Baird is at it again

John "the screamer" Baird, Minister of turning things from brown to green, is at it again. This CON bell-weather of an impending election just turned a mighty corner in his re-election platform.

Baird was instrumental in having the light rail plan in Ottawa cancelled in 2006. The plan was ill conceived, he declared. The city council lied to me, he belched. He demanded that the city go back to the drawing board and design something pretty, something that he would like. The plan that was cancelled had a price tag of $990 million. The cancellation has resulted in $280 million in law suits against the city by contractors. That's $280 million and there is still not a shovel in the ground.

So council went back to the drawing board and came up with a dog's breakfast mixture of trains, buses and a downtown tunnel. Baird says, I like it, especially the tunnel! The price tag? It is now up to $4 billion and won't be completed until most of the people who conceived this monstrosity are dead and buried. Baird wants, now, to give more to the bloated project than he offered for the earlier project. Why? Is it environmentally more sound than the earlier project? It could be but the environmental assessment, especially on the tunnel part have not even begun. In fact, the whole idea of the function of the tunnel is up in the air. Will it carry trains only or a mixture of trains and buses? Or is Baird's orgasm over the new project just the sign of an impending election?

But that is not all that Baird wants to do for Ottawa now that an election looms. He wants to make Hwy 174 (old Hwy 17 to Orleans) into a freeway for saftey reasons. A freeway is defined (Wikipedia) as a type of road designed for high-speed operation through the elimination of at-grade intersections. Since the only at-grade intersection of any note on 174 is at Trim Road, does Baird just want to build an overpass and exit at Trim Road or does he have grander ideas to spent the province's and city's money (he only gives matching grants, you see).

He thinks that Ottawa needs a drug treatment centre but will not pay for any part of it cause it is not a federal responsibility. A bridge over 174 is his responsibility but the health of drug users is not. Interesting.

There is no money for the Museum of Science and Technology that is moulding away in an east end former bread plant, but Baird wants to build a bridge over 174. No matter, the Cons will probably put it out to a competition to move the museum out of the capital anyways.

There is no money for a new interprovincial bridge between Ottawa and Gatineau, which will improve the safety and environment of the downtown core of Ottawa but Baird wants to build a bridge over the 174.

Johnny is concerned that there will not be enough volunteers at the proposed Ottawa Concert Hall, so he pulled his $8 million contribution to make sure it dies.

I smell an election.