Cars vs Humans
We recently had the privilege of being in a country where SAFE bike lanes and pedestrian walkways were a PRIORITY. Each city makes a commitment to continue to ADD non-car access. Not only that, but cities spend billions per year on public transit while focusing on ways to encourage access to everything you need within a few kilometres, making the car useless and unnecessary. Doug Fraud is taking Ontario in the opposite direction.
Last week, the Doug Ford government tabled Bill 212, a piece of legislation being referred to as the “Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024”.
It’s a pile of rubbish.
George Orwell would be proud to see the Doug Fraud government driving in full gear to bring taxpayers to a full stop.
Here’s some background information from Cycle Toronto:
In cities and towns across Ontario, people want a more vibrant and friendlier public realm. They know that easing traffic congestion is about giving people more transportation options, not fewer. Ontarians want to achieve net zero for a greener, healthier future and want their communities to be connected so that not every trip to school, to the store, or to work has to be taken by car.
In Toronto, the new legislation by the provincial government will put so many transformative projects at risk and will allow a small minority of voices to block progress on our growing cycling network.
And in communities across the province that are just beginning to embrace the benefits of complete streets, this anti-bike lane legislation could indefinitely pause progress.
Help us tell the province that we love our communities’ bike lanes, and we don’t want the province saying where they can or can’t be built because:
- Bike lanes are good for business
- They’re good for the environment
- They’re good for public and personal health
- They give us freedom and mobility
- Bike lanes save lives
This bill should be of great concern for anyone in Ontario that wants money to spend efficiently.
Ripping up bike lanes makes as much sense as ripping up EV chargers.
Oh yeah … Fraud did that too … and then had to put them back in. At great expense to taxpayers.
This is overreach, plain and simple.
“Prescribed municipalities would be required to seek provincial approval to allow for the implementation of new bicycle lanes (“bike lanes”) that require the removal of an existing lane of traffic,” the proposal from the Ontario government reads.
“Approval will be based on a set of specified criteria, to be set out in guidance and/or regulation.”
The framework would also allow the provincial government to request information on existing bike lanes where an existing vehicle lane was removed, and that municipalities would have to prove new bike lanes won’t negatively impact vehicular traffic.
If that’s not enough, people of Ontario should be concerned about how Bill 2121 focuses on accelerating the construction of highways like Highway 413, a project that was already rejected by previous governments because of the environmental devastation it would bring.
The reality is that nothing will alter congestion in cities like Toronto until our governments at all levels make serious commitments to the implementation of affordable and fiscally responsible public transit.
Time and again, it’s been proven that when people leave their cars at home (or don’t even buy one), they’re significantly better off for it.