The Ford government’s…

The Ford government’s attempt to override municipal-level planning and infrastructure planning concerning bike lanes is shameful, and should not be tolerated by the people of Ontario.

Numerous studies have shown the benefits of protected bike lanes, including improved safety for both drivers and cyclists, and economic benefits for improved foot traffic to local businesses.

The proposal to reverse the installation of bike lanes on streets is a gross mismanagement of provincial tax dollars and a reprehensible waste of the time, effort, and municipal taxes spent on critical transportation infrastructure. Taxpayers should not tolerate this profoundly wasteful bill.

Further, the included provision to reduce the required environmental assessments for construction of another 400-series highway is equally as shameful. The province of Ontario must be forward-thinking, and abandon the plan to build a new highway that would only bring induced demand for more single-occupant drivers. We owe it to our world, and to our children and grandchildren who will inherit this world from us, to be faithful stewards of the environment, and to take every effort to reduce our CO2 emissions and invest instead in sustainable mass transit initiatives.

As a resident of Toronto, and a municipal and provincial tax payer, I emphatically oppose this proposed legislation and I would call on every citizen of Ontario to do the same. The Ford government should be ashamed and embarrassed for reinforcing an extremely outdated mindset on how to improve transportation in this province. This legislation is not the way forward, and I call on the current government to withdraw the bill at once.

Signed,
A Concerned Citizen of Toronto.