It’s certainly seeming that way here at Toronto City Hall some days.

Today, for instance. Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. David McKeown released this report, re-stating an assertion that the city’s health department has been making for years: that smog - in this case, automobile-generated smog - is a killer, or at least an accomplice to killing, contributing to 440 premature deaths a year.

The Board of Health has been playing mine-canary on the smog file for years. In 2004, the board released a report linking smog to 1,700 early deaths a year; this one narrows the focus to the automobile.

The fact that it is is hardly a co-incidence; because in addition to a small debate about taxes, the biggest story for Toronto’s long-term future is the extent to which Toronto Council has gotten behind Mayor David Miller’s climate change plan. The plan was a key plank in Miller’s 2006 platform, and it’s fascinating to watch its smog-busting recommendations insinuating its way into so much other policy. Councillors overwhelmingly endorsed the plan at their July meeting, passed another sustainable transportation plan at its October meeting. Now, in almost the manner of an affirmation, McKeown and Toronto Public Health has weighed in, advocating many of the same solutions.

Bottom line: Torontonians need to get out of their cars whenever they can, and when they do, they need to have reliable public transit and safe bicycle routes and inviting pedestrian spaces as alternatives. Overall, if Torontonians reduce their vehicle emissions by 30 per cent, 200 fewer people die from smog.

It’s a good thing to see so much consensus on this agenda on Council. If they can’t agree on taxes, at least they can agree on death…