Traffic exists because of…

Traffic exists because of people driving cars. Adding another lane of traffic, another suburban development, another parking lot, etc encourages more people to use cars, creating more traffic, which then results in an eternal feedback loop of rising car dependency leading to more investment in car infrastructure leading to more car dependency, etc. Downtown cores are for density and local and public transportation. Removing/scrapping proposed bike lanes in downtown cores will not “reduce time in traffic” because they are inherently dense areas… you may as well argue to remove buildings, patios, and sidewalks since they are preventing the addition of more lanes for cars downtown. While I understand that car culture is so ubiquitous and ingrained in North America that attempting to overturn it would require tremendous upheaval, the big picture cannot be ignored. If the PCs cared about reducing traffic and commute times, they would invest more in public transportation projects, bike lanes, and fight car dependency, which would increase safety, decrease carbon dioxide emissions, lower car traffic, and decrease costs for maintenance of car infrastructure (!!!). It is shameful that Doug Ford is using cyclists as a scapegoat instead of looking at the bigger picture of the toxic cycle of car dependency.