As a lifelong Torontonian, I…

As a lifelong Torontonian, I strongly disapprove of the proposals in Bill 212 pertaining to removing and controlling bike lanes in the city. I am as frustrated by gridlock as anyone, but as has been voiced by multiple publicly available sources, there are many factors causing the issue, the least of which are bike lanes.
Construction is a massive disruption: better regulation on how and when building sites close lanes is needed. Uber and Lyft have swollen congestion by at least hundreds if not thousands of cars daily, which cruise the streets aimlessly, duplicating the role already filled by taxis.
It is clear the policy is not evidence-based, using out-dated, skewed data that does not reflect the reality of those of us living downtown.

Further, there is now a whole new and vital economy reliant on bikes: food delivery service. Thousands are earning a living on their bikes. To remove the infrastructure that increases the safety of those operating in this now baked-in part of the economy makes no sense.

Beyond this, I object to the Bill on the principle of the overreach it represents. I voted in my city councillor to do precisely what the City of Toronto has done in this regard. I also value what council generally brings to the community as the elected officials with closest proximity to the realities on the ground here.
If the province worked collaboratively with the city, it would have more credibility with me. This seems to me an offensive power play that palpably undermines democracy.