I am a lifelong Toronto…

I am a lifelong Toronto resident, and I typically travel through the city by car, on foot or transit. Bloor Street, where fully separated bike lanes were recently installed, is a street I drive on quite frequently. I am writing oppose Bill 212.

I am in full support of keeping the existing bike lanes exactly where they are, and I am in vehement disagreement with expediting the construction of Highway 413, and the Bradford Bypass, and any other priority highway construction project.

The government's own experts have determined that none of these priority projects save any significant time, and their construction has been shown to be an environmental disaster. There is also the open question of whether or not the urgency of this construction is dictated by developers and donors to the PC party. If the government truly wanted to "reduce gridlock and save time", they could do so considerably faster and cheaper by paying for trucks to use Highway 407.

With respect to bike lanes, they save lives. The evidence on this is clear. Fully separated bike lanes also make life considerably easier for drivers, as it keeps cyclists safely away from vehicles. This in turn encourages more bike commuting, which is better for the environment, for local businesses (it's far easier to spontaneously stop on a bike to enter a business than to park a car), and in many cases is faster than driving.

More to the point, the Premier should remember that he is not Mayor of Toronto (he lost that election) and should allow municipalities to make such decisions for themselves. I am appalled that this government would waste time and money trying to dictate municipal decisions like bike lanes instead of tackling more significant provincial issues like health care, education, and the climate.