A more recent curse of our democratic system has been the preoccupation of politicians with their legacy. We see this in the common theme among politicians at all levels for an underground transit system that will whisk people from one side of the GTA to the other in minutes. No doubt that would be nice. But at what cost and what real payback? Whether you like the St. Clair Street right-of-way or not, it has sliced merely two minutes off of a trolley ride from Yonge Street to Weston Rd. And as the bureaucrats at Metrolinx, the Ontario agency that plans and organizes transit, lay out ideas for raising $2 billion annually to support transit, are they too, like the politicians, dreaming of a transit system that will be a monument to their time in office? You get the feeling that the generals at Metrolinx are ready to fight the last war. Canada is on the cusp of electric and natural gas technology that will revolutionize bus travel. It seems possible to create buses that are cheap, clean and highly flexible in traffic and routing. No doubt the great transit thinkers will poo-poo such ideas. It’s the same in the area of waste. Politicians cling to the disastrous notions of burying garbage rather than burning it for energy and heat. Ontario is carrying crushing debt. The idea of adding a percentage point to the provincial portion of the HST is insanity, as is an increase on gasoline taxes. The message to the Ontario government should be to slow down and re-think transit based on what’s really needed.
