Calamity Jane's Loaded Gun

Or: I may have to hold my nose to vote for David Miller, but the alternative stinks worse.

I was thinking about the municipal election in Toronto, and one thing struck me about Pitfield's campaign - her stance (eighth paragraph) on incineration is enough to make me oppose her.

I am not an expert on incineration, though I distrust it for the simple reason that its proponents are always soft-pedaling it. You know what I mean, they are often calling it "new technologies" or a "technological" solution, as if a computer or a robot would just eat the garbage.

While we all yearn for the garbage-eating robot, alas, that is not what incineration is. I'm not sure how much the so-called "new technology" is able to improve the age-old technology of setting garbage on fire, but I do remain a skeptic.

Now let us say that the new incineration technology does work like magic, the only emissions from the smokestacks are pixie dust and warm fuzzies. Swell. Still, I would have to oppose Pitfield on this incineration business.

While she has not said so, the implication from her campaign is that an incinerator could be put inside Toronto. She has never said where. Where is the incinerator going, Jane? What neighbourhood? While lots of garbage can be burnt, I am sure it cannot be burnt all at once. Where is the garbage going to be staged prior to burning? Now even if the incinerator is far from any kind of residence, how will the trucks get to it? Will garbage be trucked through certain neighbourhoods constantly?

Where is the incinerator going? I feel that I could not buy property in this city knowing that Pitfield was set on putting an incinerator somewhere. Being near it, or even on a route that trucks take to get there, would ruin property values. Right now the incinerator project hovers over the city. Like a loading gun being pointed at everyone, Torontonians are faced with the threat that Pitfield may want to build an incinerator next to anyone.
Tags: Toronto, Jane Pitfield, Waste Management.