The premiers are using bike lanes as a political scapegoat

Open this photo in gallery:

Cailynn Klingbeil is a Calgary-based freelance writer and editor.

I bike most days in Calgary, often with my two young kids in the front of my cargo bike. We ride to daycare, to playgrounds, to the grocery store. Like countless people in cities across Canada, we’re just trying to move around safely.

But across the country, a concerning pattern is emerging: Provincial governments are using bike lanes as political bait.

Here in Alberta, our transportation minister has recently taken aim at bike lanes in Calgary and Edmonton, calling on the cities to remove these lanes from key roadways. Ontario has already shown the blueprint, with Premier Doug Ford’s government passing a bill last year that allows the province to remove Toronto bike lanes and requires provincial approval for any new bike lanes that involve the removal of vehicle lanes. (Part of the law has been found unconstitutional; an appeal is in the works.) And now Nova Scotia’s Premier Tim Houston is following suit, threatening to overturn Halifax council’s decision on a single downtown bike lane.

When Alberta’s transportation minister Devin Dreeshen first raised the issue in April, it felt like a distraction from more pressing problems. At the time, the province faced growing controversy over multimillion-dollar health care procurement contracts. Picking on bike lanes offered a simple, headline-grabbing way to shift the narrative – and it fit neatly into a pattern of provincial overreach that’s not unique to Alberta.

But it’s hard to dismiss all this as mere political theatre when people are literally dying.

Ontario’s plan to remove bike lanes unconstitutional, court rules

Alberta transportation minister wants bike lanes gone, critics say stay in your lane

On Friday, July 11, a dump truck driver turning right struck a man in his 60s, who was riding in a painted bike lane in southwest Calgary. The man died in hospital.

Paint is not protection. It may visually suggest a boundary, but it does nothing to physically separate people on bikes from people in vehicles many times their size. The Calgary bike lane where the man was hit has been slated for improvements for years; construction on a safer lane is expected to start next year.

Decades of research show that protected bike lanes save lives. Cities around the world have found that when people feel safe riding, more people choose to bike – and everyone benefits. Protected lanes reduce injuries for all road users. They boost local businesses, as people on bikes tend to shop more frequently than drivers. They improve public health by increasing daily physical activity and reducing air pollution. And they help cities meet climate goals by offering a low-emissions alternative to driving.

For my family and me, biking is a joyful way to get around, turning our boring commutes into fun outings. My one-year-old babbles and my preschooler narrates our journey, becoming especially animated when we see garbage trucks, construction sites or urban wildlife. We’re engaged with the sights and sounds of the city in a way that’s very different from when we travel together in a vehicle.

There’s also a strong economic case for safe bike infrastructure. For cities, building and maintaining protected bike lanes costs significantly less than building and maintaining roads. For individuals, being able to replace even some car trips with bike trips can lead to substantial savings.

Despite all this evidence, bike lanes are still used as political scapegoats. But to what end? To score points by vilifying so-called “urban elites?” To undermine progressive city councils? To deflect attention from real government failures – or from the inconvenient truth that bike lanes do not increase traffic congestion?

Amid all this posturing, on a southwest Calgary street a white ghost bike now stands – a memorial seen in cities around the world. The bike is chained to a light pole, near the spot where a man lost his life doing something that should have been safe.

Riding a bike is how people get to work, run errands, drop their kids off at daycare. I’m one of them. So are countless others. Let’s stop letting political point-scoring dictate who gets to move safely through our cities.