Paid to be ineffective
Yesterday began with an exceptional situation for me, because I was on the road during rush hour (a very precise period of the day locally that lasts about one hour), actually driving a car. Doing the parent-taxi, if you must know. The odd thing is that by travelling to and fro in public transit I haven’t paid much attention to how the other 99% get to somewhere else each day. Frankly, it’s a depressing sight.
Kilometer (sort of a shorter Canadian mile, for those of you in the Enlightened States) upon kilometer of vehicles, typically with one person inside, moving at a speed that could be matched by a child with a kitten in tow. In a time where gas prices continue to climb upward, the environmental cost is heavy. In fact, this city has the highest carbon footprint in the province, despite a decided lack of heavy industry. Well, we know where the green isn’t.
Let’s couple this vision to the announcement in Oshawa: thousands of auto workers will be changing careers in mid-shift, as GM decides to shut down the plant that currently manufactures trucks. No thought to “recycling” these qualified workers into construction of some smaller model line. Instead, the corporation is doing a “cut and run”. However, the “always ready to help the business world party” (Conservatives) is now proposing that the new green fund be used to entice concessions from a corporation. Error.
The world needs fewer trucks, idling on the highway during rush hour with one person up high above the others. The world also needs to realize that a corporate decision to close a plant such as Oshawa has NOTHING to do with a conscience and EVERYTHING to do with profit margins. Auto workers in Canada earn more than the company wants to pay, so it’s time to take the toys and move along to a cheaper part of the world.
What are the odds that the next series of utiity vehicles sold by GM will have come on shore from a container ship loaded somewhere over across the broad Pacific?
