This is atrocious…

This is atrocious policymaking. At MINIMUM, leave the lanes that have been built, and even that would be a regressive policy. For goodness' sake, look at what pretty much *every* city government around the world is doing.

What an absolutely horrible decision your government is making. Firstly, Ontario municipalities should be able to make decisions about their own cities without the ham-handed provincial government butting in, but I guess it's too much for a premier who still sulks that the city wouldn't elect him mayor.

Secondly, *EVERY SINGLE STUDY* that has been done around bike lines show that they make the urban landscape better and safer, and improve custom at businesses. People who no longer feel safe bicycling will have to start driving, which will just end up clogging the roads further and reducing the air quality of people who actually live in the city. These side-roads that you imagine cyclists could take across the city don't exist, and would materially impact their commutes in a far greater way than that of (usually the single occupant) in the comfort an enclosed SUV.

Catering to suburbanites whose tax dollars do not support the municipality is a craven attempt at vote buying, much like the $200 cash payments your government is making in lieu of properly funding hospitals or developing a rational housing policy (which the amount of money you're distributing like candy would be *more* than enough to do).

Please focus on the issues under your purview, and quit relying on anecdotal evidence or the fact that you personally don't like to be "inconvenienced" to drive policy for the city that refused to elect the premier mayor. You folks are pathetic. I honestly don't know how you sleep at night knowing that you're making craven decisions solely based on holding on to power instead of what is best long-term for the city and its residents. I've never been so angry at a government in Canada in my 57 year old life. And for the record, I'm a business owner, highest marginal rate taxpayer who lives downtown, uses BikeTO and transit, and wants our city to start planning for a future with *less* cars, not uproot the minor but significant strides that have been made in the last two decades I've been living here. Stay in your lane, and out of our bike ones.