Tag: Politics

Married to power: Hillary and Olivia and the double standard of wives in politics

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Politics

Recently I attended a very entertaining Shakespeare play, The Comedy of Errors, performed in Toronto’s High Park. I had not read the play since “Hum 7” (Humanities 7,) a general survey theatre course, in my university days BI (before internet.)

When I reread the play prior to the performance, I was not that interested in the two major characters – two sets of identical brothers, both sets separated at a very early age from each other and from their parents.

What was more interesting to me was the Bard’s complex and modern view of women, marriage and a woman’s place in society – especially as embodied by the fascinating Adriana, the wife of Antipholus from Ephesus (as opposed to Antipholus from Syracuse.)

Adriana is married to a military hero, a successful and apparently wealthy businessman, prominent in Ephesian society, who also has the support of the Solinus, the Duke of Ephesus, the most powerful man in the country of Ephesus.

Accordingly, Adriana lives in a very large house with several male and female servants to attend to her every whim, a sort of Downton Abbey, 16th-century style.

But all is not hunky dory in the House of Antipholus. In this case, money, political power and social prominence do not buy marital bliss or even happiness.

Adriana’s husband also seems to be a philanderer – a rake who enjoys the company of a courtesan who owns the local tavern. Shades of Bill and Hillary Clinton or, closer to home, a former federal NDP leader.

This state of affairs (literally) makes Adriana positively ballistic – and rightfully so.

Adriana is depicted as a very strong, independent, intelligent, passionate and proud woman. Think  Elizabeth Bennet of Pride and Prejudice or Lady Mary of Downton Abbey. And the above-noted Hillary. And come to think of it, our very own Olivia Chow.

In speaking to her more compliant, unwed sister, Luciana Adriana criticizes the double standard in her society in which men have much more freedom than women to fool around: “Why should their liberty than ours be more?”

Adriana clearly loves her husband, but is also very angry with his playing around. And she is frustrated that her society apparently condones her husband’s behavior, and frowns on Adriana’s public display of anger and disappointment with her husband’s behavior. On the other hand, Adriana astutely observes that her husband and society would condemn her if she too, took a lover.

In one of the most powerful speeches in the play, Adriana anticipates her husband’s violent reaction, if the roles were reversed.

“How dearly would it touch you to the quick,
Shouldst thou but hear I were licentious?…
Wouldst thou not spit at me, and spurn at me,
And hurl the name of husband in my face,
And tear the stain’d skin off my harlot brow,
And from my false hand, cut the wedding-ring,
And break it with a deep-divorcing vow?”

It seems what is true in 16th century England, is still true to this day.

Recall that Bubba “Horn Dog” Clinton had a plethora of beautiful bimbos at his beck and call while Arkansas governor.

And I doubt Monica Lewinsky was the first and last female who serviced Clinton at his pleasure in the White House Oval Office.

Still Clinton survived as a two term President, retained his marriage, and is still revered as a great President, internationally respected as a very wealthy and powerful speaker and philanthropist.

Could you imagine if the lovely Hillary, while First Lady, was caught between the sheets doing the horizontal tango, with her hot male bodyguard?

There would have been Hill to pay. I think Bill would have dropped Hillary like a hot tamale.

There would have not been second or third act for the disgraced Hillary.

Recall when Maggie Trudeau, Justin’s flaky hippie mom, was publicly exposed (literally and figuratively) doing the Rolling Stones at the famous Toronto bar, the  El Mocambo, Trudeau Sr. – to use the bard’s words – permanently terminated the marriage and “tore the stained skin off of that licentious harlot’s brow, and from her false hand, cut the wedding-ring  and broke it with a deep divorcing vow.”

So how does Shakespeare explain the double standard afflicting women in 16th century England?

According to Luciana, Adriana’s unwed younger sister in Comedy of  Errors, men are superior and can get away with lots of crap, because it is the natural order of things.

“The beasts, the fishes, and the winged fowls
Are their males’ subjects and at their controls;
Man, more divine, the master of all these,
Lord of the wide world and wild wat’ry seas,
Indued with intellectual sense and souls,
Of more pre-eminence than fish and fowls,
Are masters to their females, and the lords.”

So let us fast forward to the present time.

Mankind is still the master of “beasts, fishes and winged fowl,” but then again so is womankind.

And science, biology, history, experience and Donald Trump have shown us that man is no more divine than woman, and clearly no more imbued with intellectual sense and soul. In fact, it is arguable that many of us poor schmucks are imbued with a lot less intelligence and common sense.

Hence, we men have no legitimate claim to being masters of our females.

Luciana thought men were also superior because, unlike women, tied to the house and home and relegated to household chores, “men’s business still lies out o’door.”

But that clearly no longer applies in today’s modern society.

Modern women are no longer tied to hearth and home.

Women these days are much more financially independent. The majority are career women. Captains of industry, lawyers, doctors, accountants, consultants, teachers, social workers, civil servants, business people, white and blue collar workers and let us not forget- high-powered and powerful politicians.

Adriana thought her cheating, roguish husband was:

“Deformed, crooked, old and sere,
Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind”

But notwithstanding the above, Adriana came to her husband’s aid when he was wrongfully put in jail.

Why did Adriana stand by her man?

Perhaps there was still some love, but the more reasonable answer, in those days and in that situation, was that Adriana, without her husband, would have been left with no wealth, no home, no servants and no social standing. Her life and situation would have been considerably worse, and far from her comfortable home.

“And yet would herein others’ eyes were worse,
Far from her nest the lapwing cries away.”

But Hillary and Olivia.

Why did they stick by their men?

After Bill completed his presidency, Hillary could have dumped his sorry ass. She was well known, a lawyer and very well-respected and connected. She had the financial means to successfully separate from the Bill.

But I believe she made the practical and political calculation that staying with Bill – a more powerful and more popular public figure than herself – would be better for her politically, perhaps in terms of a potential run for the  Senate, or even the presidency.

History has proven Hillary to be correct in that calculation.

Similarly, when Jack Layton was caught naked by the police, allegedly getting a massage in a sleazy second floor walk-up around the corner from the house he and Olivia shared – known to be an illegal massage parlor, employing underage illegal Asian girls and called (appropriately) “The Velvet Touch” – Olivia stood by her man.

After that incident, Olivia could have left Jack.

Olivia is a very intelligent and street smart person. This was not her first rodeo or massage parlor. She knew Jack, or in this case, Jack off.

But I believe that, like Hillary, Olivia made the political calculation to stick by her more popular and charismatic husband, for the sake of her political and public future.

And history and experience have shown Olivia to be bang on. She is still a serious contender for regaining a seat in the federal parliament, notwithstanding her disastrous showing in the last Toronto mayoral election.

I think the Bard would be very amused looking at Hillary and Olivia today through Adriana’s eyes.

I suspect the Bard may conclude that though women have come a long way, baby, they still have a way to go.

Tom Mulcair, Olivia Chow and the NDP’s huge anti-Semitic problem

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Politics

This early election call by Conservative Prime Minister Harper caught Liberal Justin Trudeau with his pants down.

But more seriously for NDP Leader Mulcair, this early election call has left Mulcair and his party easily exposed to being attacked by both the federal Liberals and Conservatives as being a federal party sympathetic to anti-Semitism because the party’s key supporters – such unions as the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE-Ontario) – are hateful anti-Semites.

In this federal campaign Mulcair will try to present himself as a fair-minded, competent prime minister in waiting. But he leads a party riddled with crazy, hateful whack jobs. Many of whom are virulently anti-Israel and anti-Semitic.

Let me explain.

Recall Prime Minister Harper, in an historic speech in Israel, publicly denounced a new strain of anti-Semitism that is spreading throughout the Canadian body politic. Specifically, Harper labeled supporters and advocates of the anti-Israel BDS movement and the pernicious concept of “Israel apartheid” as anti-Semites.

As Harper so eloquently stated in his “Fire and Water” Israeli speech:

But, in much of the western world, the old hatred has been translated into more sophisticated language for use in polite society.

People who would never say they hate and blame the Jews for their own failings or the problems of the world, instead declare their hatred of Israel and blame the only Jewish state for the problems of the Middle East.

As once Jewish businesses were boycotted, some civil-society leaders today call for a boycott of Israel. On some campuses, intellectualized arguments against Israeli policies thinly mask the underlying realities, such as the shunning of Israeli academics and the harassment of Jewish students.

Most disgracefully of all, some openly call Israel an apartheid state…

It is nothing short of sickening.

Harper was not breaking new ground in his denunciation of the new anti-Semitism.

Harper was publicly espousing the EU’s working definition of anti-Semitism  specifically, the EU’s Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC – superseded in 2007 by the Fundamental Rights Agency.) In 2005, the EUMC definition of anti-Semitism included the following examples:

Denying the Jewish people the right to self-determination, e.g. by claiming that the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavor;

Applying double standards by requiring of Israel a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation;

In addition, then Liberal MP and former Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, on behalf of the Federal Liberal party, further expanded on the new anti-Semitism which included political anti-Semitism – denial of the Jewish people’s right to self-determination; de-legitimization of Israel as a state (flowing from Israel apartheid rationale); attributions to Israel of all the world’s evils – and economic anti-Semitism – BDS movements and the extraterritorial application of restrictive covenants against countries trading with Israel.

Similarly, on March 1, 2010, in an open letter, Michael Ignatieff, then leader of the Federal Liberal Party, also echoed the above sentiments that describing Israel as an “apartheid state” and supporting the BDS movement against it, amount to anti-Semitism.

Ignatieff persuasively argued:

“On university campuses across the country this week, Israeli Apartheid Week will once again attempt to demonize and undermine the legitimacy of the Jewish state. It is part of a global campaign of calls for divestment, boycotts and proclamations, and it should be condemned unequivocally and absolutely.

Apartheid is defined, in international law, as a crime against humanity. Israeli Apartheid Week is a deliberate attempt to portray the Jewish state as criminal……

Let us be clear: criticism of Israeli government policy is legitimate. Wholesale condemnation of the State of Israel and the Jewish people is not legitimate. Not now, not ever.”

In addition, in 2010 the Ontario legislature with the support of all three parties unanimously condemned Israeli Apartheid Week in Ontario as “odious, hateful and inappropriate, in the case of Israel.

In sum, we have at least two major federal parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives in Ottawa and three Ontario provincial parties which consider support for “Israeli apartheid and the BDS movement” at least odious and hateful, and in some cases anti-Semitic.

Note that Mulcair and the federal NDP party have failed to equally denounce Israeli Apartheid and the BDS movement because some of the NDP’s most ardent supporters, for example, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, whom Tom Mulcair and his Ontario lieutenant Olivia Chow have publicly supported, are front and centre in the Canadian anti-Israeli “Israeli Apartheid” organization and the infamous Canadian anti-Israeli BDS movement.

In 2008 CUPW passed a resolution that the union will work “with Palestinian solidarity and human rights organizations to develop an educational campaign about the apartheid nature of the Israeli state and the political and economic support of Canada for these practices.”

The CUPW resolution also called on Israel to recognize the Palestinian people’s “right to return to their homes as stipulated in UN Resolution 194” – a demand by Palestinian negotiators that would virtually erase the Jewish state.”

Other groups that are pro Israeli Apartheid and the BDS movement, and supporters of  Tom Mulcair, Olivia Chow and the NDP include the Canadian Union of Public Employees-Ontario and rabble.ca, an influential Canadian left wing online journal. Rabble.ca is published by Kim Elliott, the spouse of former NDP Deputy Leader Libby Davies who in June 2010 expressed support for the boycott, sanctions and divestment campaign against Israel. Ms. Davies is a former NDP colleague of Ms. Chow and Tom Mulcair.

It is noteworthy that in his 2009 autobiography, former Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove wrote that he was “all for” union leaders taking up activist causes, but criticized union leaders who had taken the Israel file too far:

“Now and then, someone in the labour movement makes a wrong turn or fires a salvo at the wrong target, which casts a pall over the entire movement,” he wrote. “One thing you can’t do as head of a union is to allow the most vocal, and usually most radical, minority to dominate your thinking on issues or the decision-making process.”

Olivia Chow represented the Toronto federal riding of Trinity-Spadina from 2006-2014. For many years, during that period, the University of Toronto, in her riding, hosted and celebrated the hateful Israeli Apartheid Week. Not once during that time did Chow ever publicly denounce either “Israeli Apartheid” or the anti-Israeli BDS movement.

During the 2014 Toronto mayoral race, Chow publicly supported the noxious, anti-Semitic Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) right to participate in the 2014 Toronto Pride parade, notwithstanding the principled and vehement opposition of her opponents John Tory and Doug Ford.

I am not suggesting that either Tom Mulcair or Ms. Chow is anti-Semitic or that either espouses anti-Semitic views or that either even agrees with the anti-Semitic views of the groups which support them and whom they support.

But during this federal election, it is now time for Tom Mulcair and Ms. Chow to take responsibility for their silence and to publicly denounce unequivocally the anti-Semitic positions of some of their supporters, as former CAW president Hargrove did.

Or Mr. Mulcair and Ms. Chow and the whole federal NDP Party run the risk of being tarred with the same odious brush.

Crony socialism at work: Mulcair’s national childcare scheme and Olivia Chow’s dirty little secret

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Politics

The politically undead zombie Olivia Chow is back.

Lock your doors, hide your children!

And above all, hold onto your hard-earned tax dollars because zombie Chow and her fellow federal NDP monsters smell your money, hunger for your tax dollars and are inexorably slouching to your doors to suck all your cash dry.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Olivia Chow, who for over 3 decades, has never had a real job in the private sector.

Who has never owned a small business or had to meet payroll.

Or has never had to pay business taxes, pay outrageous utility costs or deal with government red tape.

Chow, who has only known about sticking her snout in the public trough.

For thirty years the majority of Chow’s employment expenses and personal expenses have been paid by Canadian taxpayers.

Also Chow, unlike the majority of Canadians, enjoys a very generous City of Toronto pension and an over the top generous federal MP pension.

But for the power-hungry Chow, that is clearly not enough.

Chow is back running for the federal NDP in the new Toronto riding of Spadina-Fork York.

Recall that Chow, a career politician without equal, is a former Metro Toronto councilor, former  City Toronto councilor, a former NDP MP, a former failed candidate for  Toronto mayor,  and now former almost instructor at Ryerson University.

Chow is running on one of Mulcair’s major planks, a national child care program which within four years the NDP claim will create about 370,000 affordable daycare spaces at an annual federal cost of about $2 billion.

Ultimately ramping up to $5 billion per year. More realistically, best case scenario is that 50% of the spaces will be created at more than twice the cost.

In Ontario, there are tons of problems with this financially and fiscally irresponsible scheme.

Which cannot be dismissed by Chow’s simplistic and silly sloganeering of “but, it’s for the children.”

The NDP federal scheme requires that debt and deficit-ridden Ontario kick in 40% of the costs, funds the Ontario government does not have. Recall that Ontario is already throwing billions of dollars of borrowed money per year funding full-day kindergarten.

The current full day kindergarten system is not sustainable, let alone a whole new NDP childcare program.

More importantly, Chow neglects to state that in order to fund the NDP portion, the NDP will levy higher taxes on corporations (leading to potential job losses or additional costs for consumers as corporations pass the increased costs onto consumers.)

Also Mulcair promises to eliminate Harper’s income splitting program, which will increases taxes and costs on many middle class families as well.

But even more importantly, this national affordable daycare program will fail, as did the Liberal national housing program of the ‘80s, because this program will create a huge federal bureaucracy, cost double and triple its estimated costs and will fail to deliver sufficient affordable daycare spaces.

It also follows that limited affordable daycare space will inevitably go those most politically-connected, i.e. NDP-connected families.

One of the key reasons the failed Liberal national affordable housing scheme of the 80s was terminated was that a large number of affordable co-op housing was enjoyed by City of Toronto politically-connected NDP types, not the hard-working Toronto families who really were desperate for such low cost housing.

Similarly, the majority of the NDP’s affordable daycare spaces will be enjoyed by politically connected NDP families, not necessarily the most deserving Toronto families.

Talk about crony socialism.

And with that my friends, by way of a long-winded discussion, I come back to Olivia Chow, who in the ‘80s, with her husband, Jack Layton, together earning $120,000, jumped the queue ahead of thousands of more deserving Toronto families (who had been waitlisted for years) and scored a below market three-bedroom publicly-subsidized co-op apartment in the infamous Hazelburn Co-op, here in sunny downtown Toronto.

Chow has never apologized and never repented.

And she is back to take your money again to help out NDP-connected families at your expense.

(Photo: Tania Liu, Creative Commons licence)

Mulcair’s Own Huge Eve Adams’ Blunder- It’s All About Olivia

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Olivia Chow, Politics

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair just committed his worst political blunder of this ongoing unofficial federal election campaign. He permitted and in fact promoted the candidacy of Olivia Chow to run as the federal NDP candidate in the newly-formed downtown Toronto Spadina-Fort York riding.

Yes, That Olivia Chow!  Yesterday’s, Yesterday’s, Yesterday’s Woman. Holier than Chow. The Yoko Ono of federal politics. Chow has more political baggage than Imelda Marcos has shoes.

Chow is back from the political dead. The NDP’s own version of the Zombie Apocalyspe.Note zombies are undead creatures, typically depicted as mindless, reanimated human corpses with a hunger for human flesh.

In the case of NDP Chow, she is a mindless, reanimated human corpse with a hunger for hard-working Canadian taxpayers’ money, government hand-outs, government pensions and large taxpayer-funded personal expense accounts. And since Mulcair is competitive- the zombie Chow has a new found hunger for political power.

Before we know it, other long dead NDP hateful, anti-Israeli wing nuts as Libby Davies and Svend Robinson, will be making their own zombie comebacks.

Mulcair, a Quebec-based politician, like the clueless Trudeau, who promoted the toxic Eve Adams in Eglinton-Lawrence,  does not know the frack about Toronto politics.

In the recent city-wide 2014 Toronto city mayoral election, Chow was thoroughly humiliated as she came in a very distant third, (23%) having lost to John Tory (40%) and Doug Ford (33%).Chow did not even carry the municipal wards of her former federal riding of Trinity-Spadina.

Chow lost with good reason.

Chow came across as a horrible politician and public figure. She was inarticulate, ill-informed, uninspiring and generally confused and ignorant about the issues.

When Chow stupidly and arrogantly favored buses for Scarberians as opposed to subways, she lost all of the suburban vote and the whole election- right then and there.

No one believed or trusted Chow when she talked out of two sides of her mouth. On one side-fiscal prudence- on the other side- Chow promised budget-breaking and expensive social programs for children and unemployed youth.

Chow’s pathetic political performance exposed a harsh political truth.

Chow’s previous political success, especially in federal politics, was clearly as a result of Chow riding the coat tails of her charismatic, articulate husband, Jack Layton.

And without Layton or his people to prop up the wooden Chow, she fell dramatically on her political face.

Mulcair and his people think that in this upcoming federal election, Chow will fare better as she is running in Spadina-Fort York. Parts of this new federal riding constitute her old federal riding of Trinity-Spadina, which she represented as an NDP MP prior to her ill-fated attempt to run for Toronto city mayor.

But this time, Chow faces a formidable, street-fighting opponent in incumbent Liberal MP Adam Vaughan.

Vaughan has already mercilessly lambasted Chow for being a power-hungry, cynical, opportunist and serial quitter,  accusing of Chow of quitting Ottawa to run for the Toronto mayoralty. And now quitting Ryerson as a visiting instructor to run once again federally for the NDP in parts of her old riding.

This federal campaign will be down and dirty and nasty. And thoroughly enjoyable.

I predict Chow will be once again humiliated in defeat.

But more importantly, the very fact that Mulcair has put his good name behind Chow,  this radical socialist tax and spend, anti-biz, anti-private sector,  John Sewell-like scary/crazy career pol from the 80s will hurt Mulcair personally and the NDP brand in all of Ontario.

For us, conservative political pundits, the return of the politically unrepentant and undead zombie Chow, is like Christmas and Hanukah in July.

In the next few months we are going to have so much fun driving political stakes in that cold-hearted Chow.

Check out the undead Chow’s recent campaign announcement. Her mouth is moving, but not the rest of her face. She is mouthing the words.  But her eyes do not move. She is Soulless,  As Mulcair pulls her strings.  She is so scary.
Chow’s campaign is going to be a freaking horror show.

I can’t wait.

It’s all about Olivia: Mulcair makes his own Eve Adams blunder

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Politics

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair just committed his worst political blunder of this ongoing unofficial federal election campaign. He permitted and in fact promoted the candidacy of Olivia Chow to run as the federal NDP candidate in the newly-formed downtown Toronto Spadina-Fort York riding.

Yes, that Olivia Chow! Yesterday’s, Yesterday’s, Yesterday’s Woman. Holier than Chow. The Yoko Ono of federal politics. Chow has more political baggage than Imelda Marcos has shoes.

Chow is back from the political dead. The NDP’s own version of the Zombie Apocalyspe.

Note: zombies are undead creatures, typically depicted as mindless, reanimated human corpses with a hunger for human flesh.

In the case of NDP Chow, she is a mindless, reanimated human corpse with a hunger for hard-working Canadian taxpayers’ money, government hand-outs, government pensions and large taxpayer-funded personal expense accounts. And since Mulcair is competitive, the zombie Chow has a new found hunger for political power.

Before we know it, other long dead NDP hateful, anti-Israel wingnuts as Libby Davies and Svend Robinson, will be making their own zombie comebacks.

Mulcair, a Quebec-based politician, like the clueless Trudeau – who promoted the toxic Eve Adams in Eglinton-Lawrence – does not know frack all about Toronto politics.

In the recent Toronto city mayoral election, Chow was thoroughly humiliated as she came in a very distant third (23%,) losing to John Tory (40%) and Doug Ford (33%).

Chow did not even carry the municipal wards of her former federal riding of Trinity-Spadina.

Chow lost with good reason.

Chow came across as a horrible politician and public figure. She was inarticulate, ill-informed, uninspiring and generally confused and ignorant about the issues.

When Chow stupidly and arrogantly favored buses for Scarberians as opposed to subways, she lost all of the suburban vote and the whole election right then and there.

No one believed or trusted Chow when she talked out of two sides of her mouth. On one side, Chow talked fiscal prudence; on the other side, Chow promised budget-breaking and expensive social programs for children and unemployed youth.

Chow’s pathetic political performance exposed a harsh political truth.

Chow’s previous political success, especially in federal politics, was clearly as a result Chow riding the coat tails of her charismatic, charming and articulate husband, Jack Layton.

And without Layton or his people to prop up the wooden Chow, she fell dramatically on her political face.

Mulcair and his people think that in this upcoming federal election, Chow will fare better as she is running in Spadina-Fort York. Parts of this new federal riding constitute her old federal riding of Trinity-Spadina, which she represented as an NDP MP prior to her ill-fated attempt to run for Toronto city mayor.

But this time, Chow faces a formidable, street-fighting opponent in incumbent Liberal MP Adam Vaughan, who has already publicly and mercilessly lambasted Chow for being a power-hungry cynical, opportunist and serial quitter. Accusing of Chow of quitting Ottawa to run for the Toronto mayor. And now quitting Ryerson as a visiting instructor to run once again federally for the NDP in parts of her old riding.

This federal campaign will be down and dirty and nasty. And thoroughly enjoyable.

I predict Chow will once again be humiliated in defeat.

But more importantly, the very fact that Mulcair has put his good name behind Chow, this radical socialist tax and spend, anti-biz, anti-private sector, John Sewell-like scary/crazy career pol from the 80s will hurt Mulcair personally and the NDP brand in all of Ontario.

For conservative political pundits, the return of the politically unrepentant and undead zombie Chow is like Christmas and Hanukah in July.

In the next few months we are going to have so much fun driving political stakes in that cold-hearted Chow.

Check out the undead Chow’s recent campaign announcement. Her mouth is moving, but not the rest of her face. She is mouthing the words. But her eyes do not move. She is soulless, as Mulcair pulls her strings. Scary.

Chow’s campaign is going to be a freaking horror show.

I can’t wait.

City planner Jennifer Keesmaat: Today Toronto, tomorrow the world

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Politics

(CONTENT WARNING: Satire) High profile Toronto Chief Planner Jennifer Keesmaat suddenly resigned her position yesterday.

According to anonymous and unreliable union sources employed at City Hall, Keesmaat – frustrated by being muzzled by Mayor John Tory during the recent epic debate surrounding the fate of the eastern portion of Gardiner Expressway – decided to throw in the towel, and called it quits at City Hall.

Keesmaat had also publicly gone on Twitter and publicly tweeted her support for her position and tried to shame Tory into changing his position.

“@johntory: tyme2 show some cojones+ #deep6GardEast” – @jen_keesmaat

“@johntory: bikes be4 hiways, bro! Yur hybrid=another DumbTrack” – @jen_keesmaat

It did not help Ms. Keesmaat with the mayor and his supporters on council when in March, at an event hosted by the Urban Land Institute, Keesmaat embarrassed Mayor Tory by publicly correcting Mayor Tory, not once but twice when Tory was called upon to respond to questions about the planner’s budget.

Obviously referring to Toronto’s previous mayor as well, Keesmaat was heard to mutter, “What’s the deal with you old white guys? Why is math so difficult for you guys?”

According to the Globe & Mail, Keesmaat also did not endear herself to certain male councillors repping the Toronto suburbs, when she referred to them, as “insufferable Neanderthal knuckle-dragging troglodytes” for their continued support of the use of the automobile as a means of transport from the suburbs of Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough to downtown Toronto and throughout the GTA.

To his credit James Pasternak, councilor for North York Ward 10, had previously publicly criticized Keesmaat for her highly impolitic comments when, referring to Keesmaat, he stated, “To take to the air waves and trumpet your own  personal beliefs when you’re serving a city council and serving a mayor, for many around here, that’s going too far.”

To Keesmaat and her loony leftist supporters on City Council, such as Joe Mihevc and Paula Fletcher,  “cars and trucks should neither be seen or heard south of Highway 401”.

If Keesmaat had the power, she would ban cars and trucks from downtown Toronto entirely.

Rumour has it that Keesmaat has been urged to throw her hat in the political ring and challenge Mayor Tory in 2018.

Maggie Atwood, political activist and sometime author recently took to Twitter.

“@jen_keesmaat: We got yur back. #BuryGardiner+Toryin2018” – @MargaretAtwood

As Keesmaat was leaving City Hall, she sounded almost Churchillian as she issued these parting words to her cheering supporters and the press:

“We may have lost this battle against cars, but we have not lost the war against cars.

“As for you gas-guzzling and carbon-emitting suburbanites, we shall fight you on the Lakeshore. We shall fight you in the Beaches. Er, Beach. Whatever.

“We shall fight you in the hills (Forest Hill) and the valleys (Rosedale.)

“We shall never allow this island of old and new wealth and white privilege to be befouled by you and your kind and your mobile instruments of death and destruction.”

It looks like we have not heard the last of the unsinkable and unstoppable Jennifer Keesmaat.

Harper and Mulcair reach out to the adulterer vote

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Politics

(CONTENT WARNING: Mature language and satire) In a brilliant media coup, a newly formed consortium of Netflix, Cineplex and Ashley Madison, the notorious dating website for cheating spouses, has secured the exclusive rights to host and broadcast the fifth, last and probably most important federal election debate between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and NDP Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair.

Noel Biderman, the King of Infidelity and the driving force behind this counter-cultural consortium, affectionately dubbed “Woodstock”, held a news conference today at the Toronto Four Seasons, the site of the final and probably epic Harper/Mulcair debate.

Biderman was flanked by his partners Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings and Ellis Jacob, CEO of Cineplex.

Biderman proclaimed, “The old, fat consortium of CBC, Global, CTV and Radio-Canada is so 1999. Especially, the CBC. It is done. Finito. It is time to stick a fork in it.

“Welcome to the future, bitches.”

Biderman continued, “Millions of Canadians are voting with their feet, cutting their tv cables and joining Netflix. Millions of Canadians every day  are experiencing the thrills of Cineplex films, in state of the art Cineplex theatres throughout Canada. And of course, millions of Canadians are having extra-marital flings or fantasizing about having such sexy hook-ups. And Ashley Madison has been there to help fulfill these dreams.

“The actual debate will take place here at the Four Seasons’ d/bar, the home and inspiration for countless trysts, casual encounters and nascent affairs. I will host the one-on-one, no holds barred debate between Prime Minister Harper and NDP leader Mulcair.

“This debate will be broadcast free of charge online through Netflix, in both official languages and in many other unofficial languages. And in all Cineplex theatres throughout the country, for those who do not have access to the internet.

“The consortium will also be working with such popular sites and apps as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Tinder, Tumblr, Grindr, Vine, Vice, Uber, Spotify, many of which sound really cool, but I don’t know what the f**k they actually do.”

“We are confident that our consortium will broadcast to over 15 million potential Canadian voters!”

Kory Teneycke, spokesman for the federal Conservatives, stated, “When Noel first approached us, we were a little skeptical.  But when he showed us the hard numbers of how many millions of male and female Canadians cheat on their spouses, same sex partners, common law spouses, girlfriends, boyfriends,  even their casual ‘friends with benefits,’ we were frankly blown away.

Apparently “stepping out on your man or woman” cuts across all income, racial, ethnic, religious, geographic and political lines, from Victoria, BC to Come by Chance, Newfoundland.  (Pun intended)

It appears that adultery is as Canadian as hockey or a Tim Hortons “double double”.

Teneycke also added, “As you know, our official position is that times have changed, and all political parties must change with the times. And we did not believe that the traditional debate format proposed by the CBC-led consortium properly addressed the pressing issues affecting current hard working Canadians.”

“Our unofficial position, off the record, is that we believe that CBC (and to a lesser extent CTV, Global and Radio-Canada) is filled with left-leaning, anti-Harper, anti-Conservative,  a-holes who willingly engage in self-flagellation at the mere mention of  the Second Coming of Trudeau Jr.. So any time we can stick it to those Omar Khadr-loving lefties, is a bonus for us.”

NDP leader Tom Mulcair echoed these very same sentiments, when he stated, “We welcome the involvement and sponsorship of the fifth debate by the team of Netflix, Cineplex and of course, Ashley Madison.”

“I understand many NDP members are frequent and regular visitors to the Ashley Madison site, especially our Quebec wing. Consisting of former BQ members, whose loyalties, how do you say in English, are always fluid and suspect.”

“As you also know, the NDP party prides itself on being a ‘Big Tent.’ On being inclusive and expansive.

And attracting all kinds of rogues, reprobates and scum-sucking bottom feeders.”

Congratulations to Patrick Brown

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Politics

This was supposed to be a coronation for Christine Elliott. Instead, the queen in waiting pulled a Hillary Clinton circa 2008 and lost to a relatively unknown candidate, who out hustled and out organized her. And thoroughly destroyed Elliott in all parts of the province. Even in the GTA. Even in Ford Nation, notwithstanding the support of the Ford brothers.

I like Christine Elliott as a person. She has substance. She was a practicing lawyer, a business person, a mother who raised three sons, and a terrifically supportive partner of her husband Jim Flaherty.  She has been a tireless campaigner for the Conservative cause and an excellent MPP for her riding.

Ms. Elliott has integrity. She has character. In sum, a mensch.

But she is not and has never been leadership material.

Notwithstanding all of Elliott’s strong qualities and intelligence, she performed very weakly at Queen’s Park. Her opponents Vic Fedeli and Lisa MacLeod – though not as well known as Ms. Elliott – day by day hammered the McGuinty and then the Wynne government over its many scandals: OLG, Ornge, the cancellation of the gas plants, the deletion of the emails,  and MARS2.

For the most part, Elliott was missing in action. She just did not come across as tough and strong, even in opposition.

Despite all of Elliott’s experience and intelligence and alleged knowledge of the provincial issues, Elliott’s campaign was a disaster. She came across as painfully boring and a totally uninspiring speaker, reminiscent of the disastrous Olivia Chow, during her pathetic attempt to win the Toronto mayoral race.

What were Elliott and her brain trust thinking when they assumed the same Yonge Street location as the political headquarters of Olivia Chow? Talk about bad karma. Talk about guilt by location.

To a large extent Elliott snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. She showed very poor judgment in apparently just relying upon support from her caucus, who failed to deliver their own people in their own ridings. Elliott also seemed to just rely upon the same political advisers and political elites who were responsible for Tory defeats in the last four elections.

Talk about the gang who could not shoot straight!

To Brown’s credit, he was not another right wing tone-deaf socially conservative Tim Hudak clone.

To the surprise of Elliott and her people, Brown pulled a Jason Kenney and he went out to all the socially conservative new Canadian groups, in the 905 areas and beyond, and brought in a ton of new Conservative supporters, among the South Asian, Tamil, Arab, Muslim and Asian communities.

Brown and his people did what Elliott should have done. Gone out and brought in new members, from the ethnic communities who had gradually gravitated to the federal Conservative fold through the efforts of Kenney and Harper.

Instead, Elliott played it safe. She made few errors, but she was destroyed nonetheless.

Though the left wing media has and will paint Brown as a hard core right wing nut, he is and will be a formidable opponent to Premier Wynne. He is very likeable. He is charming. He is young, smart and very aggressive.

Not only did Brown attract thousands and thousands of new members from previously non Conservative communities. More importantly he and his organization were able to successfully get these new Conservatives to come out and vote – a true test of Brown’s organizational skills and formidable ground game, in this case reminiscent of Obama’s successful ground game.

Premier Wynne, be afraid. Be very afraid. Your time in office is well past due. And the new invigorated Conservatives are stronger than ever and they are coming after you and your scandal-ridden government.

Yoga for conservatives

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Lifestyle, Politics

I am thinking of starting a new Facebook Group, for stressed-out conservatives who have seen our hopes of a conservative resurgence in Ontario provincial politics dashed regularly by unpopular and politically tone-deaf provincial conservative leaders.

On the federal level, now we are faced with the popularity of one of the most content-free, superficial and dangerous federal Liberal leaders in recent memory.  The Boy Wonder Justin with the great hair and economic/environmental policies that may destroy our stable Canadian economy.

Much as Trudeau Sr. did in the ‘70s and early ‘80s.

If Trudeau the pretty boy puppet is elected, will he carbon tax us Canadians to financial death? Will he stop the oil pipelines flowing oil east to west and west to east and kneecap our oil and gas industry – the economic engine of our Canadian economy?

One day, Trudeau is pro-Israel, the next day he is pro Palestinian while he parties at mosques connected to Islamic terrorists, bent on destroying Israel, killing Christians and wreaking havoc on the west.

Once elected as PM, will he throw Israel and Jews under the bus as he courts Canadians who want to impose Sharia law in our communities in violation of our Canadian rights, freedoms and values.

As conservatives, how do we combat this New Age Adonis?

Well, instead of pulling our graying hair out, we should fight fire with fire.

We should breathe new life into our conservative mission, by stopping, and literally breathing in and out – yoga style.

Close our eyes and dream of a Canada, free of hypocritical, opportunistic Trudeauites and loony leftists.

We should inhale through our noses and let our breath circulate through our joints, muscles and up and down our chests and backs.

After a series of preliminary poses, (Sun Salutations, Downward Facing Dog, cat and cow poses) which loosen our limbs and open our hearts to new thoughts and ideas, we should then engage in my favorite pose: Warrior II, known as Virabhadrasna II.

After several years, I am still a novice yogi, but my yoga instructor, the strong and ethereal Iris, is the real deal.

  • 1. Open the arms so they are parallel to the floor. When the right leg is forward, bring the right arm in front of you and the left arm behind.
  • 2. Open the left hip toward the back of your mat.
  • 3. Keep the right knee bent and the right thigh parallel to the floor.
  • 4. Draw the belly in slightly.
  • 5. Find the shoulders directly over the hips.
  • 6. Reach out through both finger tips.
  • 7. The gaze is forward over the right hand.
  • 8. Engage the triceps to support the arms, and the quadriceps to support the legs.

Repeat on the left side.

Make sure the right knee stays tracked over the middle toe of the right foot. Don’t allow the knee to drift over to the left.

Hold the pose for ten breaths.

This yoga pose strengthen the legs and arms, opens the chest and shoulders, tones the abdomen and makes us fighting Conservatives – strong enough to take on the invading hordes of Trudeau lefty lightweights who want to weaken our national resolve and take us back to the disastrous tax and spend/stagflation days of Trudeau Sr.

Namaste, you left-leaning Liberal/lefty bastards!

Toronto Globe’s Antipathy Towards the Fords Has Tainted Its Coverage of Olivia Chow, John Tory

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in John Tory, Olivia Chow, Politics

I have been reading the Toronto Globe and Mail, religiously, for over 40 years.

At one time, the Globe was considered very highly as Canada’s national paper, “The New York Times (NYT) of the North”.

Note this was during the golden newspaper years of “The Pentagon Papers” and “Watergate” when the Washington Post and NYT were the “go to” media for objective, unbiased reporting and analytical and critical commentary.And the Globe was not far behind.

But today, the Globe- a mere shadow of its former glory.

I must confess. I still enjoy reading some Globe’s columnists. Liz Renzetti’s Saturday column is always sharp and funny. Ian Brown still writes beautifully.

Margaret Wente still impresses me with her courageous anti-liberal writing. And Liam Lacey’s film reviews are consistently bang on.

I also miss the excellent political reporting of Karen Howlett, former Queen’s Park senior reporter, who was always tough, but fair and never pulled any punches- with any politician regardless of political or ideological background.

But the same cannot be said for the current crop of Globe urban reporters and columnists- especially those involved with the almost year long Toronto mayoral election.

Globe’s professionalism

Okay. I get it. The Globe and its staff were so turned off by the personal problems of Mayor Rob Ford ( the crack smoking, the alcoholism, the inappropriate language while inebriated) that it parked its journalistic integrity at the door, when it came to reporting on Rob Ford.

I do not agree with this position. It reflects badly on the Globe’s professionalism.

But what I further do not understand is why has the Globe failed to hold to account the other candidates- Olivia Chow and John Tory.

From practically the moment Chow entered the race in March, 2014, her campaign was in trouble.

Although Chow had name recognition and was known as popular Jack Layton’s spouse, Chow also carried a ton of political baggage. She was feared as an extreme “tax and spend” lefty, way to the left of David Miller and closer to the scary John Sewell.

Many Toronto voters had never forgiven her for living in a subsidized three bedroom co-op unit while her family income exceeded $120, 000. Chow also had a negative reputation for having one of the highest office and personal expense budgets of all Ontario federal politicians.

Right out of the box, she insulted and alienated a majority of the Toronto voters in the vote-rich suburbs of Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough with her proposal to terminate the very popular and fully funded Scarborough subway for a third-rate bus and LRT solution.

Her first debate was a disaster. She was clearly defeated by Rob Ford. Chow came across in that debate as inarticulate, uninformed, confused and unintelligent.

I believe that Chow never recovered from that disastrous performance and her campaign went downhill from there.

But as to the Globe reporters, they ignored all of Chow’s negative baggage and they ignored her poor debating style,  her uninspiring speeches and her unpopular policies.

Instead, it appeared the Globe reporters and analysts tried to prop up Chow for months with biased and uncritical “puff” pieces as indicated herein. (Here, Here, and Here)

It took the Globe about 7 months (September, 2014) to publicly admit that Chow’s election was in serious trouble.

But consistent with its anti-Ford bias, the Globe then turned to propping up and implicitly promoting John Tory, by once again failing to do its journalistic job and critically holding Tory to account.

For example, the Globe failed to take Tory to task for his classless personal attack on Doug Ford on the very day Doug announced that his brother Rob had cancer, was withdrawing and Doug was taking his place in the campaign.

Secondly, the Globe failed to properly call into question the gaps in John Tory’s business career- ie his many years of being on the board of directors of Charter Communications which went into bankruptcy.

The Globe also failed to question how John Tory with very little media experience could be hired as CEO of Rogers Media by family friend, Ted Rogers.

Recall Ted Rogers was first a lawyer at the firm founded by John Tory’s father and uncle, Torys. And then Ted Rogers and Rogers Communications became a major client of the same firm.

In this instance, the Globe failed miserably to ask and answer the musical question, “If John Tory’s last name was “Smith”, would John “Smith” have had any business career?”

The Globe’s crack investigative team also failed to delve into John Tory’s involvement with Rogers’ publicly disastrous “negative option billing scheme, during Tory’s time at Rogers Media.

In a Toronto Region Board of Trade debate, Tory had the chutzpah to deny that he was at Rogers when negative option billing was introduced.

In fact, I recall Tory was hired in 1995, one month after this negative option billing policy was introduced at Rogers Cable. And I remember distinctly that John Tory was given the task of managing consumer opposition to this Rogers’ policy, where consumers were additionally billed for services to which they had not consented.

Instead of critically analyzing Tory’s business career, the Globe instead hit a new journalistic low with its recent so-called expose of Doug Ford’s business experience at his family firm, Deco Labels.

Crack investigative journalist Robyn Doolittle, ( remember her from the Rob Ford crack video expose) thought she made a journalistic scoop by revealing that Doug Ford’s attempt to set up New Jersey branch met with failure.

Conversely, she proved that Doug Ford was a superior businessman to Tory, because Doolittle’s article instead revealed that Doug Ford single-handedly turned a non-existent Chicago office into a successful operation, purely as a result of his own efforts.

Ironically, other large Canadian companies, unlike Deco Labels-Chicago- failed to succeed in the United States ( ie Royal Bank, Canadian Tire and Peoples Credit Jewelers, to name a few). So the fact that Deco Labels- New Jersey failed, does not detract from Doug Ford’s success in the tough American market.
In sum, how the mighty Globe has fallen.

The Globe’s failure to hold Fords’ opponents to account during this mayoral election has called into question its journalistic integrity and objectivity.

Time will tell whether the Globe will ever recapture its journalistic reputation.