This bill is a misguided…

This bill is a misguided attempt by the provincial government to exert unearned and targeted power over municipalities and will produce outcomes in total opposition to their stated goals. It should not be enacted.

Bike lanes serve several important roles in the functioning of cities and towns of all sizes. Clearly, they facilitate the safer usage of bicycles within a municipality and encourage a variety of associated benefits, including the promotion of healthy lifestyles, economic stimulation through the closer exposure to street-side businesses, an easing of the load on other modes of transportation, a reduction of atmospheric emissions, a reduction of consumer fuel expenditures, and, by extension, a reduction in carbon taxation. All noble goals indeed.

Not only this, bike lanes encourage safer and more pleasant streets for local residents. Motor vehicles tend to generate noises far louder than any other surface vehicle. Horns are one obvious example, but let's not forget the sounds of both the engines driving them and the tires carrying them, both of which make a din that you might take for granted in a city. Bikes fail to reach the heights of the noise of personal vehicles, which leads to far more pleasant experiences for all of those in the area. This is, in part, the point that I wish to make here. We have become normalized to the sounds of motor vehicles in our cities and towns only because we have let them. It is not natural, our cities were destroyed and redesigned that way. Only recently have municipalities tried to make way for other modes of transportation that are eminently viable, only to face roadblock after roadblock in their enactment. You should not have to expect the unpleasantness of car-choked city streets. It does not need to be this way.

Personal vehicles also cause an undue level of wear and tear on our roadways. Damage to roads tends to be a function of the weight of the vehicle travelling over it and increases at an incredible pace with this variable, so reducing the weight of the average vehicle travelling over these highways is paramount to preserving them season after season. I know that road maintenance continues to be a large share of the expenditure of many layers of government, and I would like to make sure that my tax dollars go towards repairing damages that could otherwise not be prevented. Not only that, but the long-term benefits of improved health outcomes from bikes unburdens our healthcare system that is in such desperate need of financial relief. Bikes prevent these bad consequences, so I support bikes. They are the fiscally responsible, cost-cutting, Conservative option.

I would also like to note that the stretches of streets named in this bill all have heavy-rail subways running underneath or near-underneath for a great part of their length. This is an exceedingly convenient option for all those travelling along these corridors in a personal motor vehicle and in most cases meets their needs completely. The addition of another lane of such traffic to these routes is unlikely to ease congestion when such alternatives exist. Instead, this lane will further lower the density of road users passing along the route and will slash the throughput of these streets. Maximizing throughput is, funnily enough, the underlying goal of this proposal, yet its methods will do the exact opposite.

I will conclude by noting that this kind of measure is wholly inappropriate for a provincial government. The decision on including a bike lane on a certain stretch of road ought to be completely in the realm of municipal-level decision makers. Of course, provincial rules about highways continue to apply, but the requirement of municipalities to consult with the provincial government about road use in their jurisdiction—especially when targeting specific streets in one specific city—is completely unacceptable. When contrasted with this government's flippant willingness to spend billions of dollars not just on highway upkeep but on entirely new highways, the addition of bike lane death panels defies the principles of this government on many levels. I hope that the powers that be make the right decision and reject this misguided and mean-spirited proposal.