or avenues and could be named after former mayors and councillors. That way everyone would be happy except for some people on avenues.

I remember when the city confiscated homes and ran Dundas Street East through, for the people out at the Beach. The new Dundas replaced some of the old street names in Toronto’s east end and a few vocal locals were mad about the change. They thought most people considered Dundas a sleazy street in the downtown area of the city. I thought they were bigoted. Dundas Street, at that time, had the best Chinese restaurants in the city, where the street ran through Chinatown.

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Building Better Bolder.

July 11, 2021July 10, 2021 by Peter Lowry

Help is here. My old friend, former federal transport minister David Collenette, has written a knowledgeable commentary on the VIA Rail plan for a ‘high-frequency’ passenger service in the Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City corridor. There are some surprises in David’s article in the Toronto Star on the subject.

It is no surprise that David would compliment the liberal government on its innovative plan. He has always been a team player since high school. He even says nice things about VIA Rail. He is only mildly reproving that the plan is not for high-speed rail. He thinks the extra cost for high-speed would be a smart investment.

As a former minister of transport, David is well aware that Canada’s railways have discouraged passenger traffic for so long that passenger rail has failed to develop. Canadians have learned the hard way that, in Canada, passengers always wait for freight.

But he sees hope in the department of finance with Michael Sabia now in the key role of deputy finance minister. After many years of blocking discussion of high-speed rail, the finance department now has someone who understands the need for innovation.

He points out that much of the new line will be based on abandoned CPR lines in both Ontario and Quebec. It has the political value of adding new stops at Peterborough, Ontario and Trois Rivières, Quebec.

David sees the new service as essential to dealing with climate change. Just how this works when the line only promises to be 90 per cent electric is not clear. I suppose for the 10 per cent of the line without electricity, the passengers could get out and push.

But the Pollyanna aspect of David Collenette’s commentary is that he seems to think it will happen. He even thinks the new service will be capable of 200 km/h speeds. Even VIA Rail has admitted that the system might be capable of 177 km/h. Which coincidently is the top speed of most diesel engines.

Sorry David, but I am not holding my breath for this one.

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Greens have Gotta Grow-up.

July 10, 2021July 9, 2021 by Peter Lowry

The greens need to knock off the foolishness. And it is stupid. For the news media to be so malicious as to encourage non-elected people to report on inner-circle doings is less than honourable. For these people to talk to the media does not speak well for the calibre of the executive of the party.

And all this backbiting is hardly helping the green party. If there is an election this fall, the party will be lucky to hold the two seats it has left.

Indirectly, these blabbermouths on the green executive are helping the new democrats. They might enjoy the fake admiration of the news media but they are pushing people such as this writer, and others who lie to polls, to say they are supporting the NDP instead of the green party.

If you have ever wondered why those parties do so well in polls before an election, it is because of people who will not tell pollsters the truth. These spurious answers are called ‘parked votes.’ The green and new democratic parties are the convenient parking lots where your vote sits until needed on election day. Back when pollsters had real people calling to find out how you might vote, you were just as interested in who was paying for the survey and you might have told them the truth.

As it is, I’m sure my name in the liberal voter database in Ottawa must be ‘Mud.’ I have been telling the computers that call for the liberals that I am going to vote green.

I will have to change that now. Nobody would believe that many people would support a party in such disarray.

As it is, the greens really do have a complaint about their last leadership vote. It was done with preferential voting. It was only on the eighth round of counting that Annamie Paul emerged the winner. She had led the vote in six of the eight rounds—proving that she was actually the second choice of most of the green party voters.

You have to admire one aspect of the green party’s voting. They actually had a place on the ballot to vote for ‘None of these options.’ If I had a vote in that election, I might have made that choice.

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Give Me Shelter.

July 9, 2021July 8, 2021 by Peter Lowry

There is little reason to ever respect Ontario premier Doug Ford. It is not just that the man is untrained and unfit to be premier. It is the nature of the task that the man has taken on. He has no idea what it really requires.

The job requires compassion.

Recently I wrote a commentary about building a better society. I got some ribbing from readers about being a socialist because I said everyone in our society has to have shelter and clean drinking water. Despite global warming, Canadians are going to need shelter for many years to come. And it is our provincial governments that have to make sure those shelters are built.

We can hardly stand back and watch housing costs skyrocket in our cities. We have to reduce the pressures on the market by building more affordable and geared-to-income accommodation. It is the province that can make that happen. It is the province that can convince the builders.

Rather than build an unnecessary highway to the development lands of his builder friends, premier Ford needs to put the tax dollars into affordable housing—where it is needed most. He can let the federal government help but the constitution leaves the resolution to the provinces.

It is because compassion belongs here.

Healthcare is not a football to kick around either. Under the Ford government, Ontario’s hospitals have deteriorated, rapidly. Covid-19 does not get all the blame. Nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers are being mistreated. Hospitals are falling in community approvals. The food they are feeding patients is awful. The quality of care is falling. We are seeing racism, discrimination and uncaring in services. Staff are overworked and weary. Patient advocacy has become a joke.

Without compassion, hospitals are just unfriendly places in which to die.

And what about our schools. Remote learning is a failure of technology. We can hardly replace the human element in teaching our children. And education is not an exercise in public relations.

Without compassion, education becomes a rote exercise.

Without compassion, provincial governments fail us.

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A Question of Trust.

July 8, 2021July 7, 2021 by Peter Lowry

Journalists report on our politicians all the time. They think they can judge them best. They kid themselves. There is too much that they do not say about our MPs, MPPs and MLAs. Even if we, as interested citizens, watch our politicians on CPAC and provincial channels, we might only get a small sample of what our local politician is doing on our behalf in Ottawa or as a member of our provincial government.

So, what can we do four years or less later when they want to be re-elected? How do we judge their worth? Do you trust them again to represent you?

Many people abdicate the responsibility by voting for the party. It is their right to do that. Some will cheerfully vote for the village idiot—if he or she represents the preferred party.

The news media encourage voting for the party by spending considerable reporting resources on following the travels of the party leaders. Some of the large city media will also take the trouble sometimes to interview candidates in your electoral district. There will be the usual complaints about sign by-laws and access to voters in institutions and condominiums.

Some people try to save all the literature they receive during the election period and, maybe, sift through the pile before going to vote. What you have read is what they want you to know, or believe. Do you trust all you read?

Surprising few of your neighbours ever bother to go to one of the all-candidate meetings. And there are fewer of those than in the past. There used to be coffee parties where a supporter would invite neighbours to meet and talk with one of the candidates. The rarest event is when a candidate comes to your door.

But if you are lucky and can question your candidate, what do you want to know. Doesn’t it all boil down to a question of trust? Can you rely on this person to represent your concerns to the government of the day?

You are the voter. What do you want? Whom do you trust to deliver for you?

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We’ve heard this song before!

July 7, 2021July 7, 2021 by Peter Lowry

Of all the stupid announcements that are never going to happen, Omar Alghabra made it the other day. It might just be the purview of federal transportation ministers, but to make it on one of those stop-and-go-slow VIA trains to Montreal, was just adding insult. Alghabra told passengers over the train’s public address system that the government would twin most of the tracks between Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto so that passenger trains would no longer be delayed because freight has the right-of-way. And you wonder how many transport ministers have made the same bullshit announcement, how many times?

All the minister proved is that there is another federal election in the wind.

And, can you imagine, minister Alghabra told the long-suffering train users that the trains would only be able to reach top speeds of 200 km/hr. While Asia, Europe, and soon the United States, are dealing with high-speed networks capable of more than 300 km/h, our idiots in Ottawa are settling for speeds provided by diesel engines. Talk of electrifying the lines were left for the later news conference in Trois Rivieres. (It was not clear if the line was to be 90 per cent electric or the trains to be 90 per cent electric.)

When VIA Rail was asked for its take on the announcement, all we got was a new top speed. VIA tells us that the minister exaggerated, the top speed is only 177 km/h. (Co-incidently, the top speed of most diesel engines.)

It reminds me of the old Turbo trains used by VIA to travel back and forth from Montreal and Toronto from 1968 to 1982. While theoretically capable of almost 200 km/h, these trains had a favourite speed of: stopped. It was a delightful way to travel between the two cities, if you were in no hurry.

I remember catching the Turbo for some reason one time when I was due at a luncheon in Montreal. The timetable said the train was due to arrive in Montreal at 11 am. I took a chance. I lost. The train actually left Union Station in Toronto on time. It went out to Guildwood in the east end of the metropolitan area, picked up some more passengers, and then backed up all the way to Toronto’s CN Tower. I remember sitting there fuming until about 10:30 am. There was no rush, at that point.

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While the World Burns.

July 6, 2021July 6, 2021 by Peter Lowry

It’s a puzzle that there are so many people who do not care or do not recognize the trouble in which our world struggles. To deny that climate change is happening is ludicrous. To not care is even more serious. There might not be an app for that on their cell phones but caring is a critical step towards possibly alleviating the problems.

Wild fires are destroying the west coast of North America. And those trees are not falling just in the forests. The fires are attacking our towns and homes and businesses. We are just starting to realize the costs of protecting our people.

And the pain is moving across the continent. If you are not being burnt, you are being flooded. The tornado season is extending. The hurricane season is reaching. The long-frozen poles of the earth are melting.

And, oh, what fools we mortals be!

Talk to people and learn. A mother of young children shrugs when asked about her children’s future. “That is their problem,” is the answer. A young person, tripping on some mind-altering potion, tells you “Who cares?” A politician tells you that only smaller government and lower taxes can help. The homeless person cuts off your concern with “Great, but have you got any spare change?”

We have not even begun to penetrate the conscience of many. They are too busy putting food on the table for their family. They have a plane to catch to take them to a new adventure. They are heading to another protest. There is free meatloaf tonight over at the mission. They have business meetings to attend. Projects need to be completed. There is a new movie to see. There is a new app to try on their phone.

And are we paying blackmail to cyber thieves? Are we too busy pulling down the statues of the past? Are we digging at the graves of those who have already returned to dust?

And all the time, people are crying out for newer and better leadership. Leaders who can respond to 100-year events. We’ll do better with the next pandemic?

Oh, will we?

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Singh’s Success in Social Media.

July 5, 2021July 4, 2021 by Peter Lowry

Has nobody told NDP federal leader Jagmeet Singh that the TikTok program on the Internet is for children? About a third of the world-wide users are not old enough to vote, even if they live in Canada. And what thinking adult would be fascinated with anything so mundane? The billion world-wide users of TikTok might be dealing with artificial intelligence and algorithms, developed in China, smarter than themselves.

But it is nice to know that Jagmeet has found his niche. Like Donald Trump, he has found a home on the Internet. For Trump, it was Twitter—until the program managers banned him for life. He was giving Twitter a bad name.

Not that any of these time-wasting programs are going to survive for long. There is a life cycle to social media programs and without constant improvement and new features, it reaches a peak and then there is a gradual fall-off of interest.

But Jagmeet Singh had to start somewhere. In Canada, only the Trudeau liberals have taken to social media like ducks to water. Maybe the Internet moves too fast for conservatives? In the last two federal elections, the liberals spent the most on Internet advertising. The logic was that it was the one way to reach young Canadians—of voting age. The strategy worked well in 2015. It did not work as well in 2019.

The liberals are so committed that you need a smart phone to canvas for them. They have reduced the questions at the door to the key support question. All the canvasser wants to hear is this a liberal vote or not. Thumb the answer into your smart phone and move on.

It has been my impression over time that the liberals keep forgetting seniors are voters because they do not keep up with trends. Conversely, Jagmeet is looking ahead to when his TikTok followers are old enough to vote. That could be when Justin Trudeau gets his comeuppance.

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Fueling the Fourth.

July 4, 2021July 6, 2021 by Peter Lowry

The fourth of July is Independence Day in the U.S.A. It is a day for patriotic parades, barbeques, family gatherings and fireworks. And it has something else to celebrate this year: the beginning of the overdue take down of the aspirations of former president, Donald Trump.

Donald Trump did a disservice to America and it is important there be a day of reckoning. He besmirched the reputation of his country around the world. He made friends of America’s enemies and enemies of its friends. And he lied to Americans. The Trump trademark was lies. He let Americans die in a pandemic. He lied about the outcome of the 2020 election. All you had to do was ask a question and he will tell you a lie.

He bases his campaigning on lies that can only fool the ignorant and the jingoist. He lies about his wealth. He lies to the tax people. And not even Al Capone got away with that!

The Donald Trump presidency was a period of embarrassment for America. And the time has come for an accounting.

The New York prosecutors have Mr. Trump in their sights. They know he was party to a tax fraud to which he has not yet been charged. Instead, they have charged the Trump organization’s chief financial officer. The man is 73 years old and he could spend the rest of his life in prison. His only hope for some pity is if he dimes out Mr. Trump’s involvement in the tax avoidance.

As it is, Donald Trump’s signature is on enough of the cheques to show that he is involved in the schemes to hide executive perquisites and income, file false taxes and accept fraudulent tax refunds. Trump relatives and others were involved. It was always a secret, known to too many people.

Trump’s rejoinder is pure Trump. He claims that it is a political witch hunt by what he calls “the radical left democrats.”

It looks like those radical left democrats are going to settle some scores with Donald Trump. Happy Fourth, America.

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Grievances of the Greens.

July 3, 2021July 2, 2021 by Peter Lowry

What can they be thinking? The rank and file of the Green Party of Canada must be outraged. The idea of a dust-up between the executive of the party and its newly elected party leader Annamie Paul is destroying the chances of the party making any inroads on parliament in the coming election. This is amateur time for Canada’s greens.

For the executive to forget that the party doubled its vote in 2019 is denying all the hard work involved. It is denying the legacy of Elizabeth May. It was her determination that held that party together through the last election and gave encouragement to the party’s candidates.

It is certainly not the role of the party executive to keep the new leader on a leash. Typically, the party leader is responsible to the party as a whole and is leader of the elected wing of the party. The executive represents the party organization across Canada and is the clearing house for party organization and structural needs.

And if that is not the way the greens have structured their party organization, they have done it wrong.

We can only hope the greens do not follow the liberal party organization. The liberal party of Canada is a political party that is headed for the scrap yard. It is a top-down organization under the totalitarian control of the party leader. The party leader, through his minions asks supporters for money—continuously—and directs who can be a party candidate. It is a party that fails to decide its own policies. The liberal party of today is not a functioning political party, it is a fan club.

What Annamie Paul needs is a party executive who can do their job of building and supporting the party. As leader she needs people working with her to build her strengths—not to use her as a billboard. She needs to talk about Canada’s problems, not hers. She needs the opportunity to lead.

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