Car Delivered as Petition Against a Dying Industry

Ontario's Streets Are For People delivered a petition to the province's legislature buildings on Earth Day in the form of a motorless car covered in over 4000 signatures (see photo by Yvonne Bambrick). The petition was read in the House by Member of Provincial Parliament Rosario Marchese.

Michael Louis Johnson of Streets Are For People sent Momentum a copy of the letter, below, that he sent to each of the province's Cabinet Ministers following the presentation of the petition.

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Dear elected official,

I'd like to remind you that your job, first and foremost, is to protect the public health. The following are facts that you must bear in mind as you consider further entrenching our economy in the very industry that is making our province uninhabitable. The auto industry is destroying the health of our people, our planet and our economy. WHY ARE WE CONTINUING TO PURSUE A DYING INDUSTRY?

This petition was signed by over 3000 people and was read in the House by
Rosario Marchese on Earth Day, Tuesday, April 22. Most of you never heard
it, as it seems the voice of the people is of no concern to you.

The petition, in essence, says, NOT ONE MORE DOLLAR TO SUPPORT, PROMOTE OR
PERPETUATE CAR CULTURE. Put Ontario to work on things we need: Bike
Lanes, Public Transit, and an inter-city train system as a start.

Please take a moment to read the facts of the matter at hand, and consider
some suggetions from the people for a new course for our province

PETITION
TO The Legislative Assembly of Ontario:
WHEREAS Car Culture has destroyed and alienated our communities and
dominated our public space;
WHEREAS equitable mobility is a right, and transportation is a need to
all, including the young, the elderly, and those who refuse to drive;
WHEREAS Ontario is sorely lacking in infrastructure for active and
public transportation (ie. In most of the province there is no choice
but to drive a car);
WHEREAS a reported 26% of Ontario¹s economy is directly linked to an
auto-manufacturing sector that year after year has proven volatile and
unsustainable, requiring billions of dollars in government loans and
subsidies under the constant threat of laying-off thousands of workers
at a time;
WHEREAS Ontario has covered hundreds of thousands of acres of our
country¹s most fertile farmland with concrete highways and suburban
housing developments, and whereas our imported food supply is
increasingly threatened in this time of climate change;
WHEREAS The Ministry of the Environment issued 39 Smog Alerts in 2007, a
year with 86 days of air quality at worse than 30 AQI (Air Quality
Index);
WHEREAS pollution from smog is directly linked to asthma, breast
cancer, leukemia, and the sedentary lifestyle of the auto-dependant is
linked to the epidemics of diabetes and obesity that increasingly
plague our country;
WHEREAS Toronto Public Health reports that 440 deaths per year in the
city of Toronto are directly linked to pollution from cars, and Ontario
Medical Association estimates 5800 deaths yearly in Ontario from smog;
WHEREAS the Canadian Institute of Child Health sites traffic injuries as
the leading cause of injury and death in Canadian school children;
WHEREAS billions of dollars are currently spent on the health system to
treat accident victims, victims of smog, treatment of diseases linked to
our societies reliance on the automobile.
WHEREAS financial decisions made by the Ontario Government have a
drastic impact on global climate change and the ability of our biosphere
to support life.

WE the undersigned petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:
1. Stop any tax-breaks, subsidies or loans to the automotive sector.
2. Create a public awareness campaign exposing the ill effects of
automobile dependency.
3. Ban the advertising of automobiles (just like cigarettes).
4. Immediately allocate money to pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure,
public transit, and an inter-city train system, including programs to help
shift our labour force into these sectors.
5. Amend the Highway Traffic act making street closures for community
festivals distinct from closures for general road construction.
6. Put a halt to development projects that do not support the use of
public and active transportation.
7. Create programs to encourage the development of small-scale, mixed
organic and natural farming of food for the local market, with tax breaks
for hiring labour instead of labour-saving, pollution-creating machines.
8. Measure the cost of all government spending with a triple bottom line,
(including social, environmental and economic impact.)
9. Stop subsidizing the destruction of our farmland, the poisoning of our
air and the general ill health of our people.
10. Make policy decisions considering the value of life over the value of
money.

Thank you for considering the FACTS of the matter, and please remember:
we're all in this together,
Michael Louis Johnson, Streets are for People!