I'm not sure that bleeding heart liberal correctly suits someone that comes from rural Alberta, but maybe you know better. This partisan BS really should be avoided.
I'm also not sure whether you meant your sister agrees with you that Capetown is less polluted than Toronto or whether she agrees with you that mass transit is not a good solution (as I believe this is the point you are making?) If the latter then I don't have much confidence in your sister.
Anyway, with regards to Capetown: I asked for an example that is equally dense - Toronto's urban area is about 2.75 times more dense than Capetown. Now I appreciate your anecdotal evidence, and as I have never been to Capetown I can understand that you might well perceive it to have less pollution but evidence might suggest otherwise:
First of all, not all air pollution affects the lungs and not all is visible. Secondly, here is some historical data:
Toronto (pg 55):
http://www.toronto.ca/health/hphe/pdf/weather_air_pollution_impacts.pdf
Capetown (pg 7)
http://www.environment.gov.za/soer/reports/gauteng/Chapter 7 Air Quality.pdf
They seem to be fairly even in levels of SO2 and NO2, but Capetown appears to have higher ground level Ozone. Couldn't find any comparitive data for PM10 as Toronto seems to measure in PM2.5 anyway. Doesn't overly matter, because PM concentration doesn't necessarily tell the whole story because it doesn't necessarily give the amount and it's corresponding size. Different particulate sizes have different affects. Had the same problem with CO.
Secondly, you seem to be arguing that Toronto has more pollution than Capetown. Guess what tends to be the largest contributor to this, at least with regards to CO and NO2 (NOx)? Transportation - in the form of fossil fuel burning vehicles!! NOx affects breathing. So in effect, your saying that Toronto is polluted - moreso than Capetown; this pollution largely comes from vehicle emissions, and to combat it, we should actually encourage more use of vehicles... (?) Probably not what you intended.
Interestingly enough the questions in and of itself can't really logically be answered anyway, at least not with respect to what we are underlyingly trying to figure out here.
The amount of pollution within a city and its subsequent concentration is influenced by more than how much the city itself creates. Weather and geography play a role as does built form, dispersion and source concentration, hence why I asked for an equally dense one. These in turn, are affected by economics, culture, mentality, land use and a myriad of further things.
So I guess it is possible to sort of say which city is more "polluted," but it has a great deal more to do with factors aside from mobility alone, albeit that is a big one and it really only tells a small part of the story.
What you can, however, be sure of, is that 100 people driving 100 cars creates a hell of a lot more air pollution than those same said people being transported by 2 buses or 1 centrally powered streetcar. We haven't even started getting into what the subsequent land use, when used for the vast amount of space required for freeways and the communities they serve, then contributes.
And, as you seem to be concerned with the economics of the whole thing, it's... gasp, cheaper as well. That is, of course, if you regard the many extranalities that historically have largely been "forgotten" with regards to the automobile. Think about it yourself. Density is cheaper and it's essentially simple math. However, let's leave that discussion elsewhere.
Really, what the car provides is a higher degree of freedom (although that could be argued) and convenience (that isn't properly being paid for.) Of course it provides mobility and is thus very useful where no alternative is feasible - such as rural areas or small centers, but as originally stated, Toronto is no such thing.
So yeah, if Ford does in fact, dismantle the steet car system and neglect bike lanes, then Toronto will have regressed. Oh yeah, Capetown too wants to implement better mass transit:
http://www.pikeresearch.com/blog/mobility-hubs-to-help-reshape-urban-transit
http://www.andrewboraine.com/2009/11/integrated-rapid-transport-in-cape-town-no-other-alternative/
as does essentially every other city in the world with a decent population.
My undergrad was effectively Environmental Engineering FYI, assuming this of course, matters.
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