Limousine Liberal

This letter was printed in today's Ottawa Citizen. It was in response to a column by Ottawa's mayor bashing a Citizen columnist who's a critic of light rail, but really only of the specifics of this plan.

Re: Columnist is stuck in a 1950s development mindset, MARCH 2.
If columnist Randall Denley is guilty of a "1950s development mindset," which sounds a little absurd -- the differences between Mayor Bob Chiarelli and Mr. Denley on development in general seem to be of degree, not of kind -- then the mayor is guilty of being a slave to current fads that have proved to be failures at
achieving any of their goals, more often than not.
Both are guilty of the assumption that people can or should be forced to live the way someone else and his or her friends have decided is correct.
In last week's Driving section, we learned that Mr. Chiarelli's 2004 Toyota Prius, the mayor's official car, saves up to $300 per month on gas costs. When I was commuting 110 kilometres a day to the city with my dad's V-8-powered pickup truck, the total fuel bill was not $300 per month even at today's prices. Just how auto-centric is the mayor's lifestyle? Are we supposed to think that he only does all that travelling only with the deepest of reservations?
Why is it OK for him and not the rest of us? Because he's a busy, important person? Guess what? Most of us, with any luck, are pretty busy, too, and important to somebody.