Cities are far better placed…

Cities are far better placed than the province to determine local issues. Centralizing this power in the province will only lead to more red tape and delays in cities being able to react to their citizens. Bike lanes save lives and allow more people to get to their destinations quicker. Car dependency has demonstrably failed Ontarians. With time stuck in traffic increasing, why are we pushing the same solutions that already failed? Canada is one of the most car centric countries in the world and we pay for it by sitting in traffic. One more lane was the mantra of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 00’s, 10’s and now we have the worst traffic in the world, so at what point do we admit it was a failure?

According to a cycle Toronto study, 70% of Torontonians cycle at least occasionally. With the healthcare crisis worsening, isn’t more people being healthy and in shape a positive? Removing bike lanes will worsen the healthcare crisis. In many of the downtown areas, more than 30% of workers commute by bike, removing/restricting bike lanes puts these people in harm’s way, creates more conflict between drivers and cyclists and as a result will create more traffic. It also has the potential to force this group of people to drive, meaning you will increase traffic even more in the most concentrated areas of Toronto. With most of the downtown cycling to commute, having even 2% of the GTA bike means more than one hundred thousand people now having to drive or simply take a lane on their bikes. This is simply bad policy.