First on bike lanes, we can…

First on bike lanes, we can't reduce our carbon footprint unless we increase the percentage of trips we take using carbon efficient transportation, such as bikes, transit and electric vehicles. Creating a safer means of travel for bikes will have the positive effect of increasing bicycle use. In Toronto, the Bloor West of Humber bike lane was rolled out with the concurrent expansion of Bikeshare stations, allowing me to ride out to the end of the line for coffee earlier this year.

I also note that bike lanes tend to make it safer for pedestrians and drivers alike. One of the ways this happens is by providing dedicated left turns lanes. As a driver, this also makes the trip time more predictable - which to me, is the crucial part of dealing with the stress of traffic.

Second, on exempting highway 413 and the Brantford bypass from environmental assessment, this is clearly a violation of the spirit and intent of the environmental law. The current government has been in office long enough that the assessment could and should have been done. As above, it is clear that promoting more automobile and truck traffic will negatively impact our climate (and, therefore, environmental) goals. In addition, there are numerous likely adverse nature effects, which have taken on greater prominence since the COP 16 conference on nature held in Montreal. Building the highway will certainly make it harder to protect 30% of nature by 2030 (the 30 by 30 pledge).