Car-crazy Canadians.

IF YOU'RE IN THE MARKET FOR A near-new supercar and have a spare hundred grand lying around, then Calgary automobile dealer Zahir Rana is the man to know. Rana says his ZR Auto Sales is on track to sell 40 used Ferraris and Lamborghinis this year--a 33 per cent increase over last year's total. "These are toys for the boys," Rana says, referring to the well-paid oil industry executives who comprise his clientele. "I could tell you stories that would blow you away. They just cut a cheque. They don't waste time."

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While it may not come as a surprise that wealthy oil tycoons are treating themselves to a flashy new ride, it is surprising to learn that sales of all automobiles in Canada are also revving up. In fact, Canadians bought 103,000 passenger cars in May, seven per cent more than in the same month last year. Sales of light trucks were even stronger at 83,000, up 15 per cent from May 2006.

The market increase, however, seems paradoxical as pollsters report that Canadians' chief public policy concern centres on global warming, with cars often identified as greenhouse-gas villains. A January survey by TNS Canadian Facts, for example, found that a third of Canadians said, of all issues facing the world, they are most concerned about "the environment and global warming," far ahead of second-place "war," which came in at eight per cent.

And it's not as if Canadians are unaware of automobiles' putative role in global warming. The former Liberal government's "One-Tonne Challenge" called for motorists to carpool, walk or ride a bike to reduce carbon emissions, and green guru David Suzuki has taken dead aim at Canadians' car use. "In addition to adding to traffic woes, cars place a huge toll on nature," Suzuki has written. "Automobile emissions contribute to global warming and air pollution problems, while roads alter the flow and quality of water in cities."

But Canadians aren't necessarily hypocrites says Dennis DesRosiers, an Ontario-based auto industry analyst. He says that, on one hand, Canadians buying new cars consistently rate the vehicle's environmental friendliness "dead last" when ranking the importance of a car's characteristics (reliability ranks first). On the other hand, car buyers are increasingly sensitive to a vehicle's gas mileage, and when gas prices go up, the market share of small, fuel-efficient cars rises, too. "What the consumer does is translate his desire to be green into fuel efficiency," DesRosiers says. "He doesn't know how to define environmental friendliness when he looks at automobiles."

Moreover, DesRosiers points out cars produce far fewer pollutants these days. In fact, a typical new vehicle rolling off the assembly line in 1987 emitted 37 times more pollutants than one rolling out of a plant in Windsor today. It's information like this that not only reduces the effect of eco-alarmists' arguments, but also allows eco-sensitive Canadians to buy new cars, guilt free.