Hardly surprising–but the Alberta government is keeping a close eye on what’s been going on in Ontario, regarding bike lanes. Recently a court ruling that struck down the province’s law allowing the removal of three major Toronto bike lanes. Ontario Superior Court Justice Paul Schabas found the planned removals would put cyclists at greater risk and violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. CycleToronto launched a Charter Challenge after Premier Doug Ford passed Bill 212 in November 2024.
The legislation, called “Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024,” also required municipalities to obtain provincial approval before converting vehicle lanes into bike lanes. The challenge specifically went against the removal of those three bike lanes, not the entire bill.
Alberta’s Transportation Minister, Devin Dreeshen, said the ruling is worth watching. “You can look at pieces of legislation that have been introduced in the past and what’s the good and bad of them, so… obviously watching the Ontario case is great,” he told Canadian Architect, noting that Alberta could learn from Ontario’s experience. He also said that, ““When you have bike lanes that are cannibalizing and taking over driving lanes, that’s obviously a problem.”
His words sound very similar to what Ford has said. However, the Ontario ruling has been partially kiboshed—for now.
The Charter challenge argued that removing the lanes would compromise safety and infringe constitutional rights. The ruling has forced Ontario to reconsider its approach, with an appeal possible.
“I believe, and the people of Ontario believe, that they elect parties to make decisions — they don’t elect judges,” Ford said to the CBC. The government confirmed its intent to appeal the ruling, insisting it has a “clear mandate to restore lanes of traffic and get drivers moving.”
(In the same speech, he also promised to build a massive car tunnel under highway 401, but that’s a whole other story.)
“When we are putting money towards projects to add and expand lanes to help accommodate the growth pressures that we’ve seen here in the province, we want to make sure that municipalities are doing the same thing,” Dreeshen said in April to CP. “When we see that municipalities are doing the opposite and are reducing and eliminating driving lanes for bike lanes, that obviously has the opposite effect of being able to accommodate for traffic growth across our two…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…