Ontario Liberal’s Green Plates: a licence to be smug
Thursday, August 9th, 2007The Ontario Liberal's new environmental "incentive program" was unveiled yesterday. This scheme would allow the province to hand out special eco-licence plates to owners of low-emmision cars such as the Toyota Prius. The details are still being hammered out, but owners of these special green plates could be entitled to free parking and the right to use high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes. Woot!
At first glance, this eco-plate scheme sounds harmless enough: a low-cost, low-impact bit of PR. Look a little deeper, however, the the scheme is nothing but a minor Liberal tip-of-the-hat to the wealthiest Ontarians who could (if they wanted) purchase an expensive hybrid car. The plan will do nothing to help alleviate global warming or get cars off congested roads. And it will do nothing to improve public transit. In fact, the eco-licence will bring additional traffic and demand for parking.
Sorry Dalton, but we need tougher emissions laws now to make it hard for car makers to sell cars that spew carbon. Your recently announced $650-million fund to develop green cars in Ontario sounds like money wasted on big auto makers. Why not direct that fund into an Ontario-grown green transit manufacturer. Put green buses on the roads and help Ontario industry re-tool to build renewable energy products. Then you might get my Green vote.
