I strongly oppose this Bill…

I strongly oppose this Bill. It continues the track record of this government's override of local planning and policy decisions when those decisions don't align with conservative ideology. It is part of a systematic approach to reduce or eliminate environmental protections and to criminalize actions that, in the view of this government, would "impede progress".
The impetus behind the removal of existing bike lanes and the delay and discouragement of building new ones, ignores the imperative of providing safe infrastructure for vulnerable road users and the necessity to reallocate valuable road space so that people are encouraged to make sustainable transportation choices.
Fast-tracking highways that perpetuate automotive dominance and encourage urban sprawl development is both economically and environmentally unsustainable. So too is the removal of on-street bicycle infrastructure that reduces transportation choice, leading to more dangerous roads, higher carbon emissions, poorer community health outcomes and negative economic impact for local businesses.
129 cyclists died in the Province of Ontario between 01/01/2006 and 31/12/2010. These deaths prompted the government of the day to ask the Ontario Office of the Chief Coroner to provide a Death Review report. This report provided 14 recommendations including, "Adoption of a 'complete streets' approach - focused on the safety of all road users - to guide the redevelopment of existing communities and the design of new communities throughout Ontario". It took the better part of a decade for those recommendations to become guidelines and policy and then be implemented by communities across the Province. Bill 212 effectively takes the Province back to before the report was submitted. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.