I am deeply frustrated and…

I am deeply frustrated and concerned about this extremely frivolous and irresponsible legislation. The fact that government will move forward with the segment of this bill that allows the province to arbitrarily - and without any oversight or consultation - remove pieces of infrastructure that were installed by the municipal government is an insult to the taxpayers whose money was spent (and is now going to be wasted) to now get rid of it.

The devolution of certain responsibilities down to the municipal governments of this province is an integral part of what makes our democracy work. Municipal governments are able to respond more acutely and more directly to the needs of their constituents than the provincial government. Therefore I believe that this bill will not result in more efficient infrastructure implementations, but in fact, the opposite. It will represent egregious overreach in exchange for no discernable benefit, delegitimizing our local democracy in the process.

What is more frustrating is that the bill ignores decades of established urban planning logic. Study after study has confirmed that making way for more cars on our roads simply induces more demand for them, leading to a situation where there can never be enough supply to accommodate demand. Countries like the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany have discovered time and time again that the best way to tackle traffic issues in their cities is by providing alternative modes of transportation such as bike lanes, improved dedicated pedestrian rights of way, and high-quality public transportation.

The removal of urban bike lanes will also result in a sharp decrease in road safety, especially for bicycle users and pedestrians. In Toronto alone, six people have been killed riding their bikes so far this year -more than the previous three years combined. The timing of this all is deeply invalidating to everyone who has lost a friend or family member in a traffic collision. Bike lanes save lives.

Overall, this bill is a bad idea executed without being based on a shred of provable evidence or research. The government must revise this bill after consulting with planning experts and municipal officials should it wish to regain the trust that it has undoubtedly lost with many people in this province after taking this clearly rushed and unstudied decision.