Toronto, Ontario — A column denouncing Canada’s love affair with trucks was published by the Globe and Mail last Sunday, and boy, oh boy did it ever get a response.
Both truck lovers and haters alike took to their devices to share their thoughts on the matter.
Some agreed with the author of the column Marcus Gee’s opinion that trucks are safety hazards and have quite an environmental footprint. While, many argued that trucks are necessary for specific jobs, hobbies and regions.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said the column was “ridiculous.”
“Come to Saskatchewan where we use our pickup trucks to build and grow our province … and pull the odd car out of the snowbank,” he said in a Tweet.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney also piped up and even changed his Twitter profile picture to a photo of himself in a truck.
“The Toronto Globe & Mail is having a temper tantrum about pickup trucks. I’m happy to say that ~40% of the vehicles on Alberta roads are pickups,” he tweeted. “Maybe Toronto columnists should try getting around this province during a prairie blizzard in a Smart Car.”
While Gee does say trucks serve a purpose for certain people he says they have become a “plague” on Canadian streets.
“Even if they weren’t polluting and dangerous, the parade of pickups would be a blight on the road scape and a finger in the eye of other drivers – a way of saying to everyone else: I am bigger, badder and richer than you. A vehicle that started as a practical tool for hard-working people has become, for many, an obnoxious assertion of dominance and division,” Gee wrote.
