Ontario court halts Ford's plan to tear out Toronto bike lanes
The challenge, brought by Cycle Toronto and two individual applicants, targets the Ford government's anti-bike lane legislation, Bill 212 — the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act — and argues that removing the lanes violates Charter rights to life and security of the person, and puts cyclists' lives at risk.
The bill grants the Ford government unilateral authority to remove municipal bike lanes. One of the provisions requires the provincial transportation minister to remove bike lanes on the three major Toronto streets.
The government claims the change will alleviate traffic congestion and improve emergency response times, but no evidence has been provided to support this; meanwhile, opponents introduced government reports into evidence that suggested the bike lane removals could cause a rise in collisions without even saving any commuting time.
In April, an Ontario superior court judge granted a temporary injunction to prevent the government from removing the bike lanes while the case is being considered. In May, the Ford government sought leave to appeal the injunction. But in Tuesday's decision, the court rejected the request and upheld the injunction.
Michael Longfield, executive director of Cycle Toronto, told Canada's National Observer that the court's decision to reject the Ford government's appeal is a strong signal the case is being taken seriously.
'We're obviously very pleased about this decision,' Longfield said. 'With this legal decision, I think it's a good opportunity for the province to sort of abandon this bad faith culture war and instead collaborate with municipalities on real, data-driven solutions to give people more transportation options.'
A superior court judge said the bike lanes can't be removed until an ongoing Charter challenge is resolved.
Dakota Brasier, director of media relations for Ontario's transportation minister, said the government will continue with the design work needed to begin removing bike lanes and get some of the province's 'busiest roads moving as soon as possible.'
'While we respect the court's decision, our government was elected with a clear mandate to get people out of traffic by restoring driving lanes,' Brasier said.
Bronwyn Roe, a lawyer at Ecojustice representing the applicants, welcomed the court's decision and said the evidence clearly shows that removing heavily used, protected bike lanes on major Toronto routes would put cyclists' lives at risk.
'The government cannot be allowed to jeopardize the safety of Ontarians or violate the Charter-protected rights to life and security of the person,' Roe said in a statement.
Looking ahead, Longfield stressed the importance of a full court victory, saying it could help set a precedent for how cycling infrastructure is protected in the future. At the same time, he believed there was still time for the province to reconsider whether the legislation was truly in the public interest.
The City of Toronto estimates the cost to taxpayers for removing the bike lanes could reach $48 million, with the city having already invested $27 million in their construction. Restoring vehicle lanes will likely offer minimal improvements in travel time and undermine the public health, environmental and economic benefits of active transportation, the report warns.
Bike Share Toronto has experienced impressive growth, with memberships doubling from 18,000 in 2020 to more than 35,000 in 2023, the report notes. Total trips by bike share surged from 2.9 million in 2020 to 5.7 million in 2023.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
National Observer
7 hours ago
- National Observer
Federal departments fall short of Ottawa's 5% Indigenous procurement target
Several of Canada's federal departments didn't meet the mandated target for Indigenous procurement in 2023-2024, according to government documents obtained by Canada's National Observer through an Access to Information request. The policy, introduced in 2021, requires that at least five per cent of all federal spending must go to Indigenous businesses to address economic gaps and increase Indigenous participation in government supply chains. Although the federal government as a whole awarded more than $1.24 billion in contracts to Indigenous businesses last year — representing 6.1 per cent of all eligible contracts — the documents show significant variation in the awarding of federal contracts between departments. An Indigenous business is defined as one owned and operated by elders, band and tribal councils, businesses in the Indigenous Business Directory or on modern treaty beneficiary lists. Key organizations did not reach the five per cent threshold for the period — including Transport Canada, Global Affairs Canada, National Defence, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Statistics Canada, the Canadian Space Agency, Public Services and Procurement Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency, Canadian Heritage and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). Departments that did not meet the target cited several persistent challenges: a lack of Indigenous businesses in highly technical sectors, legacy contracts signed before the five per cent rule, contracts set aside for Indigenous businesses that received no bids and the complexity of the federal procurement process. Transport Canada, in an email response to Canada's National Observer, confirmed it did not meet the target last year, citing 'delays and structural challenges within procurement processes' that limited Indigenous business participation. The department said new training and engagement tools are being implemented and it remains committed to reaching the target by the end of the current fiscal year. The federal government awarded $1.24B in contracts to Indigenous businesses last year — but the numbers varied widely across departments. The NRC also fell short, pointing to a limited pool of Indigenous suppliers for specialized scientific and technical equipment. It launched an Indigenous procurement strategy and action plan in September 2024, focusing on partnerships with Indigenous organizations, events and changes to the tender process. 'Meeting our target requires that we address the challenge of the current level of Indigenous business activities in supplying many of the products and services we procure, particularly those of a specialized nature,' the NRC said. Statistics Canada awarded just 2.75 per cent of its contract value to Indigenous businesses in 2023–2024. In its response, it said it fell short of its target in 2023-24 because 85 per cent of its 'informatics professional services' contracts were awarded through Public Services and Procurement Canada, which determines the procurement strategy, and 13 per cent of contracts were issued before the agency's Indigenous procurement plan took effect. Of the three new contracts awarded within Statistics Canada's delegation, two were designated for Indigenous businesses, but no bids were received for those opportunities. The agency said it saw an increase to 11 per cent in the current fiscal year after implementing a new procurement plan and boosting outreach to Indigenous suppliers. Public Services and Procurement Canada said while it missed its five per cent Indigenous contracting target for 2023-24, it is working to boost Indigenous participation through Indigenous subcontracting, training and Indigenous-by-default procurement by next fiscal year. The Public Health Agency of Canada said it is still working with other departments to improve Indigenous procurement, after missing its 2023-24 target and awarding only 1.5 per cent of 2024-25 contracts to Indigenous businesses — a figure not yet publicly released. Other departments that did not meet the five per cent target by the end of 2023–2024, including Global Affairs Canada and National Defence, have not yet provided responses to Canada's National Observer request for comment and clarification. Indigenous Services Canada told Canada's National Observer the results for the 2024–25 fiscal year are not yet available. The department continues to support Indigenous businesses through initiatives such as the Aboriginal Entrepreneurship Program, The Strategic Partnerships Initiative and the Indigenous Business Navigators. These programs do not focus on specific sectors, but offer economic opportunities, tools, and support for capacity-building for Indigenous entrepreneurs in the industries it has chosen to develop, said Anispiragas Piragasanathar, a spokesperson for Indigenous Services Canada.
National Observer
a day ago
- National Observer
Alberta won't increase oil sands monitoring funds to keep pace with industry expansion, inflation
Indigenous representatives of an oilsands monitoring program say Alberta won't increase funding to keep pace with oilsands expansion and inflation — and the shortfall risks compromising monitoring work, according to a letter obtained by Canada's National Observer. The joint oilsands monitoring group, composed of industry, provincial, federal and Indigenous representatives, was created in 2013 to monitor the environmental impacts of oilsands development in Alberta. The budget for 2025 is $54.5 million, paid for by industry, but the monitoring program received requests for roughly $76 million worth of monitoring work plans, leaving roughly $21.5 million of work requests unfunded. On March 20, Indigenous representatives on the oversight committee wrote a letter to the provincial and federal co-chairs warning that the budget is not keeping up with inflation or monitoring demands created by oilsands expansion, and this will negatively impact the quality of work. The funding formula that requires industry to pay up to $50 million annually for the program was developed in 2013 collaboratively by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and the Alberta government. Accounting for inflation, what cost $50 million in 2013 should now cost about $66.5 million, the letter signatories write; 'Thus, the overall purchasing power of oilsands monitoring has shrunk roughly 25 per cent, while the oil sands industry has nearly doubled in size.' The signatories added that this runs contrary to the polluter-pays principle. This principle in Canadian law says companies or people that pollute are responsible to pay the costs they impose on society to protect the public from the cost of pollution, for example, oil spill cleanup and lasting impacts. In 2018, royalty revenues were $3.2 billion. In 2023, that number reached a staggering $16.9 billion, according to the letter. 'Arbitrary cuts to monitoring programs, such as the proposed major reductions in wetlands and biodiversity, put the effectiveness of the monitoring at risk,' according to the letter. Why the oilsands needs monitoring The Indigenous representatives pushed to prioritize fully funding community-based monitoring programs and core monitoring programs which meant cuts to other important programs. 'Arbitrary cuts to monitoring programs, such as the proposed major reductions in wetlands and biodiversity, put the effectiveness of the monitoring at risk,' according to the letter. 'For severely compromised programs, we would rather that no monitoring occur instead of poor monitoring. Poor monitoring does not provide any value to the communities, nor to the public, but instead provides a veneer of having addressed concerns in these areas.' Ryan Fournier, press secretary for Alberta Minister Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz, said it is 'misleading' to describe it as programming cuts because the request for $73 million in funding encompassed '53 different work plans, including requests that are duplicative, overlapping or even potentially conflicting.' Fournier did not provide specific examples of duplicative or conflicting work plans. There is a $3 million discrepancy between the amount of requested funding Alberta provided and the figure cited in the letter. When asked to respond to the fact that both inflation and oilsands expansion are outpacing the available funding, Fournier said the oil sands monitoring program 'is the biggest program of its kind in the world,' and said its budget 'has risen over $5 million since 2022, and has the funding needed to continue delivering for Albertans.' According to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) spokesperson Hannah Boonstra, the funding was increased by $4.5 million this year "to utilize surplus funds accumulated from underspending in previous years.' The historic underspending is due to a range of factors, including COVID-19 and associated slowdowns on work plan approval, hiring and contracting delays, overestimating costs, consolidating work, approval delays and more, according to the annual reports. ECCC and Alberta Environment and Protected Areas co-chair the oil sands monitoring program but the federal government was in caretaker mode for the 2025 election and did not sign off on the final annual monitoring plan to avoid delays, Boonstra's statement noted. 'Since the Government of Alberta is financially accountable for the program, the province approves the financial elements of the monitoring plan,' Boonstra said. Last year, nearly $540,000 went to Cold Lake First Nation for community-based monitoring to examine how the oilsands industry is impacting a variety of factors, including water quality, berry abundance, fisheries health, muskrats and pitcher plants, to name a few. Interest in community-based monitoring like this is growing, the letter noted, and 'as new communities are onboarded, this forces us to choose between existing Western science initiatives and the needs of Indigenous communities.' This interest will likely keep growing while funding remains stagnant and 'we cannot offer a path forward for those programs and encourage communities to submit proposals, but then largely ignore the requests,' the letter reads.
National Observer
a day ago
- National Observer
EU demand for critical minerals could jump start Canada's sluggish market, Joly claims
Slow-rolling progress in developing Canada's vast reserves of critical minerals could be geared up by demand from Europe for use in advanced military technologies, based on industrial priorities outlined today by the two governments. Critical minerals, a large group of materials including lithium, cobalt and zinc key to energy transition technologies such as solar panels and EV batteries, are also widely used in defense applications, with tungsten in the casing of armour-piercing bullets and so-called rare earth elements found in weapons' guidance systems. Canadian Minister for Industry Mélanie Joly, in a press briefing launching the agreement, said the New Canada-EU Industry Policy Dialogue is designed to 'deepen cooperation across a number of critical sectors,' led by defence, energy and critical minerals, and including quantum computing, and green steel and aluminum. Through transatlantic industrial collaboration, Canada could be 'better aligned' in all sectors, with critical minerals able to meet significant demand from 'defence industries, including aerospace and marine,' she said. 'We are seeing there is lots of interest from many countries, particularly in the EU, that are looking to invest in Canada's [critical mineral sector],' said Joly in response to a question from Canada's National Observer. Joly said the lead-off industrial deal with the EU would include focus on 'creating a stable energy and critical mineral supply chain networks, to protect our economic security, and so, jobs. 'For years we have been looking for the capital to develop the potential of these great mines. It is finally happening. These critical minerals will underpin our economic security.' 'For years we have been looking for the capital to develop the potential of these great mines. It is finally happening. These critical minerals will underpin our economic security," says Canadian minister of industry Mélanie Joly Despite the great promise of Canada's wealth of critical minerals — the government has shortlisted 34 — the resource remains largely untapped — and without a supply chain to handle processing and recycling. In 2022, as part of an early industrial development strategy, Ottawa announced $3.8 billion in federal funding to finance associated geoscience and exploration, mineral processing, manufacturing and recycling applications, as well as research and development. 'Importance of strategic partnerships' But only a handful of critical minerals mining projects have gained traction since then, with embryonic developments in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec in the past year receiving a further financial boost from the $1.5 billion Canadian Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund. European Commission executive vice-president of prosperity and industrial strategy Stéphane Séjourné, who made the joint announcement with Minister Joly, said the dialogue "recognized the importance of strategic partnerships" for critical minerals in times of geopolitical uncertainty. Séjourné said foremost on the European mind were 'security and accelerating the [energy] transition and industrial decarbonization' and critical minerals were necessary to these ambitions. 'Economic stability and market visibility [is what we want] for our businesses and industries. Protectionist practices by some only reinforce our belief in diversification. Critical minerals is part of a trade bridge we are building with conviction," he said. Friday's announcement comes on the heels of the New EU-Canada Strategic Partnership of the Future. Signed last month as a negotiating platform for wide-ranging discussions around trade and economic security, digital transition, and climate change and environmental degradation, the agreement included Canada's participation in Security Action for Europe , an instrument of the European rearmament initiative, Readiness 2030. At the G7 summit, hosted by Canada in Kananaskis, Alta. in June, the member nations and the EU launched a high-level 'action plan' to head off what is perceived as the global 'economic threat' posed by China's stranglehold on critical minerals markets via a three-pillar plan: internationally-agreed standards of operation, mobilizing sustainable finance, and fast-tracking the development of missing links in critical mineral supply chains.
