Just one day after the Ford government tabled legislation to review all existing bike lanes in Ontario, the premier is strongly suggesting the decision on at least three routes has already been made.
On Monday, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria introduced legislation that would require provincial approval to install new bike lanes in any Ontario municipality and would prohibit new separated lanes if infrastructure interferes with existing vehicle traffic.
The law would also give the province the power to review all cycling infrastructure installed over the last five years and the authority to order its removal.
As he left a Progressive Conservative caucus meeting at Queen’s Park on Tuesday, Premier Doug Ford told Global News his government has already identified three routes to be targeted for removal.
“Three that stand out is Bloor Street, Yonge Street and hospital row (University Avenue),” Ford said. “We’re going to work with the city and hopefully they can put them on secondary roads.”
Asked whether the government wanted certain criteria to be met before the removal of those lanes, Ford said: “No.”
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The premier suggested the decision was a done deal.
“They’re coming out,” Ford told Global News.
The comments appear to presuppose the outcome of a process that’s still being developed at Queen’s Park. The legislation, introduced on Monday, still has to be debated and reviewed by a parliamentary committee before becoming law.
Separately, the minister of transportation has emphasized that the decision over what lanes would move ahead and which would be removed would be decided through a rigorous process of regulations.
“We’ll work with our municipal partners, we’ll look through the system to establish that,” Sarkaria said. “As we work through this legislation, through the process, I think you’ll also see an opportunity for many of them to submit their concerns or submit what they think could be a good process.”
Sarkaria’s office has said regulations will be “completed over the coming months” and that they will include an outline of “data and submission requirements, timelines, approval criteria, and information sharing details.”
In Toronto, where the three routes would be removed and many others could be blocked, Mayor Olivia Chow has shown no signs of slowing down or playing along with the premier’s plan.
“Mayor Chow is committed to the city’s cycling network plan recently adopted by council,” a spokesperson for the mayor previously told Global News. “She will continue to work with city council and the city’s planning staff to find opportunities for all modes of transportation, including bike lanes.”
Ford said he hadn’t spoken to Chow yet about the plan but said his pursuit of bike lane reversals is a “popular” measure.
“She’s going to have her point of view, we’re going to have ours. But we know it’s extremely, extremely popular to get rid of these bike lanes,” Ford said.
As for other lanes in Toronto or other municipalities, Ford said that the government wouldn’t erase everything, just lanes that potentially clog traffic.
“Not all of them, just the (roads) that they’ve replaced the bike lanes and taken a lane of traffic out.”
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
