Rocket Talk: Can Sunday Subway Service Start Sooner?
Gender Studies Coming to a High School Near You
Please Insert Station and Try Again
The Art of Not Knowing
If You Tweet It, He Will Come
Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2008--the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months, with one hero and one villain selected by each participating staff member. On Christmas Day: the heroes. On Boxing Day: the villains. And next week, cast your vote to determine the Superhero and Supervillain of the year.
High Gas Prices
Economic turmoil! Industries uprooted! Families torn apart! Fuel surcharges! Companies (indeed, entire sectors) on the verge of collapse! As a phenomenon that has wrought so much economic and social havoc this year, high gas prices would seem to be an unusual choice for a hero. But the recent energy price shocks have done what decades of gentle (and not so gentle) prodding by environmentalists, scientists, and hippies haven't been able to accomplish: getting us all to look more closely at our unsustainable lifestyles. People are even beginning to clue in that burning our food in internal combustion engines isn't necessarily the best path to sustainability. This year seems to have brought a perfect storm of awareness: after years of doing little more than griping to TV reporters while filling up their ever-larger gas tanks, many people have realized that the easiest way to cut that fuel bill is simply to drive less. This simple realization—combined with the deep economic troubles the world currently faces—is finally convincing us to focus on alternatives to the private car or truck. As a result, public transit, active transportation, and telecommuting are in, while road building, gas guzzlers, and sprawl are out. We're talking seriously (though still somewhat tentatively) about solar and wind power, e-bikes, and local food. Why, the situation has gotten so dire that the Ontario government is openly musing about legalizing ride sharing. We may not be ready for a carbon tax, but at least we're realizing that there are serious health, environmental, social, and monetary costs associated with spewing pollution and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It's human nature to ignore the problems until they force us to pay attention by slapping us in the face, and this year's gas prices did just that. If crisis presents opportunity, we're standing at the brink of a whopper, a structural change that will leave us all better off. High energy prices may be just the push we need to turn back from the unsustainable and wasteful practices of the last half century. We'd better not blow this one just because gas prices are heading back down for a little while. BY VAL DODGE; PHOTO BY MARC LOSTRACCO FROM THE TORONTOIST FLICKR POOL
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Is it any surprise that Jack Layton is a Torontoist "hero"?
In one you refer to Stephane Dion as a joke, then another as a hero. I don't think he is either, but he's the single reason Harper got cockier and more reckless. As for the Clarity Act, big deal - Harper was as much an architect as he was.
High gas prices may be heroic for the environment, but that's all wiped out but the current sub 70 cent levels isn't it?
I like the choice of Bikes and Social Media.
PickleToes, is it any surprise you were the first to comment on this post?
Gauldar: A little, but I knew that you and rek were really the only other contenders.
"...all of this and more was just proof that we can be a very, very stupid country when we want to be. Remember, Dion pretty much wrote the Clarity Act all by himself, which put the sovereignty movement in Quebec to bed for a decade until Stephen Harper decided to open his stupid mouth earlier this year."
YES! Just wish the mainstream media in this country agreed. They really did their best to regurgitate all of Harpers' talking points about the 'weak leadership' of Dion and, sadly, Canadians bought it.
I have feeling the media's tune will change with the new appointed Liberal leader. He's pro-Bush Doctrine, pro-torture and has spent the last 30 years outside of this country but our press will conveniently ignore those facts.
Speaking of facts, here's the opposite of one: "As for the Clarity Act, big deal - Harper was as much an architect as he was."
Dion was both a hero and a villain. It was contingent on him, as leader, to get his message across. He failed miserably at every turn. He's a good parliamentarian and a worthless leader. The Green Shift is great policy, it's unfortunate that he didn't step aside to let a more competent leader sell it.
Ironic that a guy who wrote something called the Clarity Act would be such an incomprehensible communicator. His awful leadership resulted in the greater success of both Harper and Layton, as the Liberal's bled support on both sides. That'll end with Ignatieff, Harper will be pushed to the right and Layton can return to being an irrelevant shouty fringe element.
Thanks for the love, Torontoist :) Newmindspace loves you too.
From Harper's wikipedia entry:
In late 1999, Harper called for the federal government to establish clear rules for any future Quebec referendum on sovereignty.[35] Some have identified Harper's views as an influence on the Chrétien government's Clarity Act.
Public Space Zealots
The radicals responsible for the decline of individual property rights. Yeah, they sound like heroes to me....
How about activists obsessed with creating communism through fascist methods?
Does anyone know about a greasemonkey application that can block comments from trolls? Killfile only works for LJ.
(No, I'm serious.)
@garden_hoe21: This past summer, someone wrote a Greasemonkey script specifically for banning Torontoist commenters of your choice.
*gasp* That's amazing! Thank you!!
David: Haha wow. I'm a preset too!
*kisses you*
Did Svend just cite conjecture on wikipedia in order to prove his point?
Union: If I wasn't so confident about the quality of his character, I'd conjecture that he edited the wikipedia article and added in that paragraph.
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/content/hoc/Bills/352/Private/C-341/C-341_1/C-341_1.pdf
This is the Quebec Contingency Act that Harper put forward in 1996 as a private member's bill, a precursor to the similar Clarity Act that Dion produced.
1996...hmmmm. Was that 'Quebec Is A Nation Harper'? Or 'Erect a Firewall Around Alberta Harper'?'Elect the Senate Harper'? Wait it was 'The Government needs the support of the House Harper'!
Dion and Chretien, two Québécois, got their ideas for dealing with Quebec sovereignists from the leader of a western protest party. Got it.
Yes, people can agree on one thing while disagreeing on several others.
Dion, Chretien, Harper all supported the Clarity Act - they share a strong stance in dealing with Quebec separatists just as Trudeau did before them. Did you even read Harper's bill?
I strongly disagree with your choice of East Toronto Community Coalition as a hero. They don't represent the interests of the community as a whole, just the interests of a narrow(minded) subset, as shown here and here.
totally agree. But this is Torontoist we're talking about so you come to expect it after a while.