What To Do With Trucks

Robin Sears writes now that we have seen trucks used as weapons, we should think carefully about how we regulate them. Consider:

In Toronto, more than half the trucks passing through the city on the DVP, the Gardiner and the 401 have departure points and destinations hundreds of kilometres away. They stop only for gas.

In Ottawa, the city’s website improbably lists Wellington Street as a “truck route!”

Worse, there is no way for trucks travelling from Quebec on their way west not to jam the downtown core, even when they are not protesting. Why do we permit this?

Rule number one should be that tractor-trailers are not allowed into the downtown cores of our cities:

Truckers could be required to take the 407 across Toronto, connecting to the four-lane highways on each end. In the nation’s capital, a tunnel under the Ottawa River has been debated for years, but strenuously opposed by the city’s lame duck mayor, Jim Watson. A tunnel would funnel truck traffic from the Quebec autoroutes directly onto Ontario’s highway system.

Queen’s Park and Wellington Street present different problems. Large semis pass hospital row, circle the Legislature, then pass through miles of residential neighbourhoods on their way north. In recent weeks, we have seen up close the security risks this could present. Ottawa is even more vulnerable, as the truck fleets pass within metres of the prime minister’s office, Parliament and the Supreme Court. A single truck bomb could destroy any one of these government pillars.

However, let us not go down the 9/11 road of increasingly irritating and invasive security measures in dealing with these new realities. Toronto’s risks could be eased immediately by shifting trucks off University Avenue. Ottawa’s short-term solution could be to permit truck traffic only at night on main streets — and never on Wellington.

Longer-term solutions to future threats to the Parliamentary precinct do not require checkpoints, concrete barriers or “red zones.” Simply make Wellington a pedestrian mall, and push underground any bus or LRT infrastructure connecting Ottawa and Gatineau. Buried traffic barriers on each end could be triggered to rise instantly, blocking any renegade attack. Since the murder of the young soldier, Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, these devices have ringed the Parliament buildings, blocking unauthorized vehicles.

And, to mitigate the effects of climate change we must encourage much greater use of public transit:

As the pandemic eases, we will also need to take steps to encourage citizens to return to public transit: health and safety measures — clean, sanitized buses; better comfort and convenience measures — along with reliable route times, mobile phone readers for fares, and security measures in case of attack.

We need to become smarter about integrating new public transportation infrastructure, so that systems seamlessly interconnect and environmental, safety and security needs are all part of the same solutions.

We already knew we need to build back better from the pandemic — in health care, assisted living, schools, building ventilation and housing. We knew we need to reduce our carbon footprint. Now we know that we need to add a new security lens to many projects as well.

But let us not slide into a U.S.-style mass police presence in schools, malls and subways, nor the body search and often rude interrogation that is the norm at airports around the world. By using technology, careful consultation with the citizens affected and restraint, we can adapt to this new reality and feel greener, cleaner and safer.

We must never allow the Occupation of Ottawa to happen again. To ensure that it never recurs, we must understand the lessons it offers.

Image: The Toronto Star