The Ford government is working on legislation designed to restrict the construction of new bike lanes on city streets, Global News can confirm, with the planned law set to touch on one of the premier’s personal concerns.
Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria will table the new bike lane rules as part of his next major piece of legislation, which the government has said will focus on stifling congestion.
The law, Global News has learned, is currently set to be titled the Reducing Gridlock and Saving You Time Act and could be presented when the legislature returns at the end of October. Primarily aimed at drivers, it will include new provincial requirements on bike lanes.
Asked repeatedly about the change at an unrelated news conference on Friday, Sarkaria avoided the topic entirely.
“We’re looking at ways to make life easier for people,” Sarkaria said. “We’re looking at ways to reduce gridlock, in this province. But we have seen a record amount of gridlock because we’ve seen explosive population growth in our cities and it’s getting harder and harder for people to commute.”
Sarkaria was asked by a reporter how the government views bike lanes, specifically in the context of the mooted policy.
“My job, as a minister of transportation, is to make sure people have choice, whether you want to take a bike, whether you want to ride public transit, whether you want to drive on a highway to get to work. Our government is making sure you have that choice and options.”
Bike lanes have been a personal obsession for Ontario Premier Doug Ford, as well as another Etobicoke member of his caucus.
Progressive Conservative Etobicoke-Lakeshore MPP Christine Hogarth has organized a long-running campaign against bike lanes being constructed on the western portions of Toronto’s Bloor Street.
The bike lanes, which have been a key flashpoint between some cycling advocates and local businesses, are part of a massive biking infrastructure expansion the City of Toronto is undertaking. Streets ranging from Avenue Road in The Annex to the Queensway and Bloor Street in Etobicoke are seeing separate cycling infrastructure installed.
Hogarth has led the charge against that project in the city’s western former suburb.
“Let there be no doubt that I share your view about the unsuitability of bikes on Bloor Street, and your concerns about the plan to add new ones on the Queensway,” one of Hogarth’s petitions read.
“There is a place for bike lanes, but arterial roads like Bloor St and Queensway are not those places.”
Ford has weighed in on the changes at unrelated news conferences. In late 2023, he praised Hogarth’s campaign.
“Get rid of those bike lanes on Bloor in Etobicoke,” he said. “I think we see one bicycle come through there every single year with thousands of cars. I know the businesses are just losing their hair over having those bike lanes in Etobicoke on Bloor Street.”
The Bloor Street bike lane controversy even spilled into the Mississauga mayoral election, when ultimately unsuccessful candidate Coun. Dipika Damerla made it a central plank of her campaign.
The specifics of the legislation have not been made public but sources told Global News said the government was considering restrictions on towns and cities removing existing lanes of traffic to create bike lanes.
Critics of the government have been quick to call out the idea as short-sighted and potentially dangerous for those who cycle on city streets.
The group Cycle Toronto worried in a petition that the move could block new bike lanes in Toronto, and make it less safe to ride.
“In Toronto, the new legislation by the provincial government will put so many transformative projects at risk and will allow a small minority of voices to block progress on our growing cycling network,” the group wrote.
“And in communities across the province that are just beginning to embrace the benefits of complete streets, this anti-bike lane legislation could indefinitely pause progress.”
Ontario NDP transport critic Joel Harden said the likely law could be dangerous — calling it “cheap politics” by Ford.
“We deserve safe roads that makes sure everyone gets home safe to their loved ones. We have seen far too many lives lost this past year from unsafe roads, and too many vulnerable road users put in harm’s way,” he said in a statement.
“Nobody asked for the government to dictate people’s transportation choices or get in the way of local communities deciding what works best for them. More ways of getting around means less congestion, but this government is putting wedge politics over real solutions.”
The premier has teased that the fall transportation bill will include “game-changing” ideas to deal with congestion in Toronto and southern Ontario.
Asked about the congestion-busting promise in his upcoming bill, Sarkaria was coy but appeared to hint it could include an emphasis on construction and building.
“Our government is one that has always been building in this province,” he said in response to questions about the bill earlier this week.
“You’ll have to wait to see what our legislation brings forward but our government has always been committed to building for the province.”
— With files from Global News’ Gabby Rodrigues