As a resident of Toronto who…

As a resident of Toronto who is both a cyclist and a driver of a car, I strongly oppose Bill 60 on several grounds.

Firstly, the environmental reasons alone are enough to warrant the creation of MORE rather than fewer bike lanes.

Bike lanes do not cause traffic congestion, rather, they alleviate it by creating alternative, environmentally friendly, transportation options for many people. If drivers are frustrated by traffic congestion, the solution isn’t to remove bike lanes, but rather to improve alternate modes of transportation such as funding better public transit and creating more bike lanes, providing people with a viable alternative to driving.

Our city is already too car-oriented. Making driving more convenient only encourages more people to drive, which leads to even more congestion, makes our streets more dangerous for those who do decide to ride bikes, and keeps us from meeting our climate targets.

In addition to all of this, I’m strongly opposed to the bill solely from a democratic standpoint. I see it as a serious overreach of power on the part of the Ontario government, that takes decision making power away from locally elected government. Most residents of the city of Toronto did not vote for Doug Ford’s government, which largely represents the interests of people who live outside of the city. By allowing them to then override the city of Toronto’s mayoral government on matters that are clearly within city’s jurisdiction and which affect the lives of the people who actually live here, we seriously undermine the electoral representation of Toronto voters. This is a real democratic injustice.

Thank-you.