Bike Rally Against Bill 212
Bill 212 was tabled on 21 October 2024 in the legislature. If this bill gets proclaimed, it will be a disaster for the citizens of this province. Its affects ranging from community safety issues to adding to the already out-of-control climate crisis.
Today, Wednesday 23 October 2024, hundreds of cyclists, pedestrian and mobility-rights activists came to Queen's Park to protest Bill 212. MPP Jessica Bell, whose electoral district includes Queen's Park, organized the protest. In her electoral district, three cyclists have died in the past three years, about only 300 metres apart on Avenue Road and Bloor Street West.
At 5:00 p.m., Jessica Spieker started things off with a brief speech relating to her history as a survivor of a dangerous driver incident. Her physical injuries took a toll on her life. Safe streets would have protected her from such an incident. She then acknowledged the 15 members of Brampton Cycles that rode in for the protests. She also acknowledged MPPs that were in the audience, such as Mike Schreiner, the leader of the Green Party, Jill Andrews and Bhutila Karpoch from the NDP.
Next, Alison Stewart spoke. She's the Bicycle Mayor of Toronto and Director of Advocacy and Public Policy for Cycle Toronto. She mentioned slogans we could use and, of course, talked about the things the bill might take away.
It was then time for the main political parties in the Ontario Legislature to speak. Although Jessica Bell organised the event, she had NDP MPP Joel Hardin speak instead of her. He talked about some local Ottawa street improvements that would make those streets safer, now being called into question. He mentioned the governmental overreach that made little sense, since these planning decisions are by convention, local municipal decisions.
Mary Margaret McMahon, representing the Liberal caucus, spoke about her time on the Toronto City Council when she put the Woodbine cycle track in her ward. She received death threats from the public about it. Today, they are well-used bicycle infrastructure and the Ford government has its eyes on removing those lanes.
Aislinn Clancy represented the Green Party caucus. She mentioned she bikes to the Legislature, and it is on mostly bike infrastructure. She noted that several Conservative MPPs also bike to work and should develop a backbone and fight Ford on this matter.
The last member of the legislature to speak was Sarah Jama, the independent MPP from Hamilton. She has mobility issues and uses a motorised wheelchair to get around. Complete streets mean safety for her and people with physical disabilities. Ford wants to stop the safety efforts that are slowing down traffic and prevent deaths. Vehicle speed kills most people when the vehicles hit vulnerable road users at 50 km/h or greater. Complete streets aim at lowering speeds down to a survivable 30 km/h and physically protecting vulnerable road users.
Bikes are also an equity issue for poorer people that cannot afford an automobile. They deserve a safe means to travel. That's why Jama is against this bill.
Many Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) took part actively in the rally. Michael Longfield from Cycle Toronto called for the bill to be cancelled. Bikes are an equity issue, and for many with disabilities, one of the few methods available for them to get around.
Sarah Buchanan, from the Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) talked about being able to ride with her child from the west end to the doctor. Then, as a reward, they stop at a cookie store. She mentioned that the bike lanes brought in more business for retailers than before the bike lanes. In fact, a Business Improvement Area (BIA) wants to keep the lanes.
Dr. Sahil Gupta, a trauma physician in Toronto, has witnessed too many preventable severe injuries and a few deaths to vulnerable road users. Taking away bike infrastructure will not help create safe streets.
Seven years ago in Newmarket, Kendrew Pape's sister lost her life in a crosswalk. Bill 212 demeans her memory because it implies that road diets, which physically make crosswalks safer, will probably not be allowed. A road that should go on a diet, to reduce speed, will likely no longer occur without the Ministry of Transportation's approval: something that is unlikely to happen. The bill frustrates efforts to make streets safer so that some drivers save a minute or two on a commute.
I spoke to explain the route. We would go near six Ghost Bike memorials on this four kilometre route. First, we passed by Dalia Chaka's memorial at St. George and Bloor. A driver of a large flatbed truck killed her in June 2018. After cycling about another kilometre north and east, we were just south of Adam Excell's bike at Davenport and Avenue Road. In 2015, an inexperienced driver, believed to be impaired, killed him.
We then passed by Ali Sezgin Armagan's memorial on Avenue Road, south of Tranby. A driver of a flatbed truck killed him while making a left turn in the middle of Avenue Road in 2024. 18-year-old Miguel Joshua Escanan's memorial was next. A driver of a cement truck killed him in 2021 on Avenue Road.
The most recent death in the area, the anonymous 24-year-old female, occurred because of an obstructed bike lane on Bloor in July 2024. Finally, the first Ghost Bike memorial in the area, and one that has a Queen's Park connection, is the one for Darcy Allan Sheppard on Bloor Street in front of the Colonnade. In 2009, a former provincial Liberal cabinet minister named Michael Bryant killed him.
It was chaotic to get to the front of the line and to lead the ride because so many people were there. We took the Queen's Park bidirectional cycle track north to Hoskins Avenue. We got some corkers to block the southbound traffic lanes on Queen's Park Crescent and the group of over 500 cyclists, then cycled on Hoskins Avenue to Saint George Street.
We blocked the lanes again on St. George St, but had to move aside as an EMS ambulance went northbound, unimpeded by the ride. From there, the Toronto Police Service bike unit corked Bloor Street for us.
Next, we turned right onto Bernard Street in the Annex's heart. Because there were so many cyclists, it was taking up to 15 minutes to pass an intersection. That meant we ran out of corkers. We pressed new ones into service and they did a great job of it.
We turned right onto Avenue Road and initially just used the bike lane because we didn't really have the corkers available to take the lane yet. A few eventually caught up and did their work a little further south. At one point, the line of cyclists was approximately 700 metres long on Avenue Road.
Bloor Street come upon us again, and the Toronto Police Service again corked the lanes for us to go south onto Queen's Park Crescent. The automobile traffic was mostly at a standstill, but we took the lane and then proceed to the northmost part of Queen's Park and had corkers in place there.
By the time we were near the legislature again, I had to stop leading the ride and cork because we out ran our corking teams. No matter, we got Wellesley corked and everyone proceed to the front lawn of the legislature. I stopped corking to get back to the end point and thanked everyone that showed up. It was a successful ride and rally.
Dispersal was interesting. I was one of the last four people to leave the parking lot. It was completely dark out. We left at around 7:20 p.m. Back to utilitarian cycling mode.
