Actually for your imformation, I live near Eglinton and Laird, far away from downtown. I see the traffic and I completely understand it. What makes me confused, is your theory that for a city to work functionally it must be easy to drive in, which I disagree with. Most of the great cities in the world are not car-centric, but people-centric: London, NY, Paris, Tokyo, you name it.
I think that Toronto is at a halfway point: our freeway system is OK, but not extensive and our subway/transit system is OK, but not extensive. The reason that London can survive with no freeways is because their transit system is about 5 times more extensive than ours. I many ways I agree with you: we cannot afford to get rid of the Gardiner entirely - at least for now. But what I advocate is not the total dismantle of the entire highway, but the eastern section only - which is minimally used (and used only as a pass through Toronto, which is should not). If you live in Oakville, you shouldn't be taking the Gardiner/DVP to get to Montreal! The 427/401 is for that.
If Toronto is halfway, than I think we should take the London approch, rather than the urban freeway system. Toronto needs to spend money on infrastructure - that is given - but the choice remains is how we will spend that money. Do you really think that traffic would be such a huge issue if the
Sheppard subway were complete, the Yonge-University extended both ways, an Eglinton subway from the Airport to Kennedy built and the Downtown Relief Line built (hell, or even if 'Transit City' were built)? No, it wouldn't. I say we complete the missing subway links, rather than highway links. I think that it is already proven that public transportation, pedestrian traffic and human interaction add more to a city's dynamics and function than cars ever did.