As a Waterloo resident, this…

As a Waterloo resident, and student of the accredited planning program of the University of Waterloo, this bill has the potential of damaging the urban environment which I call my home. The provincial government should not be adding more bureaucracy damaging local governments and municipalities who wish to advance their transit options for their own residents. Bike lanes are also essential transportation infrastructure, and are just as important as sidewalks are for people to get around. Another issue with this bill is that it further undermines the safety of bikers, who include young children and the elderly who are already more at risk. Bikers are very vulnerable without proper infrastructure and are nine-times more at risk when biking on major streets with parked cars, than on cycle tracks (Teschke et al., 2012). By passing this bill, the government of Ontario is demonstrating that it does not care about the safety of its residents. The government of Ontario is proving that it is dedicated, not to the improvement and development of modern infrastructure, but instead to the archaic Fordist practices that kill innovation, progress, and bikers.