A cyclist in a bike lane heads south on University Avenue in Toronto, Nov. 12, 2024.Galit Rodan/The Globe and Mail
The Ontario government cannot override city officials and rip out the Toronto bike lanes targeted by Premier Doug Ford until a court decides on a constitutional challenge against the move, a judge has ruled.
A decision issued Tuesday from Ontario Superior Court Justice Paul Schabas blocks the province from demolishing the bike lanes on Bloor Street West, University Avenue and Yonge Street until he issues his final decision on the legal case launched by advocacy group Cycle Toronto and two cyclists.
The ruling reverses the decision of another judge who had ruled against granting the applicants’ request for an injunction last month. In his decision, Justice Schabas says he had more evidence before him than the other judge.
Tuesday’s decision says there is a serious case to be tried, noting evidence that removing bike lanes would not improve congestion and that cyclists would be at risk of “irreparable harm” – both legal tests for granting an injunction. The ruling also says, in evaluating the “balance of convenience,” another legal test, that Ontario had provided no plans and only a “vague assertion” it intended to go ahead with demolition soon.
“Despite professing an urgent need to reduce congestion, no evidence of any plans to demolish the lanes or what would go in their place was presented” by the government, Justice Schabas writes in his decision.
The judge also scolds the province for refusing to agree to hold off on demolishing the bike lanes before the April 16 hearing on the merits of the constitutional case, forcing a separate motion for an injunction to be heard last month: “That motion now appears to have been an unnecessary use of Court time necessitated by the government’s intransigence.”
Last November, Mr. Ford’s Progressive Conservative government passed legislation that forced municipalities to seek permission to install any bike lane that would remove a lane of car traffic and provide data to the province for it to evaluate the future of other bike lanes.
But the law, passed in just four days, was also amended to order the pre-emptive removal of bike lanes on the entirety of three Toronto streets singled out by Mr. Ford in public comments: Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue. The law also insulated the government against some legal challenges, including those launched if cyclists were killed or injured.
In their constitutional challenge, lawyers for Cycle Toronto and two local cyclists argued that the removal of the lanes would violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees “life, liberty and security of the person,” as it would put cyclists at renewed physical risk. A ruling on the merits of the case could still be months away.
Despite the court battle, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said recently that talks between the city and the province could result in a compromise that would preserve bike lanes on the three routes but provide for the restoration of car-traffic lanes on some portions.
Earlier this month, a spokeswoman for Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria, Dakota Brasier, had suggested in an e-mailed statement that the government was open to a compromise “where both a reinstated car lane and a bike lane can exist.”
But on Tuesday, she said the province would keep preparing to remove the bike lanes, pending a final ruling.
“We were elected with a clear mandate to get people out of traffic by restoring driving lanes to keep some of our busiest roads moving. We intend to respect the court’s decision,” Ms. Brasier said in a statement. “We will continue with the design work necessary to begin removals as soon as possible should the decision uphold the legislation.”
In an interview on Tuesday, Cycle Toronto’s executive director, Michael Longfield, said he believed the city should wait for the ultimate decision on the constitutional challenge before it agrees to any bike lane deal.
“Yes, we are definitely pleased the mayor seems to be looking for ways to keep bike lanes,” he said. “But a compromise that restores car travel lanes isn’t the solution that we need anyway.”
In an e-mailed statement, Zeus Eden, a spokesperson for Ms. Chow, did not directly address the question of holding off on any deal until a court ruling but said she is “willing to work collaboratively with other orders of government, instead of pursuing a path that ends up in legal battles and conflict.”