If you live in Toronto or have visited at any point in the past five years, you almost certainly have engaged in the traffic discussion. I started traveling more seriously to and from Toronto a little over ten years ago and the route from my parent’s house, where I typically stay, to the airport typically takes me on the Allen to get to the 401. When they first broke ground on the Eglington line, I was excited about finally adding to the city’s insufficient public transit network. World class cities require extensive public infrastructure. Over ten years later and with no end in sight, the whole project has turned into a real “laugh / cry” situation and public embarrassment.
During my Secondment period at SIG Combibloc, I had the pleasure of visiting numerous SIG manufacturing facilities around the globe, including those in Germany, Switzerland, the US, China, and Brazil. Despite for the most part producing the same or similar goods and equipment, the variance across facilities was stark. What fascinated me most was how culturally different the attitudes were across the workforces. China stood out in terms of the employee’s dedication and commitment. I recall observing the shift supervisor address the floor workers before their shift began and seeing them sign off with a collective chant; it reminded me of a well-trained military. It was by far the most productive and efficient plant at that time. I reflect on that experience whenever I see videos of large-scale infrastructure rapidly being built in China (e.g., train stations in a day, hospitals in a week, etc.). It seems to me that China has a clear commitment to the “greater good” (e.g., building infrastructure) at the expense of the individual.
I was in Toronto recently and the radio was covering a story about a man who lives next to the site of a future Ontario line station in the East end. He was complaining to a sympathetic reporter about the non-stop noise and disruption he was suffering as they built out the station by his house and shared the effort he was putting into contacting his MP and Metrolinx to limit their working hours. I couldn’t help but think how a Chinese citizen complaining about the same situation would be received and what a distinct illustration of the value we ascribe to individual rights. For the sake of this one guy’s personal inconvenience, we might add months or years to a project that will support millions of people.
I’m an optimistic person but I have zero confidence in North America’s ability to build large scale infrastructure efficiently. We value the individual over the collective, which has many merits. But not when it comes to building public infrastructure. Hopefully I’ll be wrong.