Tag: ottawa

My Take on the “Freedom Truck Convoy”

February 1, 2022

Everybody was talking about the truck convoy arriving in Ottawa last weekend. Friends from New Jersey and Oregon called us asking to what extent the trucks blocked our street. We live in the inner suburbs and had no truck passing by our house. Now the downtown area was another scene, but we did not go there. We saw some of the long-haulers going by on the Queensway, our major highway into Ottawa. Most of what we saw was on TV.

The trigger for the convoy was truckers’ dissatisfaction with rules introduced recently by the federal government mandating cross-border truck drivers to have covid vaccination. Now 90% of the cross-border drivers are vaccinated. So one would have assumed that the unvaccinated drivers were the ones in the convoy, but vaccinated drivers also came showing their solidarity. The original purpose of the convoy morphed into a much larger movement to get rid of vaccine mandates, including masking. People were clamoring for “freedom” from the lockdowns. People were fed up with two years of not living the “normal” way.

To have thousands of people congregating downtown Ottawa surrounded by thousands of trucks is no small matter. But the Prime Minister refused to meet with them and called them “fringe”, not representing Canadians. And the PM then moved out of his official residence for safety reasons, implying escalation of tensions, potentially resulting in trouble. In addition, he tweeted he would quarantine because one of his children tested positive with Covid. Very convenient. Could not meet the protesters. There were no politicians of his party and government officials to at least offer to meet with the protesters and hear them out. Shameful. I believe the government represents all the people of Canada, “fringe” or not. And the huge demonstration such as we experienced in Ottawa last weekend called for a serious government response to try to defuse the bottled-up frustration that two years of covid wrought. It was a major mistake to write off the protesters and not have a plan to meet with them, no matter how wacky their demands may have been (the provincial government controls the lockdowns).

But the more significant mistake occurred when the government, which controls the international border, announced late last year that all cross-border truck drivers had to be vaccinated. Before they brought in the rule, the truckers had had an exemption from vaccination because of the economic importance of the truck traffic between and the US., and at any rate, 90% of the truck drivers have been vaccinated. So why not continue with the then-existing rule? If the government wanted to ensure the virus was not brought into Canada by the truckers, then it could have asked for a test at the border, in place of vaccination. Many companies followed the test or vaccination approach. What was the thinking of government policymakers to make it mandatory for the drivers to be vaccinated? It was an absurd policy.

I am fully vaccinated and I do not agree with the arguments anti-vaxxers use against the jab. But I respect people’s opinions and their right to demonstrate peacefully against the jab and to be heard. Science provides the best current knowledge on a virus such as Covid, which of course can change over time, with additional information. Today, the mRNA vaccine is the best vaccine against Covid, supported by statistical evidence (obtained by testing). I remember when DDT was the ”go-to” pesticide until it was not. Today the Pfizer vaccine is one of the “go-to” vaccines for Covid and I have it.

Most of the columnists have been critical of the “freedom convoy”. They called them selfish, their goals unrealistic and their behavior in downtown Ottawa, with their blaring horns, bothersome. I have no trouble with their protest so long as it is peaceful. I have trouble with the government’s policy on cross-border driving and their inept handling of the convoy in totally ignoring them, especially their unwillingness to meet with them. Just my opinion.

The tremendous push in Ottawa for bicycling. Is it reasonable?

January 26, 2022

A week ago, the National Capital Commission in Ottawa announced the sale of a part of their lands for the construction of 601 residential rental units. Half of these will be “affordable”, or below-market rent units. What caught my attention was the proposal will provide 600 indoor parking spots for bicycles and 200 underground parking spots for cars. I read it twice: there will be 600 indoor parking spots for bicycles! And obviously, the NCC agreed with the proposal since they picked it from among three competing finalists.

So what is going on here? Clearly, there is a tremendous push for cycling, a push for encouraging people to use the public transit system, and a sideways nod to those people who still want to drive.

Now, Ottawa has a cold climate and most people get on their bikes for four to six months of the year. I would say that three to four months are desirable for biking when one does not need gloves to ride. During the winter months, the snow cover is treacherous for biking, coupled with cars that often lose control on ice-covered roads.

I am not against biking in Ottawa, and I enjoy riding during the summer months. But riding is most popular in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Sweden…. where the climate is much more suitable for riding, where the cities are dense and distances are small, where the cost of gas for cars is much higher than here in Canada and therefore cycling makes sense.

The Lonely Planet developed a map of how the climate of different countries would match the provinces and states in North America. As shown below, the climate of Germany and Scandinavia approximates the West coast of the continent where the ocean provides a warming influence. Most of Canada’s climate approximates that of Russia. And Russia, like Canada, is not among the top cycling countries in the world. I would think climate plays a major role; both countries are cold most of the year for comfortable riding. Not that we should not cycle more, especially in urban areas like Ottawa, but our climate limits the seasons for cycling here. Bicycling is a good mode of transportation sometimes, but cannot be relied on all the time in Ottawa.

The other aspect of this proposal is that almost half of the rental units, the affordable units, target women and children, veterans, Algonquins, and indigenous people, and recent immigrants. These people would not be high-income people, therefore needing subsidized housing. But I read in the cycling literature that education and income positively relate to bicycling! I am not sure the proponents of this scheme considered who will be the cyclists in this development. The target group for subsidized housing is not likely in the high education and income groups.

The assumption is that if you have no car (there are only 200 parking spots for 601 units); you walk or bicycle or take public transit. Unfortunately, there is not a plethora of needed services in the vicinity; for example, there is no grocery store nearby. So do you go shopping on your bike with a couple of saddlebags? I do not think so: I just looked out the window and the thermostat registers minus 23 celsius.

The developers may take comfort in that Ottawa, with its hundreds of kilometers of cycling paths, is the number one cycling city in Canada, according to one survey. But providing 600 bicycle parking spots for 601 rental units may be overkill. Unrealistic or overly optimistic. Just my opinion.