I was wondering about this. I wonder if it's going to be more of that trusted platform end-to-end encryption junk. Jailbreaking's last stand?

I felt they really glossed over this new feature.

It probably comes down to some distinction between express lanes and a complete highway project. No one's claiming that this is the first completely electronic toll road, but the first completely electronic highway.

Some Roman roads in medieval Europe were heavily tolled during the Dark ages by local lords, the Church and other authorities, making travel prohibitively expensive for all but the elite. This hindrance to trade, along with unsafe conditions for traders, is seen as a reason why the European economy was so stagnant during this period. (Sorry, it's the weekend, I don't feel like citing sources :P)

This can be seen as the logic behind roads being a project funded from the public purse. If everyone has free/libre access to roadways as a result of the taxes they pay, then everyone is free/libre to use them to conduct trade.

Think of it as the Net neutrality issue of the last millenium. ;)

I think the difference is that Toronto's 407 ETR has never had manned toll booths, but was originally built with support for number plate cameras and transponders.

It was the world's first highway to feature this system throughout.

What you're describing is the can be attributed to the effects of the emerging North-American Union rather than Canada being a weak auto market. If our the US and Canada hadn't been so buddy-buddy in 1918 then Canada wouldn't have allowed GM to acquire McLaughlin Motors of Oshawa (now headquarters of GM Canada) and they would have been our automaker.

If the EU had existed pre WWII do you think that there would be as many automakers in Europe as there are today? I bet the UK and German automakers would have taken over and you'd be laughing at France and Italy for not having "domestic car concerns".

Believe me, GM Canada *is* a Canadian auto-maker as much as Toyota of Canada (btw, you linked a dealership there). Do the Canadian people get to control what it does as part of a global corporation? No more than the USA gets to control GM when they're not on the verge of bankruptcy.