I'm a resident of Hamilton,…

I'm a resident of Hamilton, Ontario. A city that was transformed for the benefit of cars over many decades before I even moved here. I literally moved houses because the traffic on the street I lived on was so bad that a car flipped over the sidewalk and landed in my neighbour's yard. I have young kids. Not a year later and a prominent Canadian radio personality was killed walking in the same area. Not to mention the many other deaths and injuries to people here caused by traffic congestion.

Any equation that aims to reduce congestion needs to take measures to reduce the number of cars on the road. There is no arithmetic that balances out where adding more lanes or making it more convenient for car drivers will reduce congestion. The problem is the number of cars on the road.

The only measures we should be considering are ones that provide people with transportation needs the means to satisfy those needs with options that don't involve cars. With fewer cars on the road there is less congestion. Less congestion means fewer fatalities, injuries, noise, and pollution.

Cities know this. The people who live in those cities know what needs to be done to reduce traffic. The municipalities elect leaders to affect change in their communities. That change should not be beholden to the Province.

If the Province intends to aid the reduction of congestion on roads they should be aiding municipalities to implement the solutions and policies that work for them.

This Bill gets in the way of effective solutions.