Last November, the Ontario Progressive Conservative government of Doug Ford passed Bill 212, dubbed ‘The Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act.’ This bill aims to decrease commute times for those who drive to work. Many are critical of the Premier’s move because it ignores the best advice of urban planners which is if you build more roads, then traffic will only worsen. He intends to tear up and remove the bike paths on three Toronto streets, narrowing the options for cyclists to get around. This retrograde de-construction project would cost $48 million, a price to be reluctantly paid by taxpayers. With Premier Ford having called a snap election for February 27th, Bill 212 turned into an election issue for cyclists provoking a public petition to halt it which amassed tens of thousands of signatures. His decision limits literal pathways and creates impediments for many cyclists while widening the gap between people across administrative, economic, and climate realms.
Premier Ford is overstepping his provincial-level jurisdictional limits by creeping into the municipal level. Municipalities should have the right to make decisions over zoning and street design. Critics of current jurisdictional rules claim this is a difficult-to-achieve constitutional amendment that should happen in Canada, creating Charter Cities, where higher levels of government would not be able to meddle in municipal affairs. Others point to the fact that Toronto’s mayor hails from a political party at the polar opposite side of the spectrum from the Progressive Conservatives, the social democratic NDP. Mayor Olivia Chow is favourable to bike paths and the benefits that they bring. The leaders disagree over the bike paths.
The decision to remove the bike lanes runs roughshod over access to administrative, economic, and climate justice. Driving a car is costly and damaging to the environment, people cycle because of its affordability and sustainability. Administrative justice refers to the system of decision-making administrative agencies like boards, commissions, and tribunals which adjudicate rights and resolve disputes. Proponents of keeping the bike lanes in place contend that municipal powers ought not to be encroached on by those of the province. They are to have free reign to make decisions that affect day-to-day operations of the city.
Simultaneously, economic justice is a blend of social justice and welfare economics. It is a series of moral and ethical principles that underpin economic institutions where the primary objective is the enabling of opportunities for individuals to forge a foundational economic base upon which to build a dignified and productive livelihood. The implied costs of driving an automobile are prohibitively expensive, consider expenditures on gasoline, insurance, licensing, parking, and maintenance. People can avoid these restrictive expenses by riding a much cheaper bike and subsequently the money that cyclists save is reinvested into other purchases keeping the economy rolling. Perhaps Ford thinks that because motorists spend so much more on their cars that somehow they have more rights over the road.
The final aspect of this trifecta is climate justice. Climate justice surrounds the impacts of climate change on marginalized and vulnerable populations while balancing the burdens of global warming against the effort to mitigate it. It touches on environmental justice and concerns of those who are negatively impacted by industrialists who create carbon dioxide. Often the world’s poorest communities suffer the greatest consequences of climate injustice and authorities need to reconsider the social implications of the human rights and collective rights of these communities. Cars produce greenhouse gases while bicycles do not. Urban centres have less tree cover to photosynthesize the carbon dioxide which creates heat and smoggy air that is damaging to the respiratory system. Furthermore, the ecologically unsustainable process involved in fossil fuel extraction is connected to producing a ravaging effect on nature and creating carcinogenic biproducts and tailings. Let’s not be confused, bicycles indeed need oil for lubrication, just much, much less. More cars equal more petrol, and Premier Ford is making an environmentally unfriendly choice by removing bike lanes.
A tale of three streets:
The three streets in question are University Avenue, Yonge Street, and Bloor Street, all three of which are major transport arteries and have subway lines running beneath them. However the COVID-19 pandemic affected transit use, with 525 million transit trips in Toronto in 2019 compared to just 225 million in 2020. Distancing, ventilation, and cleanliness in crowded subway cars were seen as problematic by commuters, many of whom opted for a bicycle commute in the fresh air. As the street widens for cars, the same street narrows for cyclists. The access to administrative, economic, and climate justice also faces roadblocks for certain commuters.
University Avenue is the administrative nexus of Toronto, featuring a monumental roundabout at Queen’s Park, Ontario’s seat of government. It passes by historic Osgoode Hall, which today houses law firms, tribunals, and a law library, a proving ground for influential decision-makers, also a stone’s throw from City Hall. University Avenue also runs adjacent to the University of Toronto, a bustling and vibrant institution with nearly 70,000 students at its downtown St. George campus. Yonge Street, meanwhile, feeds into Toronto’s financial district, and is home to many bank and Fortune 500 company headquarters. This can be seen as representing the economic gap between the haves and have nots in Canada. Bloor Street could stand for the climate debate, because it is a haven for forward-thinking, climate-conscious, urban professionals, lined with sidewalk cafés and restaurant patios. Bike paths are integral to fueling institutions with a dynamic and diversified thought process. These three arteries will have their bike paths removed forcing cyclists to ride in the dangerous street teaming with cars. The justice gaps are widening as the space for cycles narrows.
Pros & Cons: By what metric?
A balance needs to be struck taking into consideration the numbers. There are 5600 kilometres of roads in Toronto, and less than 2.4% have bike paths on them. When the bike lanes will be dismantled, the taxpayer will foot the bill. At stake is public health, transit options, and municipal determinism. Ford’s decision keeps streets congested and polluted while cyclists and pedestrians continue to suffer. Cyclists have become scapegoats for slowing traffic because while motorists are stuck in gridlock, they become frustrated when they see cyclists cruising along. The road space is, however, big enough for all to coexist peacefully.
Bike paths are good for the economy, increasing local retail sales. Cyclists don’t have to spend on expensive cars, and they can reinvest those savings into other purchases. Cycling is good for one’s health and in a country like Canada where citizens are fortunate to have public health care, fewer trips to the hospital mean less government spending. Cycling is good for the environment because it doesn’t cause harmful greenhouse gases like those emitted by cars. Finally, cycling is fun and we should admire its pure enjoyability. Any attempt from the government to take away from these obvious benefits to society and to citizens should face opposition. Ford has bungled his calculation to hasten car commute times and will hardly profit from his foolhardy gamble to lighten congestion on Toronto’s arteries.
Post script:
This article was drafted in early 2025, before Ontario held a provincial election in which Ford rewon a majority of seats on February 27. Premier Ford announced this snap election early because he wanted to shore up a strong majority in reaction to President Trump’s announced trade tariffs against Canadian imports. Premier Ford might now be more preoccupied with Trump’s tariffs, but meanwhile in late February a group of over 40 Toronto area businesses launched a lawsuit against the city claiming $10 million in damages for ‘nuisance and negligence’ when initially installing the bike path on a portion of Bloor St. West in 2023 and 2024. This matter is before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the city has declined to comment. The story continues to develop.
Michael Kowalsky is an LLM candidate at Université de Montréal. His research examines the working conditions of bicycle couriers while his interests include all things involving bicycles, transportation, and labour law.