Cars are the cause of…

Cars are the cause of gridlock, not bicycles.
There is ample literature from around the world suggesting that enhanced infrastructure for cars in urban areas only has temporary positive effect and eventually results in the same level of gridlock as before - or worse. This is true for both North American and European cities. Thinking that there somehow is a Canadian exception is misguided.
What reduces gridlock is a concerted, coordinated and long-term effort to get people to leave their car and choose alternate means of transportation: transit and active transportation. This requires vision from decision-makers, and the willingness to achieve results in the long term, not for the next 12 months.
Bicycle infrastructure across Ontario cities has, over the past decade, resulted in a significant increase in bicycle usage as a legitimate means of transportation for all ages, helped by the rapid development of e-bikes.
Dedicated infrastructure has encouraged youth or seniors to embrace cycling because of the increased safety it affords. Without this infrastructure, and in the absence of credible enforcement on some motorists' repeated disrespect for bicycles as legitimate, full-fledged users of roadways, an increase in accidents is to be expected, followed by cyclists likely returning to their cars and adding to traffic issues.
The proposed dismantling of bike infrastructure, and the greater hurdles for municipalities to implement them, is an ill-informed, short-sighted measure that will not help mobility in our cities in any effective or durable way, but rather undermine it. It will only set Ontario further back, and make the future achievement of livable cities more difficult and costly.