Cancer factory revisited

The shallowness of political discussion in Malta should be obvious to anyone. It is very amusing to hear arguments – based on populist and cheap rhetoric and void of any real policy proposals – which used to be made by the PL when in opposition being made by the PN opposition today. They seem to have exchanged scripts.

The most common arguments are those regarding traffic and the price of fuel. The arguments are as ridiculous as they can get.

Let’s take traffic. The argument goes something like this: Marthese Portelli, PN spokesperson for the environment, laments of traffic jams and that people are ‘wasting fuel’. The same kind of argument used to be made by Labour before the elections.

Then there are calls for more roads, the removal of bus or priority lanes and more free parking spaces. Needless to say the obvious, but less popular policy proposals are totally missing. Echoing Labour in Opposition Simon Busuttil calls for cheap petrol and diesel – instead of insisting on investment in clean transport and cleaner air. It’s a very easy argument to make. 

‘Environmentalist’ Busuttil wants to boost the real cancer factory, encouraging the burning of more fuel. Then there is the usual criticism of so called ‘hedging agreements’ – remember Labour criticising these kinds of agreements as well? The real issue is how to use income from duty on fuel sales to finance a shift to clean transport, renewable energy and giving dangerously polluted areas back to people, and avoiding a situation of encouraging waste.

The latest brainwave from the party which is promoting itself as ‘environmentalist’ comes from its Mosta mayor, Edwin Vassallo – probably supported by all PN and PL councillors – who wants to attract even more traffic into the centre of Mosta. He wants more congestion and an extra dose of air pollutants by calling on the central government to build an underground car park bang in the centre of Mosta.

What about asking the government to fund a scheme with parking at the periphery and offering a shuttle service to the centre? Or calling for an improved public transport system to Mosta?

Instead of discouraging cars from entering Mosta, Vassallo wants even more. The parties’ concept of sustainability and ecological modernisation is so shallow that their so-called policies can only offer ‘more parking’. The ‘people-want-more-parking-so-they-bring-more-trade’ brigade is going strong.

We also have programmes on the PN’s radio station with people grumbling and moaning about bus lanes. The reason: because we have to wait in traffic. Well, I never! Can someone explain the simple, elementary reason of the aim of bus and priority lanes? The aim is to give priority to public transport vehicles efficiently carrying loads of people, together with other forms of more sustainable transport. The aim is to discourage traffic in congested areas – those who still choose to drive through can still do so, but they have to wait patiently – every action has its consequences.

A simple question by my colleague Michael Briguglio through the Sliema council, regarding enforcement to make sure that the priority lane is used by authorised vehicles, led to showing up the utter confusion and lack of professionalism of the agencies which are supposed to enforce the regulations – they incredibly failed to enforce the regulations because of hearsay, and a tribunal misreading or misinterpreting regulations and going unchallenged.

Whatever the shallow rhetoric and tit-for-tat between the PN and PL, the poor air quality in certain areas calls for drastic measures to reduce the dangerous levels of pollution. The MEPA 2010 Air Quality Plan, drawn up by experts, with a call for low-emission zones in the Msida, Pieta, Hamrun and Floriana area, never took off.

The Gonzi government ignored the plan, and these areas continue to choke. The Muscat government will not do anything either. Since both PN and PL pander to the same kind of populist sentiment we can forget a forceful defence of priority lanes, measures to reduce traffic in town centres, more pedestrianisation and schemes which suck cars out of Msida, Gzira, Hamrun, Paola, Sliema, Mosta, Floriana and other places. The real cancer factory which the PL and PN choose to ignore will remain, because of the shallowness of political discourse in Malta.

The health of people is not important it seems. For them ‘health’ just means the number of hospital beds and the list of medicines – reducing the causes of health problems does not feature in their rhetoric. They will avoid drawing up effective and really pro-people and pro-environment policies (which are really one and the same).

The most important arguments which score political points are the shallow and populist ‘fuel price’ and the boring tit-for-tat on increasing traffic, with their so-called solutions being the self-defeating calls for even more roads and even more parking spaces (including in the supposedly pedestrian areas of Valletta).

The arguments by the PN in opposition are a mirror image of those by the previous PL opposition. Which goes to show how similar, if not identical these parties have become, with no long term vision, both unwittingly promoting dirtier air and, yes, to use their own words, giving us all more ‘cancer factories’.