What's hot this election? Buses. Everybody has one. The political
leaders have several -- shuttling around the country and ready to
meet them when their planes touch down for some blur of a campaign
stop. The television networks have buses too -- in an effort to
catch up with the politicians, but also to connect with voters on
the ground. Buses even drove into the U.S. election theatre when
President George Bush's team accused his rival John Kerry of
unpatriotically hiring a Canadian-made coach for its candidate.
Oops, retraction -- it turned out the Bush-bus came from Canada too.
It's a good bet
that the leaders of the NDP, Liberals and New Tories will get to
experience how the road feels -- whether pot-holed or smooth,
congested or wide open. Even in vote-rich rural areas,
highways can be unpredictably congested -- especially on weekends.
Unless their campaigns caravans receive special priority on the
roads, rush hour and cottage-bound traffic jams will put Messrs.
Layton, Harper and Martin in the same bus as the rest of us.
With gas prices
apparently easing, road-related issues may wander off the election
map -- but the problems will continue to loiter. Cities are groaning
under the weight of steady growth, yet not keeping up with commuting
infrastructure. Air quality does not appear to be improving. The
National Highway "System" continues to see piecemeal enlargement,
and the state of unreliable border crossings worry the hell out of
our goods haulers.
Yes, the
Liberals began making air-drops of cash onto those crises in the
last year -- in advance of this election -- but so far the money
appears to have scattered in the wind. Except in the Maritimes, it
is hard to see much tangible improvement in the form of new highways
and bridges, nor has government helped beef up rail lines. In the
cities, the feds have entered into areas they previously ignored,
like overdue transit projects -- but again, only in the last year.
What would the other parties do?
Let's start --
briefly -- with the Green Party. The Greens, should they earn any
seats and find their way into a tight minority government, would
push to cancel federal highway subsidies, saving Ottawa $150 million
a year. They also want a national GST “feebate” program to boost
sales of fuel-efficient cars and trucks. With a posture akin to the
Conservatives, the Green Party aren't in a rush to start dealing
with municipalities, preferring to let them sort it out with their
traditional masters -- provincial governments.
The NDP want to
widen the local-federal axis, newly created by Prime Minister Paul
Martin after much pressure from urbanites.
The New
Democrats trump Martin's "New Deal" for cities -- saying he'll never
follow through -- with the "Real Deal for Municipalities".
Naturally, the NDP's plan includes much more money than what the
Liberals and Conservatives promise. The main vehicle for all this
"new" money? The three main national parties target the federal
excise tax on gasoline.
The Grits claim
they will eventually direct five cents per litre of the tax to local
governments, while the Neo-Tories say they will transfer "at least
three cents of the gas tax to the provinces." The latter have no
intention of growing either federal or local governments -- for them
the province is paramount.
The
Conservatives go further on the gas tax however, proposing to rein
in the GST when gas prices rise above 85 cents. Indeed, this and
other tax cuts, along with new spending on health care, will push
aside any major spending for infrastructure like roads and bridges.
The Tories appear intent on having the provinces sort the congestion
deficit out on their own.
Ed Drass, with
files by James Bow
National Post
Have a question
for the Traffic Guru? Contact him at
edrass@nationalpost.com