"The Government of Ontario:…

"The Government of Ontario: Recognizes the need to build priority highways faster as our province grows in order to get people and goods out of gridlock and save drivers and businesses time and money."
Only half of this statement has some merit to it. Getting people and goods around the province quickly should unquestionably be a priority for the provincial government. This statement of recognition assumes that this must be done by expanding infrastructure for cars, and it is high time we leave this outdated way of thinking in the past. There are simply better (more environmental, efficient, and cheap) ways of getting people and goods around the province than investing primarily in car travel. Cars are more expensive, environmentally impactful and use space inefficiently as opposed to other methods of travel such as cycling, buses, and trains. As an Ontarian, prioritizing funding and resources towards developing any other method of transit aside from cars is what I would like to see.

This plan to require the provincial government to approve the additions of new bike lanes in certain circumstances is an overreach of their power. Bike infrastructure is miniscule in size compared to car lanes, and rarely span uninterrupted by car-prioritizing infrastructure across its own municipality, much less into another. Bike lanes are all but unheard of in the wide swaths of rural land that make up most of Ontario. Is there evidence that their existence is truly hindering the speed at which people and goods travel across the province in a way that harms profits? And forget province-wide, is there even evidence that it makes any meaningful impact within the bounds of municipalities themselves? Each bike lane removed will lead to hundreds of people opting for car travel instead, which will surely congest traffic further.

On a wider scale, Highway 413 is concerning to me for similar environmental concerns - the sheer amount of land required to build a highway is far more invasive than something like a rail system. With development across the world in recent years surrounding high-speed rail, why remain stuck in the past?