We want more transit, but we don’t want to pay for it. We want fewer cars on the road, but don’t support measures to reduce their use. We want to continue using our cars, but don’t want to pay the real cost of driving them.

For all of these reasons, don’t expect this week’s provincial budget to lay out an effective transportation funding plan that will ease gridlock in the GTHA. It wouldn’t be politically prudent.

These ingrained attitudes show up again and again in independent surveys and in-house political polling. Civic groups, business leaders and government agencies extol the economic, social and environmental benefits of paying for expanded transit and pricing road use to fight congestion. But our views remain rigid.

Our parochial attitudes have driven our political leaders away from a rich debate on anti-congestion strategies. We have made them retreat to an ideological fight over the most politically painless way to finance more transit.

Improving public transportation is not enough — on its own — to change travel behaviour and reduce gridlock. Incentives to leave the car at home must be coupled with disincentives to car use, or congestion will persist.

If disincentives are absent, increased investments in transit and roads simply encourage more travel, which ultimately leads to more congestion. It’s an inconvenient transportation truth that we don’t want to hear.

A 2011 Environics poll commissioned by Metrolinx found 70 per cent of respondents thought the government had enough revenue to improve roads and transit without resorting to taxes, tolls or congestion charges.

A few months before Kathleen Wynne became premier in 2013, a Nanos Research poll found that 34 per cent of GTA residents were strongly against paying extra in taxes or tolls to upgrade transit and roads. Only 28 per cent were strongly in favour. There was no clear consensus.

Despite this deep divide, Wynne committed her minority government to finding new sources of funding for transit. “I’m ready to spend political capital to get a revenue stream in place . . . we absolutely will.”

Both opposition parties read the polls and decided to seek out safer political positions — ones that would also undermine Wynne’s efforts.

PC leader Tim Hudak said he would “root out waste” before he would ask Ontarians to pay taxes or tolls for transit expansion. When it became clear that “annual cost savings” wouldn’t be enough, the Tories said they would use the proceeds from selling government assets. How they will find $2 billion a year for 25 years from this one-time revenue source isn’t evident.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath has adopted an equally questionable transit funding solution. No need to burden “everyday folks” with the cost of expanded transit. She would increase corporate taxes by an undisclosed amount. But this is the same funding source she’s already tapped for a host of other expensive NDP initiatives.

While Wynne was out trying to promote new sources of funding that included road pricing initiatives, the opposition was telling GTHA residents there were painless solutions: sell government assets, increase corporate taxes.

When Metrolinx brought forward its short list of proposed revenue tools last year a Forum Research poll found that only one third of GTHA residents approved of taxes, tolls or congestion fees. None of Metrolinx’s options received more than 50 per cent approval.

Wynne set up a transit investment panel to see if they could find a politically palatable way forward. The panel side-stepped most measures designed to discourage car use. They recommended modest gasoline and corporate tax increases, and a redeployment of HST revenues.

These funding sources will build more transit. But the notion that “if you build it, they will come” is only a half-answer. The international experience is clear. Without comprehensive road pricing measures, more transit will not do much to ease congestion or reduce greenhouse emissions.

Hudak immediately labelled the gas tax a “sin tax.” Horwath said her party is “unequivocally” against the gas tax recommendation.

When Premier Wynne started the congestion conversation she was open to a full range of funding options that would improve transit and discourage car use. Eighteen months later, unable to sell limitations on car use, she proposes to recycle a portion of existing HST and gas tax revenues into a dedicated transit fund.

This week’s budget will tell us where the replacement funds will come from. Probably a combination of more borrowing and hikes in the taxes on corporations and high income Ontarians. High occupancy toll (HOT) lanes on some 400 series highways may be mentioned in a token attempt to recognize the role of road pricing.

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But an effective anti-congestion plan for the GTHA will have to wait for a majority government: one willing to look past our self-defeating transportation attitudes.

Meanwhile, the gridlock gets worse.

R. Michael Warren is a former corporate director, Ontario deputy minister, TTC chief general manager and Canada Post CEO. r.michael.warren@gmail.com

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