Inoculating the garbage

Everyone throughout Canada knows about the terrible gaffe of our government. Our vaccinations were scheduled much later than many other countries even though most experts say that it is too late for inoculations. Many other mistakes were committed, especially on the priority list. Health care workers were one of the first on the list, but what about their families? The family could contaminate the health worker's stuff which they bring to work and indirectly hurt his or her colleagues or patients. Seniors over 65 are also one of the last on the list. They are one of the most vulnerable groups of residents. Another issue is the throwing out factor. After inoculating patients in long term care, any extra vaccines are thrown out. They are not able to be stored for later use.  They cannot be used on any other people. Why are we wasting perfectly good vaccines when we could be using them on other people? The people responsible are saying that we don't have enough vaccines and that's why people are being turned away. However, we do have enough stock of vaccine, in the garbage!

Everyone knows that children are where all sicknesses spread. They go to school every day for eight hours. They touch everything there. Right after, they touch their faces. Then they get sick with H1N1. They bring the disease home, and contaminate their families. That is how it spreads. However, our government has chosen to  vaccinate the children last. This eases the spread of the disease throughout the whole community. We must get ready for the aftershock of this mistake.

For one example of using the vaccine click here.

Projet Montréal: the best choice

I support Projet Montréal. They have the best policies, the best leader and the best projects of all the parties. Gérald Tremblay  is not corrupt, but his underlings are. He should have payed more attention to his colleagues doings. So we cannot trust him to be constantly vigilant in city hall. Louise Harel is a sovereigntist but that is not why she's not to be supported. She was the one who masterminded the "une île, une ville" mergers. Mergers can be good, but only if they are handled in the right way. And she still believes that the mergers were good for the island. She hasn't learned from her mistakes. Projet Montréal has the best environmental policies and the best for Montreal. His public transit plan includes reducing the number of cars on the road and making the streets more friendly to bicycles and pedestrians. This usually helps tourism. More tourists mean more business and that is good for the city. His plan also includes an extensive tram project which also increases tourism. He would like to make the public transit users get much better service. Public transport would be much more comfortable than what it is now. Therefore, more car users would be attracted to it as it has been proved in many other cities. This would reduce emissions moving us closer to a cleaner environment. If Stephen Harper won't save the environment, then Projet Montréal will.

A Shot towards Gun Freedom

The Conservatives have recently repealed parts of the gun registry. Their excuse is that hunters have to pay to keep this registry going when they use their guns only for hunting. Guns are dangerous machines. They are built to kill. If hunters want to use these dangerous weapons, then they should be required to pay for the shots. In Canada there are about 100 gun murders each year. In the US, there are about 10,000 gun murders each year. Even proportionately, the US has more gun murders than Canada. In Canada, there is a gun registry. In the US, guns are much more easily accessed. What would happen if we had no gun registry? We would probably have more gun murders and more gun rampages. The Conservatives are making a bad move on this issue. This is not good for our country. This needs to be rerepealed.

Stéphane Dion: not an idiot

Now that Ignatieff's numbers are down in the polls, we can think about whether Stéphane Dion was really such a bad leader. Ignatieff's platform is much closer to the Conservative's. That's why they have to use the personal attack to ruin his support. One example of this is ignatieff.me. I'm surprised that Canadian politicians have stooped to this level. But wait. The Conservatives also attacked Stéphane Dion personally besides demonizing his carbon tax. Why? I guess it's because he had such good ideas. Carbon taxes actually achieve the same goal as cap and trade systems. But it's cheaper and easier to instate a carbon tax. So maybe Stéphane Dion was a good leader and it was just the Conservative's attack ads which ruined him. As for the "Do you think it's easy to make priorities?"  It takes a learning experience in politics. Jean Charest had to learn how to go from federal politics to provincial politics. He didn't have success right from the start, nor should we expect Stéphane Dion to succeed from the beginning. It's human nature to learn from our mistakes and I bet that Stéphane Dion learned form his. Therefore, I think that Stéphane Dion was a great leader.

Montreal's much needed Tramway

Montreal needs a tram. Many people will disagree with this statement but it's true. Some of the reasons not to build a tramway include "It interferes with my car," and "More buses will do the same job." However, the tramway is in many ways better than buses. Also, the car should not be a priority at this time with the need to protect our environment.

Trams pollute way less than buses especially in Quebec. Buses burn gasoline to turn their wheels. However, trams use electricity to move and in Quebec, clean hydroelectricity. Using electricity also means less noise compared with the loud motor of buses.

More importantly, trams have a higher capacity than buses. More cars can be coupled to form a kind of "double tram" during peak hours and uncoupled during the calm hours. They wouldn't need an extra driver like buses would. In general, trams have a bigger capacity than buses. This could help us especially on Côte-de-neiges and Parc avenue. The 535 special rush hour bus line is at full capacity. No more increase in service is possible. The bus arrives every minute at its stops. Most times it is packed. A tram could solve this problem by doubling up with another tram.

For all car users, the tram would be better than reserved bus lanes. Tram right-of-ways are narrower than those of buses. That's because they need less clearance as they follow a fixed track. Therefore, car users will keep more or less the same space on streets already equipped with reserved bus lanes.

Research has shown that former car users represent 30-40% of tram customers. This would translate into less congestion on the road and less car emissions. This is because tramways are most often associated with a good image. I would go as far to say that there would be less graffiti on trams than in buses because of this better image.

Tramways ensure greater rider comfort than buses. Bus drivers in Montreal constantly speed, juggling the passengers around. I can't blame them; everyone disobeys the speed limit in Montreal. However, for rail-based vehicles, obeying the speed limit is brought to a whole new level.  Unlike bus drivers, the central control system for trams will always know if their drivers are speeding, therefore ensuring the safety and comfort of the passengers.

Trams' multiple doors allow for a smaller loading time. Instead of just loading in the front like buses, trams allow people to enter through its many doorways from the front to the back. That allows the trams to leave the station faster which lowers the time of travel.

This is not a new idea. Many European and American cities have embraced the tram. Their buisnesses and ridership bloomed like never before. Such cities include: Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, Barcelona, Adelaide (Australia) and many more. This could help Montreal just as it helped those cities.

The visual pollution of wires has been solved by Bombardier's PRIMOVE system. Their technology allows electricity to be transmitted through the ground to the tram. This has been used for many years in the transportation of different parts in factories. It is completely safe to anyone walking on the tracks. It is not safe however if you're underneath the tram for any reason. For more information click here.

Obviously, tramways are the solution for Montreal's transit problems. They will allow more capacity, more comfort and less pollution. The visual pollution of wires can be solved with Bombardier's PRIMOVE technology. Trams are our great public transport future.