As a parent and resident of…

As a parent and resident of Toronto who has used and benefitted from the careful planning and implementation of bicycle infrastructure, I'm flabbergasted by this bill's proposition that bike lanes are a problem. The environmental, safety, economic and social benefits of cycling infrastructure are too important to be subject to this thoughtless disruption.

Similarly, I support the careful and reasonable system of environmental protections Ontario has developed, and am strongly opposed to stripping them without reason. Highway 413 must be subject to standard processes which protect us all.

This bill seems to be unsupported by research, evidence, and merely a tool for partisan division and I am so strongly disappointed that the Minister has allowed this to be tabled. Please reconsider.

The Ontario Professional Planners Institute, the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers and Green Communities Canada have all responded to Bill 212 asking the Minister to back down on this.

https://ontarioplanners.ca/OPPIAssets/Documents/OPPI/OPPI-Feedback-on-B…

https://ospe.on.ca/advocacy/response-to-bill-212-why-we-need-to-rethink…

https://greencommunitiescanada.org/letter-to-ontario-minister-of-transp…

Their statements are fuller than mine and informed by professional expertise, but I am compelled to make this futile response because I do not want my children, my family members, my friends, or members of my community harmed by the removal of bike lanes and disruption of public infrastructure.

Bike lanes make biking in the city safer for people, and this bill is senseless and dangerous.