July 30, 2001

5:02 AM

I guess we'll walk.Much of eastern Canada is currently in the grip of one of the worst summers for smog on record, and a recent poll showed that 58 per cent of Canadians support the idea of limiting car use on smoggy days. However, just 37 per cent said they were willing to pay more taxes in order to improve public transportation.
posted by tranquileye (14 comments total)

Problems such as this is what makes Canada a third- world nation and why we should seal off the borders so we can stay clean and healthy in the U.S. visit Cancun for a honeymoon, not Niagra Falls (Viagra Falls?).
posted by Postroad at 5:17 AM on July 30, 2001

You should always park on snoggy days.
posted by pracowity at 5:43 AM on July 30, 2001

Here is a related article about what Cadillac Fairview Corp is doing for both themselves and the environment.
posted by the_ill_gino at 5:56 AM on July 30, 2001

Don't Canadians already pay the highest income tax in North America? I was under the impression that Canada is our neighborly Sweden. Why would anyone living there would even want to pay any more taxes? You guys should find ways to better allocate the tax money you already have than adding new taxes.

[How about getting rid of that Gov. General. Who pays for him? England? or Smog ridden Canadian tax payers? I am sure his salary could buy a few busses for Ottawa.]
posted by tamim at 6:32 AM on July 30, 2001

Postroad, thanks for being such a troll.

Tamim, taxes in Canada are nowhere near as high as in Sweden. My partner is a Swedephile and knows many Swedes who have come to Canada because the taxes are lower. And the Governor-General is a woman, by the way.

And, wow, an American telling us to "better allocate the tax money." Pot calling the kettle black.
posted by tranquileye at 7:01 AM on July 30, 2001

We even had a smog warning in Nova Scotia last week, which is virtually unheard of! I grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, though - where such warnings were pretty much expected in the summer.

Ironically, tamim, Ottawa is probably one of the few Canadian cities that doesn't need more busses. :) I lived there for a while and they have a pretty great transit system, and lots of people use it. Whoever designed the Transitway was a genius.
posted by sanitycheck at 7:04 AM on July 30, 2001

The article's only mention of "eastern" Canada is this: "Atlantic Canada has had five smog advisories so far this year, as opposed to an average of three or four for the whole season."

This may be news to Torontonians, but Ontario and Quebec are central Canada, not eastern. The smog problem this summer is largely confined to central Canada (and Toronto, actually).

Just a quickie question here: If Ontario is "eastern," where are Newfoundland, PEI, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick?
posted by joeclark at 7:05 AM on July 30, 2001

Joe, if the city is in the CFL East, it's "Eastern." :-)
posted by tranquileye at 7:07 AM on July 30, 2001

How about getting rid of that Gov. General. Who pays for him?

Ahem.
posted by holgate at 7:31 AM on July 30, 2001

Newfoundland, PEI, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are all "Atlantic" rather than Eastern.

At least, that's what they taught us in Alberta. Of course, they also taught us that Eastern Canada was the Great Satan, and that the Quebecois ate babies....
posted by aramaic at 7:32 AM on July 30, 2001

> visit Cancun for a honeymoon, not Niag[a]ra Falls

Niagara Falls, Canada, is a million times cleaner and friendlier than Niagara Falls, US, which is a smelly, industrialized, poisonous trash heap. Of course, this is largely because there are far fewer Americans on the Canadian side.

- The troll under the Rainbow Bridge
posted by pracowity at 7:39 AM on July 30, 2001

Public transit in Toronto, at least, is funded only by property taxes and fares, not income tax. The system is no longer funded by the province or the feds, despite the disproportionate amount of income tax they take out of Toronto. City taxes are property taxes. The result of this is that about 80% of the transit system's operating budget comes from fares.
posted by transient at 7:41 AM on July 30, 2001

Smog update from PEI, north of Maine but much nicer - it's all coming over from Toronto and the Eastern US. We have no industry here - the biggest real threat for air quality is potato spraying. It's clear now but we had some (relatively) bad days last week.
posted by hannahkitty at 8:51 AM on July 30, 2001

It's weird, as Suzuki's guy points out, that the survey did not ask whether people would approve the use of existing tax funds to improve public transport. Yet another example of how surveys skew opinion.
posted by D at 9:08 AM on July 30, 2001