Ontario's current government…

Ontario's current government is urging us to "Choose cleaner travel choices, such as public transit or bicycle", on their own website for climate change.

I do just that. I cycle from North York to downtown when possible in Toronto, and when I'm not able to do that, I take the TTC and then proceed to grab a Bike Share bike to finish the last mile of my journey. I'm healthier, I'm happier and my fitness tracker is happy as well, all while not introducing any new CO2 in the atmosphere by dragging down a gigantic metal box to clog up everyone else's commute. Owning a car and paying for parking already costs hundreds of dollars per month, and that's not even factoring in the cost of the car itself, it's mostly just insurance. This is less money being spent in Ontario on more productive goods and services.

Unfortunately, this bill is proposing to remove any semblance of protection I have on major bicycle routes, leaving me to either stop cycling or to mingle with car traffic, causing even more congestion, emissions and tire particles flying everywhere.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be able to sit in a quiet, climate controlled car, listen to music and get to my destinations within 10 minutes. But if we all want to do that in our cities (and we do), it's impossible to accommodate just due to the space required alone. Much more car-centric cities such as Houston, TX have not managed to fix traffic, what makes us think we will? You don't need to look to Asia and Europe to see what bicycle lanes can do for our society; just stop by Montreal and see for yourself. With way more snow and with a colder climate, they're managing just fine... no, they're thriving!

If you want to cast shame on Canada on the global stage, this bill will do just that. We're already a laughing stock for our oversized vehicles and our laughably bad or non-existent subway networks. Any promises we made to the UN or other organizations in terms of our emission targets will be null and void. We're supposed to be leading the world by example, but instead we're looking out only for ourselves and our comfort in futile attempts to drive large cars to & from the same place at the same times every day. If that's the path we want to take, don't be surprised when other countries start polluting more as well.

Do not "rip out" our bicycle lanes just for the sake of populist rhetoric. Do not step in to micromanage traffic, let our cities do that. This bill needs to die on the vine, full stop.