Enough, Wente

Seriously, Mags, can it:

The other day I stuck the nozzle in the tank of my dainty little SUV and paid for my first $50 fill. It was a shock, but I knew it was coming, and I know it's going to get worse. Gas prices in Toronto are about to hit a dollar a litre, and the outlook is not good. I have a feeling that one day I'll remember my $50 fill as fondly as a 25-cent Coke.

Not everyone is miserable about the price of gas. Environmentalists are happy because they think people might drive less.

Wente goes on to write that SUV drivers can basically afford to spend $2.50 a litre on gas (presumably, they consume similar daily quantities of $5-a-litre flavoured water), so the latest oil shock will do nothing to change vehicle purchasing or transportation behaviour. Aside from the dig at "environmentalists," who Wente would have preferring the moral high ground to decent quality environment, the column is ripe with the thinking that elite newspaper columnists engage in to condescend about those less fortunate than them.

Consider. If the cost of milk were $1 for two litres but seventy-five cents per litre, and black single moms routinely bought the smaller quantity (say, because it made the ten-minute walk home from the store less of a chore), a person like Margaret Wente might be inclined to insult this poor mom's incorrect economic choice.

Because Globe and Mail columnists clear enough coin to easily adapt to giant gas prices, they don't need to worry about being called stupid by snarky bloggers like me. Presumably Margaret knows that the line between coy and abrasive can be hard to navigate - especially when your S.U.V. has a tendency to flip over. (John_D at This Magazine also points out that her S.U.V. must be pretty teeny to fill up at $50.)

Anyway, how can you argue with the kind of logic she employs at the end of her piece:

Some day, we'll have to break our dependency on oil (the sooner the better, as far as I'm concerned, since I'm no fan of propping up corrupt thugs and sheiks and countries that believe in flogging unveiled women and homosexuals). But break our dependency on cars? Never. We may have to run them on electricity or wind power or moonshine. We may have to pay a fortune for the privilege. But pay we will. Cars mean freedom, and freedom's worth a lot.

In the meantime, old people and asthmatics should stay out of Toronto streets until, basically, November; $1.15 a litre seems like the beginning, not the end; and that sheik, but the way, is doing quite well these days. So what does Wente have to contribute to our car woes? Let's see - rich, suburban Canadians are dumb - and proud of it - public transit is for losers and the poor and never the twain shall meet. Certainly we can do better.