The provincial power grab…

The provincial power grab outlined is this bill is a jurisdictional overreach and clear attempt to further centralize power in the hands of the premier. This is something I would expect from the Justin Trudeau Liberals and am dismayed to see such tactics used by a party under the name Conservative.

I would like to first see evidence that the bike lanes are what has caused the increase in traffic. When the 401 is backed up in Toronto or the 417 in Ottawa, where there are no bike lanes, what then is the cause of this traffic? In addition, why is it that Toronto, with a fairly small population for a city (when compared to most major cities like Paris, São Paulo, Mexico City, Tokyo, etc.) comes out as having some of the worst traffic in the world? Much worse than cities both with far more population and more densely packed?

If the point of this bill is in fact to reduce traffic, and not just to flame a culture war, then are you considering looking at alternatives? Ontario uses traffic lights at almost every intersection despite the fact that in many places roundabouts would significantly increase the flow of traffic. Better sensors could keep traffic lights more attuned to the flow of traffic. Better road design (including bike lanes) could reduce the number of collisions thus preventing traffic from getting backed up. Traffic lights could transition to amber before going to green to give drivers more notice and avoid a delay in traffic moving.

If we are being serious about fixing the problem of traffic, why is it that the solution given doesn’t seem to promote any real solutions to fixing traffic and instead just targets a specific group? There is no special interest group more pandered to in Ontario than drivers. I am a lifelong Conservative voter and my viewpoint does not come from being “on the left”. This is simply bad policy that seems to only want to inflame culture war rather than actually fix issues.