Thursday, November 16, 2006

Under Fire


Canada's Environment Minister, Rona Ambrose, who is elected to the House of Commons from Alberta has been under fire by opposition parties and foreign countries, both, recently. NDP, the Liberals and two other parties are saying that her plan to reduce greenhouse emissions - which goes all the way to year 2050 - is useless and an immediate and quicker plan should be put in place.
On the other hand in recent UN meeting in Nairobi, Canada is was accused of not committing to Kyoto Treaty, the one that has been signed by Jean Chretien.
As a Canadian citizen I don't see any way that reducing greenhouse gases is possible. What makes Carbon Dioxide? The main source is vehicle and there are millions of them in Canada. Do people here give up their cars? No way! It's impossible to live without a car here. Many families got more than two! The Government and the North American way of life urges you to have a car and they force you to have a bigger and newer every day. They give you loan and credit and make it possible for you to by a car which costs thousands of dollars with as low as a few hundred dollars a month. Beside that the public transportation system is so awful you automatically get turned away from it! Old buses which are slow and make you wait minutes in the cold, with short hour services that don't take you wherever you want. Shopping is almost impossible without a car and you need to shop at least once a week. And then there are seeing a doctor and other medical and health needs, having a hair cut, visiting people and many other activities which turn to misery if you take public transit! One more thing is the size of the cities. They are so wide that taking a bus or train is just waste of fucking time. For example compare the way I go to work:




  1. I wake up at 06:30 AM.


  2. I dress up and get out.


  3. If it's snowy and cold, I wipe up the car and let it running for a few min. If not just ignite the car.


  4. I drive to work.


  5. I'm at work at 07:00 AM!

Loot at the way I use public transit to get to work, if I have to:

The only route that takes me somewhere close to the plant is route 433 and that leaves at 06:17 AM from a C-train station, the closest to my work place:



  1. I have to wake up at 05:30 AM.


  2. I have to walk to C-train station which takes at least 20 min.


  3. I have to get the train and be very careful and fast enough in order not to miss the 06:00 AM train.


  4. I have to be at the bus station any time before 06:17 AM.


  5. I ride the bus.


  6. I have to get off at the closest station to the plant.


  7. I have to walk to the plant.


  8. I prob. would be there around 06:35 to 06:40 AM.

As you see in the second scenario I have to wake up 1 hour earlier and be there 20 min. early while I don't get paid for that. So what does a smart person do? Does he or she rides a bus and train or drives?

There's a chance to ride a bike probably in Apr. or after but it's a long time until then. The winter has just started. We got 5 months to go! And sometimes it's not even possible to do that with damn scattered showers and hail storms we have here every summer.
(Photo: Rona Ambrose, MP from Alberta and the Minister of Environment)

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