Comment 106477

By kevlahan (registered) | Posted November 28, 2014 at 13:48:43 in reply to Comment 106468

http://www.tc.gc.ca/media/documents/road...

"Motor vehicle collisions generated $18 billion in social costs in Ontario in 2004. Fatalities in those collisions were the largest single contributor to social costs at $11 billion. Also significant were the costs of injuries, at $4 billion and property damage at $2 billion. "

Total cost of building and maintaining roads in Ontario: $8.3 to $11 billion.

So, just counting the cost of collisions and roads motor vehicles cost $19 to $29 billion each year in Ontario. And that doesn't include other negative externalities like health costs due to air pollution, congestion, sprawl and green house gas emissions.

How much net benefit does the car industry provide to Ontario (don't forget to subtract all the direct subsidies and tax breaks on oil exploration)? Is it significantly greater than $19 to $29 billion?

For example, http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/4...

"Chrysler and General Motors received $14 billion from the federal government and Ontario to rescue their Canadian operations. They also benefited from $1.5 billion in project-based subsidies provided jointly by Ottawa and Ontario since 2004 to support new investments and bolster research and development initiatives. In addition, the United States government invested significantly in the Big Three, purchasing shares in Chrysler and General Motors and injecting billions into the automotive industry.

Yet, despite billions in direct assistance, loan support and tax relief, Canada's automotive industry has been declining steadily in the last decade."

And, more importantly, if money were not spent on cars, it would be spent on something else. There are lots of successful countries with zero automotive industry (e.g. Australia, which just lost its last plant http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on...

Comment edited by kevlahan on 2014-11-28 13:52:54

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds