Hello, I would like to…

Hello,

I would like to state my opposition to Bill 212 on various grounds. On top of being contrary to the conservative ethos, precedent within urban design shows that Bill 212 will inevitably fail to achieve its goal of "Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time".

Firstly, this policy is a disgraceful overreach on the part of the Ford government. There is no precedent in municipal history within Ontario for the provincial government having such drastic control over how a city conducts itself. As a party that prides itself on governmental restraint, the Conservative party should be ashamed of itself to be so blatantly perpetuated the governmental overreach it proclaims to combat. This policy is against what it means to be a Conservative in Canada.

Additionally, the policy also goes against another principal of conservatism, that being that the state should not subsidize private citizens. The argument for the expansion of carcentric infrastructure within Toronto is not within conservative principles: it presumes that the province should expand its reach beyond its defined boundaries to specifically subsidise a certain subset of people (car-owners). Thus, in many ways, Bill 212 is a hypocritical piece of legislature that is NOT compliant with conservative philosophy.

Additionally, Bill 212 is not compliant with urban design principles. The creation of more space for cars in the City of Toronto perpetuates a phenomenon known as induced demand: making more space for cars encourages people to purchase and use cars, which in turn creates more traffic. Contrary to popular thinking, bike lanes actually REDUCE traffic, as people who might take the car otherwise use bike lanes. (https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/bike-lanes-impacts-1.7358319) Bike lanes have a higher capacity for transportation of more people than car lanes do, and thus are a better usage of the city's space than more lanes for cars. The increase in gridlock in Toronto is not in fact a result of bike lanes, but rather that the city's population has increased drastically without accompanying public transit expansion, leaving most regions of the city dependent on cars for travel.

Supposing the true concern of this bill genuinely is for traffic in the City of Toronto and not an attempt by the Conservative provincial to pander to car-owning suburbanites, the provincial government should actually look into INCREASING the amount of bike lanes, and public transportation within the city. Similarly to bike lanes, subways lines, as well as LRT and BRT, all decrease the amount of congestion on the road. These changes also make the cities more affordable for those who cannot afford a car in an already deeply unaffordable city, create more pleasant neighbourhoods, and reduce pollution both within the city on a global scale.

Before implementing this policy, I thus ask that you reconsider its ramifications. Bill 212 is a clear example of government overreach and subsidization of a specific sect of private citizens. Additionally, IT WILL NOT ACTUALLY REDUCE TRAFFIC WITHIN THE CITY OF TORONTO, AND WILL CREATE CREATE FURTHER CONGESTION. If the province is actually interesting in reducing congestion within Toronto, I highly recommend consulting with people who specialise in urban design, as the proponents of this bill clearly do not.

Signed,

A Concerned Citizen