Bill 212 fundamentally…

Bill 212 fundamentally threatens our rights as Ontarians to have a healthful environment by removing removing existing bike lanes.

By proposing removing bike lanes, the government demonstrates a lack of care for the environment. Bike lanes can support more people per hour than a car lane and produce much less noise and air pollution. Cycling is an cheap and clean way for people of all ages and economic status to get around their own communities. Removing existing cycling infrastructure and expanding the bureaucracy required to expand it will discourage people from cycling and thus increase noise, air and water pollution as well as increase road violence. By removing a community's option of having safe cycling infrastructure, the government risks their citizens health and lives.

Drivers and vulnerable road users including the disabled peoples on mobility devices, cyclists and pedestrians all benefit from having a separated protected bike lanes. Bike lanes keep cyclists off of sidewalks, preventing collisions with pedestrians, and provides a protective barrier, preventing cyclists from mixing with car traffic. The perceived narrowing of the road will slow down drivers, reducing the severity of car crashes. People with mobility devices can as also use the bike lanes to get around. All road users are safer as a result of bike lanes. They are also shown to increase business in areas where bike lanes are built. They have no impact on emergency vehicle response times.

The removal of preexisting cycling infrastructure is unfair and undemocratic. The City of Toronto specifically built the bike lanes on Bloor, University and Young through it's own municipal processes. The people of the city rely on these bike lanes to get to work, to see family, to do business, and to enjoy the city recreationally. Forcing municipalities and communities to tear out bike lanes is unjust and uninformed.