Doug Ford’s move to rip out bike lanes in Toronto is the latest in a trend of undermining democracy in Toronto that could set the city back decades, according to experts. 

One has to wonder if the provincial leader wants to remake Toronto as a car-first suburb unrecognizable from any of the booming bedroom communities that ring the city.

The latest salvo has the province putting forward Bill 212, the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act that, if passed, will mean any bike lane in Toronto that takes away a lane for cars could be subject to removal. Already the province has indicated that bike lanes on Yonge Street, University Avenue and Bloor Street West could be the first to be removed.

Bike lanes though are just the latest salvo of the Ford government toward Toronto. City councillor Josh Matlow reminded Post City Magazine of Ford’s history of butting into Toronto’s local affairs, beginning with cutting the number of seats in city council nearly in half in the middle of 2018’s municipal election.

“It was madness the way that he did it,” Matlow said. “And he just keeps doing this.”

Since that election, Ford has moved to close safe consumption sites in Toronto, pushed forward a private spa on the grounds of Ontario Place, abruptly closed the current location of the Science Centre, spoken against “missing middle” housing that would increase density in the city’s neighbourhoods and has put forward a nearly 60-kilometre tunnel underneath the 401 highway — a project that has never been done before anywhere in the world at that scale.

All of these moves, though, have been completely legal, Matlow explained, due to the current makeup of Canada’s constitution, which gives provinces total authority over its cities. 

“Cities don’t exist in the [Canadian] constitution at all,” Matlow said. “If Doug Ford wanted to rename Toronto ‘the Ford Nation,’ he could legally do that.”

Not to give Ford any ideas. 

Matlow explained that the reason it is like that is because in 1867, when Canada’s constitution was created, the country was largely an agrarian society and cities were just another area where people might live under the province’s jurisdiction. Now, though, over 80 per cent of the population lives in urban areas, Matlow said. 

So it can come as a surprise how little power cities have, but Matlow has never before seen a province utilize its power to the degree Ford has.

“[For] the province to micro-manage cities to that level is, I think, absurd,” Matlow said, noting his belief that Ford’s actions with Toronto are to appeal to his political base ahead of a potential spring election.

“What [Ford] is doing is clearly political.”

But what exactly will the effect be of Ford’s actions on the city?

Already the effects are being felt at Ontario Place, where 865 trees were cut down under the cover of darkness in October to prepare the site for a massive, stadium-sized indoor spa. Although the province promises that the trees will be replaced and additional ones will be planted, the province does have sweeping powers over the site, including the ability to ignore its own environmental and heritage laws, according to a case filed by advocacy group Ontario Place Protectors.

Over at Ontario Science Centre, the beloved institution was abruptly closed at the beginning of the summer on June 21 due to “safety issues” related to its roof, causing all summer programs to be cancelled. Its new location at Ontario Place is not set to open until 2028 and will be about 50 per cent smaller.

And despite pushing for more housing, Ford has come out against allowing fourplexes “as-a-right” in the province, saying it would be a “massive mistake” to opt for municipalities to decide on their own. Toronto, though, has voted to allow fourplexes as-a-right in the city to help build “missing middle” housing and create density in residential neighbourhoods.

Toronto estimates that removing bike lanes will cost up to $50 million, a figure that Ford has already dismissed as “hogwash.” Matlow said that their removal will lead to many months of congestion due to the demolition work and it won’t actually solve gridlock in the city.

Michael Longfield, executive director of cycling advocacy group Cycle Toronto, said that the province’s move to remove bike lanes is a “pretty big jurisdictional overreach.” He said the bike lanes give people more transportation options, and without them there will be more cars on the road, which could be a “huge risk to public health.”

Already six people have died this year cycling, five of those deaths occurred where there aren’t bike lanes. The sixth happened when a bike lane was blocked.

“It would set Toronto back decades,” Longfield said. “Major cities around the world are being proactive in building bike lanes.… If Toronto isn’t keeping up with London, New York, Montreal, it’s moving backwards.”

He said the city’s data doesn’t back up the province’s decision, which shows that bicycle injuries have been on the decline since 2012 despite bicycle use going up, according to a recent city report. Matlow says the province cherry-picked data from years ago to support its argument.

Naama Blonder, co-founder of urban planning firm Smart Density, is one citizen who will be affected by the removal of bike lanes. 

She told Post City she doesn’t own a car and relies on the bike lane network to get around the city with her two kids. She said Toronto doesn’t have nearly as robust a public transit system as other global cities, such as London or New York, and so it is important that the city has other transit options. On a recent trip to London, U.K., she said she wanted to cry after she saw the scale of its transit system compared to Toronto’s.

Without transit options and an emphasis instead placed on building more roads, more people will decide to drive and gridlock will continue, a concept called “induced demand,” she said.

So what is a city to do? Matlow said there is real frustration within city council at the Ford government, and it has already adopted an item called “Respecting Local Democracy and Cities” as a protest against Ford’s most recent move against bike lanes.

Matlow, for one, is advocating for an amendment to Canada’s constitution to give Toronto more autonomy over its future. 

It could be a while until such a “city charter,” as it is called, happens, though. It would need the approval of the province and the country, and as long as Doug Ford is in charge, Matlow said there is very little chance he will approve it. 

“Until Toronto can be a real government, we’re going to keep being in this situation,” Matlow said. “Doug Ford is hurting Toronto.”