Cycling to work in the dark if EU has its way

Power Poohbahs at the European Commission, who want to phase out “conventionally fuelled” cars from urban areas to purportedly cut reliance on oil and help cut out carbon emissions by 60%, lifted their idea straight from the City of Toronto. The “crazies in Toronto” worked feverishly over the years to return this “world class” city to the horse and buggy days and they aren’t kidding. As a city councillor, Jack Layton proposed banning cars entirely from downtown Toronto (Toronto Star, A6, September 26, 1991).

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In Layton’s technicolor dreams Toronto’s downtown core would become car-free and the city would provide free bicycles if only Jack Layton were mayor. Layton (mercifully) never made it as mayor being toppled in the polls by June Rowlands, someone his supporters nicknamed “the old gray mare”. You might have thought voters would have packed Layton in organically made mothballs. But today he is leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP) and works in the background with Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois to form a Coalition--whether or not the Stephen Harper-led Conservative government wins re-election or not. Layton wasn’t the only ban-the-car politician on Toronto City Council. Councillor Peter Tabuns, former head of Greenpeace Canada, today is a NDP Member of Provincial Parliament, and the party's finance critic. Layton and Tabuns used to greet subway riders behind face masks with literature warning them that the air in Ontario was killing people. Tabuns once went on a boycott of Harvey’s Hamburgers, because they had made a political contribution to the provincial Progressive Conservative Party. Derision followed for him when it was revealed that Harvey’s had contributed to all three provincial political parties--including his own. This writer will never forget the day she spotted Tabuns hurrying back to his office with a bagged lunch--the bag clearly marked Harvey’s. All kooky ideas in North America come from Toronto and San Francisco, and at times it is difficult to determine which of the two is kookier. The ban on cars was part of the 76-point “green vision for Toronto” announced by Layton. “I’m saying start small, with gradual expansion,” Layton said. “It would improve air quality, which is in a serious state of deterioration, and it would make a statement that Toronto is moving to alternatives to cars.” (Toronto Star, A6, September 26, 1991). Meanwhile, the EU which is seeing many of its member nations teeter on the edge of bankruptcy, is working on a major Travel Shift. “As part of this, it wants half of “middle distance journeys” between cities--above approximately 186 miles--to shift from road to rail.” (BBC News, March 26, 2011). “Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said this move, plus the phasing out of petrol or diesel cars in city centres, need not inconvenience people.” Not being able to get your aging parent to the doctor’s office or get you to work on time is not really an inconvenience to Siim. UK Transport Minister Norman Baker saw red through the EU’s latest green move, saying that it should not be “involved” in individual cities’ transport choices. “We will not be banning cars from city centres anymore than we will be having rectangular bananas,” he said. The City of Toronto was cut a break when Rob Ford, the first conservative in memory, was elected Mayor last November. The same can’t be said for the federal level where the anti-car Layton, among other NDippers, play tiddlywinks with the Liberals and separatists for a Canadian Government by Coalition. This is the scenario for 2050 if the EU has its way: The elite will travel throughout the cities by chauffeur-driven sedans similar to Obama’s “Beast”; the serfs will get to work by hoof, bike or rail. Don’t think it’s possible? Remember, at first they came for Mr. Edison’s incandescent lightbulb, under a total Canadian ban on a deadline of 2012 and beginning a phase out in the USA by 2012.