Commentary
The old saying that all politics is local is proving most true when it comes to bike lanes in Canada’s major cities.
What should be the most hyper-local of topics has turned into a wider municipal, provincial and, potentially, Supreme Court of Canada matter.
On Oct. 13, the Ontario provincial government began removing a controversial portion of a bike lane on Toronto’s Bloor Street West.
When the government first announced these plans, cycling activists took the province to court. The court sided with them that this decision created an unconstitutional risk to cyclist safety. But then the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned that decision on the grounds that the trial judge had waded into policymaking and political decisions. These same activist groups are now seeking to escalate that very appeal all the way up to the federal Supreme Court….