Some thoughts on the suburbs, mass transit, and politics
A little late, but I've been meaning to talk about this for a while:

Although it's been years and years since I've actually lived in Ottawa, I still go back fairly frequently to visit. When I do, I invariably get an update on municipal policy from my mother. The most recent story of note was the cancellation of the O-Train project after the recent municipal elections, when a conservative mayor was elected.

Urbanities blamed the "idiots from suburbia" for this. And indeed, most of the votes for Larry O'Brien (Ottawa's new conservative mayor) did come from the suburbs. But ultimately, this never really struck me as being a particularly constructive point of view: people who live outside of the metro area never struck me as being dumber, less reasonable, or less well informed than those who live inside it. They may have made a different choice as far as living arrangements than I have (or will, if I can help it), but their reasons for doing at least understandable to me.

Even if they weren't understandable, it would be rather pompous and self-righteous of me to tell other people how to go about living their lives. The suburban dream's realization may ultimately be something of a nightmare, but calling people idiots and their aspirations stupid isn't likely to endear them to your point of view. If we want to create a better world, wouldn't it be preferable to enact policies and build infrastructure that would enable these people to realize those aspirations?

And, come to think of it, wouldn't a light rail system linking the suburbs with the center of the city be exactly this sort of thing? Even if you didn't use it, it would mean a shorter commute to work because of reduced traffic congestion, an overall reduction in smog and CO2 emissions, an increase in property values, and a whole host of other things which should play exactly to the needs of these people. What's really going on here?

In fact, it's pretty simple. In order to settle a political score with one of his enemies, John Baird, minister of the environment in Canada's "new" government, inappropriately leaked information and withheld funding during the campaign. This cast a negative light on the project from which it never recovered. It was canceled in December 2006, ultimately costing the city seventy five million dollars in fines:

http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/01/23/LightRail/
http://www.clivedoucet.com/articles/gm030707greenerwash.htm

Changing the North American mentality just isn't going to happen overnight. Not without a crisis, anyway. But corrupt politicians using their power inappropriately? At the very least we can draw attention to them and try to ensure that they (and their "new" government) don't get re-elected.