I strongly oppose Doug Ford…

I strongly oppose Doug Ford’s bill 212.
I don’t think that Doug Ford’s bill is in the best interest of anyone in Ontario, nor does it represent what people in Ontario want.
Doug Ford aims to take away the control that local municipalities have over designing their own roadways. He aims to put that control into provincial hands where he will have the divine authority to approve or disapprove proposed roadway variances. Nobody knows the needs/wants of locals, and the best use of their road space, better than their local governments. The province doesn’t know what is best for the individual needs of local municipalities. Municipalities should have the right to govern their own streets and make changes without approval from the provincial government.
Doug Ford wants to pass this bill to benefit himself. He wants to be able to forgo having to do any environmental assessments, and he wants to be able to expropriate land easier from land owners. All so he can build his highway through the green belt more quickly and easily. This only benefits his own interests since he and his buddies will personally gain and profit from building this highway.
The greenbelt is crucial land that should not be Ontario’s “place to grow” its sprawling industry and roadways.
Doug Ford is using Ontarians frustration with traffic congestion to rally support for his personal agenda. Look at the title of this bill “Reducing Gridlock: Saving You Time Act” What a charged name that is deliberately raising an emotional response from frustrated commuters. So that they will support a deceptive bill that won’t deliver what it promises. This bill is a vehicle for Doug Ford to get his way. The traffic congestion in the GTA is a more systemic issue in city planning and road design. It is not caused by bike lanes, nor will it be fixed by removing them and building highways through protected green spaces.

Removing the bike lanes will cost $75 million dollars and take 9 months to remove. I don’t want my tax dollars going towards something that will actively make my city a worse place to live in. Removing the bike lanes will grind traffic to a halt for the duration of the removal process. This will greatly increase the congestion that the bike lane removal is intending to lessen. And the end result won’t be 2 lanes each way of easily flowing traffic. Instead it will only create parking on both sides of the road like it was before, and one lane of car traffic each way that will be shared by cyclists. This is a much more dangerous situation for both cyclists and drivers.
As someone who both drives a car and cycles along the same streets of Toronto. I prefer bike lanes in both cases.
When I’m driving I’m less worried of cyclists coming out of nowhere because I can predict where they will be- in their own lane! Also where there are dividers and parked cars between my car and the cyclists it’s even better. This creates an even safer environment because the cyclists can’t dart out of the bike lane into car traffic.
When I’m on my bike I prefer bike lanes because it feels safe. I'm not constantly scared that a car will hit me on my left or a parked car will door me on my right. A lot of roads have aggressive drivers that don’t give way and I am forced to hug the curb where there are often terrible potholes that are a real hazard.
When there aren’t bike lanes as a driver, I can’t pass cyclists with a 1 meter clearance unless I cross partially into the oncoming lane, which is a hazard in itself and also disrupts the flow of traffic.
When I am a cyclist without bike lanes I can’t drive 1 meter away from the curb or parked cars as written in the law, because cars will constantly honk at me and driving 1 meter away from parked cars puts me in the lane of traffic. So there is really just one lane shared by both cars and bikes.
Many streets in Toronto feel so unsafe that I either choose to avoid them or I choose to bike on the sidewalk, which is illegal. Cycling on the streets of Toronto feels so dangerous without bike lanes that sometimes I have to break the law in order to feel safe and not be injured. That is simply wrong.
I am just one voice of many, and I know that many other voices oppose this bill. Please do what is in the interest of Ontarians, and Torontonians, and not pass a bill that will make their daily commute more congested and less safe.