Concerning Bill 212:…

Concerning Bill 212:
Schedule 1 -no comment
Schedule 2-not necessary at all. the minister does not need these special powers. The current highway construction process is sufficient. The possible time savings cannot justify overriding municipal by-laws, the expropriation act and the court appeal process. These are necessary parts of a functioning democracy and those processes require time. The Ministry may look at cities such as Detroit, Buffalo and Los Angeles and see that eventually the extra highway infrastructure bankrupts the cities nearby and does NOT solve congestion. Congestion could be solved by charging drivers for using the highway as demonstrated by highway 407. The government should considered removing the ban it imposed on such possibility.
Schedule 3-the highway does not need these special concessions. It is in a not very populated area, outside of the GTA and not many will benefit from it. The minister should consider applying this framework to transit projects such as GO Expansion so that it is completed as soon as possible. That will provide an alternative to highways that will actually reduce traffic.
Schedule 4-the ministry does not need to get involved with municipal bike lanes. The amounts involved are so small and the space on the roads so plentiful, compared to the Billions that will be spent on the three highways in Schedule 2, that it is incomprehensible why the ministry has an intersect on bicycle lanes. The ministry should aim for a balanced transportation system as opposed to becoming like Texas where 95+ % of the population drives cars. Wouldn’t there be less traffic if only 50 % of people were car motorists and the rest used bicycles and/or transit?