Hello Mr Ford and Mr…

Hello Mr Ford and Mr Sarkaria,

I am deeply troubled by this proposed bill from your government. While I doubt that you will take any of these public comments seriously, I hope that maybe this will lead you to have a second thought on this proposal.

I live in Toronto’s urban core, and use a bike as my primary means of transportation throughout the year (only opting for other means when there is heavy snowfall, which is quite rare even in winter in Toronto). Most of my daily trips are under 3 km, as is the case for most Torontonians. If I was forced to take a car for those short trips due to a lack of safe cycling infrastructure, not only would that be way more expensive (gas, parking, insurance, maintenance…don’t conservatives care about kitchen table economics?) but it would just add to the congestion the city already faces. Imagine if the >5 million bike share trips made every year were cars on the road. Now add everyone else who may not use a bike as a primary means of travel but use one frequently for shorter trips. Now add all the actual bike commuters (not using misrepresented census data like you have in the past). Do you think an extra car lane on three streets would do anything to alleviate the added congestion from those trips being made by car? Why not just eliminate all the on street parking? And again, I would love to see some honest stats from your government. Barely any of the roads in Toronto have a bike lane to begin with. If you took the percentage of taxpayer funded pavement that was dedicated to bike infrastructure in this province, I can assure you it would be infinitesimally smaller than the percentage of people who cycle (and pay taxes too).

We simply cannot continue forcing everyone to drive in this city due to a lack of safe and affordable alternatives. It will not help those who ACTUALLY need to travel by car, and will only make those who can’t afford to drive less safe. But hey, what’s the lives of a few “urban liberal elite snobby bikers who don’t vote for you” compared to posturing before an election anyways?

I am also surprised to see a supposedly Conservative government creating more red tape and bureaucracy in this Province, by forcing local road infrastructure planning to be funnelled through the minister’s office. What a ridiculous and inefficient state of affairs that would be. I thought that the best people to make decisions on their local affairs were…locally elected representatives? Isn’t that what conservatives used to believe? Who knows anymore.

Cordially yours,
Property Tax Paying Constituent in Toronto