On a normal Wednesday afternoon, Adam Rodgers loads his five-year-old daughter onto the rear seat of his Tern cargo bike, and together they rattle along Toronto’s pockmarked bike lanes to her swimming lessons.
asserted
they → load → lessons
This Wednesday, they’re bracing for a far bumpier ride – one section of those bike lanes along Bloor Street West could be gone.
uncertain
section → brace → West
“I don’t even know how we’re getting there,” he said.
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he → know → ?
“It’s frustrating.
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It → ’ → ?
A small strip of their 15-minute journey has become so mired in legal and political wrangling that, on Tuesday, the province vowed to start removing it by day’s end and cycling advocates asked the country’s highest court to intervene.
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advocates → become → court
All this lands just two weeks before a mayoral election in Toronto between two front-runners who’ve staked out opposing bike-lane positions.
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who → land → positions
The formal motion to the Supreme Court of Canada – a request for leave to appeal – was made public at a press conference organized by Cycle Toronto, one of the applicants in the case, on Tuesday morning.
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motion → appeal → morning
It asks the court to overturn an Ontario Court of Appeal decision that allowed Premier Doug Ford’s government to proceed with a 2024 law ordering the removal of bike lanes along Bloor Street, University Avenue and Yonge Street.
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government → ask → Street
The Ford government is adamant that converting bike lanes back to car lanes will help reduce traffic, which it says costs the provincial economy $56-billion a year.
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it → convert → billion
A lower-court judge had ruled that the removal posed a safety risk to cyclists, constituting a serious violation of Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guaranteeing security of the person and right to life.
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removal → rule → life
The appellate court declared that reasoning erroneous, stating that legislatures are free to regulate road use without implicating the Charter.
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legislatures → declare → Charter
Cycling advocates want the Supreme Court to clarify the scope of Section 7 and whether it applies in this case.
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it → want → case
“The consequences of this case reach far beyond bike lanes,” Bronwyn Roe, a lawyer with Ecojustice, an environmental law charity representing the applicants, said at the press conference.
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Roe → reach → conference
The Supreme Court generally takes several months to decide if it will hear an appeal – far too late to influence the Ford government’s immediate plans for the Bloor bike lane.
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it → take → lane
It aimed to start removing a 1.2-kilometre section between Clissold Road and Royal York Road on Tuesday night.
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It → aim → night
“Following the ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal, the province announced in September that it would immediately begin restoring motor vehicle lanes on Bloor Street West.
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it → follow → West
That work begins Tuesday,” Dakota Brasier, spokesman for Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria, said in an e-mail.
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Brasier → begin → mail
By Tuesday afternoon, bike lane advocates were already massing to hold a night-long protest against the measures.
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advocates → mass → measures
The push to build bike lanes on Bloor goes back to the 1970s, but only materialized in the 2010s.
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push → build → 2010s
Road engineers and cycling advocates viewed it as an ideal east-west biking thoroughfare for its flatness and proximity to the Bloor subway.
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engineers → view → subway
“It has always been seen as the holy grail of bike lanes,” said Albert Koehl, co-founder of Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition, who has been championing cycling infrastructure for nearly 20 years.
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who → see → years
Throughout that time, he has encountered resistance from local businesses, who predict bike lanes will snarl traffic, reduce parking and lessen foot traffic.
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lanes → encounter → traffic
The Kingsway neighbourhood in Etobicoke showed that resistance when the city placed bike lanes there in 2023 and 2024, he said.
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he → show → 2023
A group of Kingsway businesspeople have proved to be organized and influential in their opposition.
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group → prove → opposition
Last year, 40 area businesses filed a lawsuit against the city over the bikes lanes, claiming $10-million in damages.
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businesses → file → damages
But few residents walking the Kingsway section of Bloor – where coffee shops, fruit stores and restaurants abound – felt strongly about the issue on Tuesday.
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shops → walk → Tuesday
“I really don’t think the bike lanes makes a difference in the traffic levels,” said Pat Phillips, a 13-year resident of the neighbourhood.
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Phillips → think → neighbourhood
“I think they are fantastic.”
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they → think → ?
The resistance around Kingsway, she said, comes from the suburban nature of the neighbourhood.
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she → say → neighbourhood
Most homes have driveways and two-car garages.
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homes → have → driveways
They expect speedy drive times.
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They → expect → times
Plus, she said, Mr. Ford is part of an Etobicoke political dynasty that has long fought against what he and his late brother, former mayor Rob Ford, called “the war on the car.”
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he → say → car
John Rydzanicz, who’s lived in the area for 35 years, said he had mixed feelings.
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he → live → feelings
“I think we should make it safe for bikes, but the lanes have definitely slowed down traffic,” he said.
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he → think → traffic
“I don’t even bother leaving the house if it’s after 4 p.m.”
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it → bother → p.m.
The City estimates that removing all the bike lanes covered by the provincial law will cost $48-million.
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removing → estimate → million
Once the Kingsway work is done, the rest of the removals are slated to start in the spring.
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rest → do → spring
The removal work is scheduled to take place in the middle of an intense mayoral campaign, where bike lanes have become a political bone of contention.
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lanes → schedule → contention
Under Mayor Olivia Chow, the city has tried to work with the province on plans to restore vehicle lanes while preserving bike lanes – to no avail.
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city → try → avail
Ms. Chow’s main challenger, Brad Bradford, has said he would take out the contested bike lanes in Etobicoke if elected.
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he → say → Etobicoke
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
