This is a comment on the…

This is a comment on the bike lane legislation. I live in Waterloo, Ontario.

I believe this legislation is not good. First, the province is entering into the domain of local politics (i.e., legislative overreach), which is rather presumptuous. I'm not sure how Queen's Park will have the ability to properly assess past initiatives or future initiatives in all the municipalities in a province of this size. Just to add to it, I think the current Premier often complained when Queen's Park would stick itself into the business of the City of Toronto, so I'm wondering why things are different now.

Second, if this really is about recent bike lane construction in Toronto, then limit the scope of the legislation to just those initiatives. Again, how a bike lane down Bloor St should affect Waterloo or Niagara Falls or Ottawa or Timmins is beyond me. It's presumptuous an a little patronizing to think that the government of the day would have the ability to properly assess and make a call on such a local issue.

Third, where are the resources for this? Will Gov.Ont actually refund the muncipalities for extensive construction works to build, and then tear down and re-build? I also think of the actually time-cost of getting MTO or whatever ministry to conduct these assessments. This legislation will make problems where there were no problems before in this regard.

Fourth, I get the sense that this is a political values issue. The government's MPPs, cabinet members, and premier himself, has done a wonderful job creating a "car vs. bike" mentality on this. That's plain wrong. Stop it. This is not good civics. the political expediency is coming at the cost of just general good relations between neighbours.

There are a few other issues you'll hear from others - environmental impact, the safety of cyclists on roads, etc. These are all critical and I invite you to consider all of them carefully.

Final thoughts: this one to me comes down to good governance. Queen's Park should not give itself the authority to over-ride very local decisions. That's why muncipalities and regions were legislated into being in the first place. i'm rather offended at the heavy-handedness of this legislation. The easiest fix is to constrain its scope to the streets in Toronto that the Premier has such a personal issue with.