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A letter apparently penned by a pair of Danish tourists is taking Canadians to task for being far too dependent on motor vehicles and, less directly, for our obesity and the general lack of fulfilment in our communities.
The open letter was sent to the Citizen and several Canadian politicians, including Ottawa’s Jim Watson. It denounces the smoggy, traffic-filled state of Canada’s major cities.
The sender, identified as Holly Chabowski, says they, along with their girlfriend, made their observations on a recent five-week vacation to Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax.
Though the tourists call their journey through some of Canada’s busiest metropoles an “incredible adventure” where they met “the most wonderful Canadians,” their overwhelming impression of the country seems to have been “great oceans of car parks.”
“We were treated like second class citizens compared to cars,” according to Chabowski, who is originally from England but now lives in Denmark. “The air was dirty, and the constant noise from horns and engines was unpleasant.”
The most sport-utility vehicles that the Danes saw in a row were driven by solo Tim Hortons drive-thru customers, Chabowski wrote.
Having asked Canucks how they feel about their reliance on vehicles, the Danes picked out a few examples of Canadian opinion: “Trying to solve traffic problems by building more roads is like trying to solve obesity by buying bigger trousers,” said one person in Ottawa, they claim.
The couple notes that a few cities were “making an effort to make life livable” by having small businesses, bike lanes and streets suitable for pedestrians.
“It felt like a token gesture rather than a genuine effort to make Canada a healthy, happy and sustainable country,” the letter states. They encourage Canada to take “radical steps” to turn Canada into “the healthy, happy and sustainable country we were expecting.”
Chabowski wrote that our “fantastic people” deserve better.
msmith@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/mariedanielles
查看原文...
The open letter was sent to the Citizen and several Canadian politicians, including Ottawa’s Jim Watson. It denounces the smoggy, traffic-filled state of Canada’s major cities.
The sender, identified as Holly Chabowski, says they, along with their girlfriend, made their observations on a recent five-week vacation to Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax.
Though the tourists call their journey through some of Canada’s busiest metropoles an “incredible adventure” where they met “the most wonderful Canadians,” their overwhelming impression of the country seems to have been “great oceans of car parks.”
“We were treated like second class citizens compared to cars,” according to Chabowski, who is originally from England but now lives in Denmark. “The air was dirty, and the constant noise from horns and engines was unpleasant.”
The most sport-utility vehicles that the Danes saw in a row were driven by solo Tim Hortons drive-thru customers, Chabowski wrote.
Having asked Canucks how they feel about their reliance on vehicles, the Danes picked out a few examples of Canadian opinion: “Trying to solve traffic problems by building more roads is like trying to solve obesity by buying bigger trousers,” said one person in Ottawa, they claim.
The couple notes that a few cities were “making an effort to make life livable” by having small businesses, bike lanes and streets suitable for pedestrians.
“It felt like a token gesture rather than a genuine effort to make Canada a healthy, happy and sustainable country,” the letter states. They encourage Canada to take “radical steps” to turn Canada into “the healthy, happy and sustainable country we were expecting.”
Chabowski wrote that our “fantastic people” deserve better.
msmith@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/mariedanielles
查看原文...
