Please abandon this proposal…

Please abandon this proposal! It is deeply problematic for the future of Ontario. The provincial government should not be interfering in city roads without very strong cause. This flies counter to how road management has long since been handled. The idea that the people of cities like Toronto can vote for their mayor and municipal representatives yet have that vote overridden due to a provincial government that does not represent the city is undemocratic.

As well, the idea that reducing bike lanes would solve traffic problems is deeply flawed. Please consult the civil engineering experts that the provincial government surely has access to. Induced demand means that just adding a lane is not a magical solution for traffic. Bike lanes are highly efficient and most importantly an investment in the future, where we *need* to be reducing our dependence on automobile traffic.

Instead, to solve traffic, improve public transit! For example, why is there still no high speed rail along the Windsor-Quebec City corridor? There's been plans for one for decades but they always fall through. Use the political energy that you seem to have to drive that through. Completing such a mega project would give you a far better legacy than just retaining a lane for cars.

Also, even worse is the recent comments from Premier Ford about *removing* existing bike lanes. Overriding municipalities to prevent new bike lanes is bad enough, but removing existing ones is a horrible waste of resources. The city spent a great deal of money building those bike lanes. The province should not be tearing them down on a whim.