The Ontario Court of Appeal has overturned a lower court ruling that had prevented the province from getting rid of bike lanes in downtown Toronto, finding that removal of the lanes does not violate the Charter rights of cyclists as the lower court had claimed.
The unanimous Court of Appeal decision from the three-judge panel grants a victory to the province of Ontario, which had appealed the Ontario Superior Court decision by Justice Paul Schabas in July 2025 that had blocked the removal of the bike lanes.
“There is no Charter right to bicycle lanes – neither specifically nor as inference from any of the rights specifically enumerated in the Charter,” Justice Grant Huscroft wrote in the Aug. 14 appeal court decision, adding that it is “illegitimate for courts to involve themselves in matters of legislative policy” and that “policy is for politics.”…