Thank you for the…

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on Bill 60. Before I begin, I genuinely hope the reader has a warm cup of tea nearby. Something calming. Please take a sip and prepare, because what follows is a polite rollercoaster through transportation policy and existential bewilderment.

Bill 60 prevents municipalities from reallocating road space for bike lanes, bus lanes, school safety zones, patios, wider sidewalks, or anything that might improve the daily experience of a person simply trying to exist outside a vehicle. This is a bold and unusual direction. While most cities aim to reduce congestion, Bill 60 looks at traffic and says, let us see how far we can push this.

By removing basic tools that reduce gridlock, the Bill ensures that more people must drive, which creates more traffic, which encourages more driving, which creates more traffic. It is a beautifully symmetrical loop of frustration.

For anyone who cannot drive, cannot afford a car, or finds driving overwhelming, Bill 60 offers new opportunities for resilience building. Character development, as they say.

Environmentally, more mandatory driving will guarantee additional emissions and air with the faint flavour of used dishwater. A bold atmospheric choice.

Public health is similarly enhanced. More collisions, more stress, more respiratory problems. Emergency departments may become the province’s most popular social venue.

Municipalities will appreciate the simplicity. Instead of consulting data or communities, they can now simply say, the province told us the roads must stay exactly the same forever. This will save time, if not lives.

In summary, Bill 60 reliably produces more congestion, more pollution, more collisions, higher costs, less mobility, and significantly less joy. It is a rare accomplishment to achieve so many outcomes at once.

I respectfully recommend withdrawing Bill 60 before it becomes necessary to add “traffic-induced existential crisis” as a line item in the provincial budget.

Thank you for reading this comment. If it made you smile, even a little, that is already more benefit than Bill 60 has managed to produce.