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Toronto's electric streetcars are ironically being wrapped in pro-oil ads

Alberta's marketing department just won't let up with its attempts to influence Ontario residents, and its latest efforts may be the most ridiculous yet, thanks to an irony that higher-ups didn't seem to catch onto before spending some big bucks on ads.

The Alberta government has invested a pretty penny trying to convince people in Toronto to move west, with billboards boasting about its cheaper homes, bustling job market and higher salaries.

Now, it wants those in Canada's biggest city to not only relocate there, but to help advocate for the Prairie province's most lucrative sector: the oil industry.

An industry which it is, for some reason, pushing on T.O. public transit, as it has with other ads in the past.

Quite a few commuters have noticed a new look for TTC streetcars this week, with some of them wrapped in all black with Province of Alberta messaging stating that Ottawa's proposed clean energy regulations will make electricity unreliable and unaffordable, and urging people to visit a website to voice their opposition of the federal government's plans to reduce emissions.

Of course, many are finding gas-loving Alberta's choice to use an electric public transit fleet to rally for the use of fossil fuels quite hilarious, especially given the amount they must have invested, which is going right back to Toronto's public transportation network.

There is also the fact that, as one person noted, the ads use statements like "no one wants blackouts in -30 C" to rouse the public in a place where it hasn't been that cold in years, some would argue due to climate change spurred by carbon emissions.

Generally, the wraps are seeming to have the complete reverse effect than intended, with passersby put off by leadership in a province thousands of kilometres away trying to persuade our political leanings.

Lead photo by

Parviz Foto


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