What began as plans to prevent new bike lanes from getting built on city streets has become an effort by Premier Doug Ford to pedal backwards and rip up the lanes that already exist which has cyclists and city officials fuming.
While addressing a lunchtime crowd of more than 1,000 at the Empire Club of Toronto on Thursday, Ford not only doubled down on the province’s plan to prevent future bike lanes from being built in cities if it means taking out other traffic lanes but went one step further, saying he was going to bring “sanity back to bike lane decisions.”
“It isn’t enough to keep an eye on future bike lanes. We need to and will remove and replace existing bike lanes on primary roads that are bringing traffic in our cities to a standstill,” Ford said to applause from the business crowd.
Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria had said the province would be asking municipalities for data on all bike lanes installed in the last five years, claiming the numbers used until now may not have been complete. But he made no mention of removing existing lanes, saying only “We have to look at the impact on gridlock.”
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario called the province’s decision a “significant overreach” of power, saying none of its 444 members were consulted or shown evidence the province is using to justify its proposed veto power over new bike lanes.
“It is unclear how the Ministry of Transportation will be in a better position than municipalities to make decisions about local transportation matters,” the association said on Thursday. “Rather than micromanaging bike lanes, the Ministry of Transportation could focus on accelerating its own approval processes to help support new housing.”
Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said Thursday they are “more than happy” to work with cities on the issue while noting communities can still implement bike lanes that do not remove a lane of traffic.
Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie was on hand to hear the Premier’s words, saying Ford needs to hit the brakes.
“Quite frankly this is a municipal issue better left in the purview of the municipal politicians that is why we elect them. I’m not going to comment about it, he should stick to his lane and worry about the fact that Ontarians don’t have access to health care.”
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, a longtime cycling advocate, reiterated her stance when it comes to the province limiting city powers.
“Let’s not go backwards. It’s always better when we work together. Ripping up our roads will make congestion worse,” she said in a social media post, adding the province’s failure to deliver transit projects on time has led to long construction delays and years of road closures that have made it harder to get around our city.
“The province should be focused on finally opening the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRTs and fixing the chaos at Metrolinx.”
Coun. Shelley Carroll, who is also the city’s budget chief, wants to know who will foot the bill if bike lanes are revoked.
“If we put in a bike lane, we’re now gathering data on it and seeing it through its first year and he wants to remove it, he better have a cheque.”
Prominent biking lawyer David Shellnut wonders about the cost of figuring out which lane stays and which lane goes.
“Who is paying to review all the data at the provincial level that they are going to ask for? Who’s making these decisions? We’re going to have to have a whole other department. For a government that doesn’t like red tape and bureaucracy, we’ve just created a whole bunch,” he tells CityNews.
Ford has long shown a keen interest in the affairs of the City of Toronto, something Coun. Diane Saxe suggests he should reconsider.
“He’s meddling in things that are none of his business. His attempt to become the mayor of this city was soundly rejected by the people of this city,” she said. “City streets belong to the city.”
The pending legislation is expected to be introduced once the legislature resumes sitting on Oct. 21.
Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report
