The increasing population…

I am against this proposal for two main reasons:
1. Removing / blocking bike lanes to increase road capacity for cars is contrary to data and research that this will not improve traffic and will increase it in the long term. From an environmental perspective, reducing safe cycling infrastructure will discourage environmentally friendly biking and encourage more cars on the road, adding to pollution.
2. Provincial government overreach to go against the community’s and elected municipal officials’ decisions and cause additional waste of tax payer money.

The increasing population and removal of safe alternatives to driving will increase the number of vehicles with limited additional space to accommodate them in urban centres. You cannot keep increasing road capacity in a city centre.
Removing / blocking bike lanes will force more people into cars and make it more dangerous for those who continue to bike.

There are better areas to focus on to address the increases in traffic.
When ride share for short/medium trips is not much more expensive than transit and significantly faster / more convenient - this encourages way more cars on the roads increasing gridlock. When construction and on-street parking take up lanes and transit projects are delayed for years - this causes significantly more traffic issues. When highways are parking lots at rush hour, backing up city streets to on ramps, but still faster and more convenient than regional / local transit options for many people, this will increase traffic.
The province can help by investing in better public transit (and timely completion of major transit projects), which is proven to alleviate traffic.

After a number of cyclist deaths recently, this proposal is dangerous, regressive and unnecessary red tape. It is undemocratic overreach - these types of municipal matters should be decided by the community and their elected council. The hastily added proposal to take out existing bike lanes is a waste of taxpayer money and no data or studies have been provided to justify the whims of the premier.
Finally, the fact that the proposed legislation includes bypassing the Environmental Assessment Act is obviously going to have negative impacts to the environment.

“Numerous studies have examined the effectiveness of [adding additional roadway] and consistently show that adding capacity to roadways fails to alleviate congestion for long because it actually increases vehicle miles traveled (VMT).”
(Quoted from link below)