A bid to temporarily block the Ontario government from tearing out bike lanes from Toronto streets has failed.
In a decision on Friday, the Ontario Superior Court ruled against Cycle Toronto and bike advocates seeking an injunction to stop the Ford government’s plan to remove bike lanes on Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue before a Charter challenge of the removals is heard next month.
Suspending legislation is a major intervention, and the applicants did not meet the “heavy burden” of convincing the court to “second-guess the wisdom” of government policy, Justice Stephen Firestone wrote in his decision.
Courts have to assume that laws passed by the government are in the public interest.
“There is no requirement to prove that this law will produce a public good,” he wrote.
Firestone found many of the advocates’ arguments legitimate, opening the door to a lively case at the Charter challenge stage in April.
In court, Ontario argued the cyclists were essentially asserting a right to bike lanes. But Firestone agreed that the applicants are challenging the government’s decision “to suddenly and without justification remove an existing risk-reduction mechanism.”
“In summary, there is a live issue as to whether, in the Charter context, removal of the target bike lanes constitutes state action capable of depriving Charter rights,” he wrote, adding that “thorough analysis” may be needed to determine whether the law to remove bike lanes is “grossly disproportionate” with the government’s stated justification of reducing gridlock.
On Tuesday, advocates revealed an internal government report prepared by engineering firm CIMA that estimated removing the bike lanes would increase collisions by 54 per cent.
The same report, as well as internal ministry emails, noted that removing bike lanes will likely not help traffic due to induced demand — the longstanding urban design principle which states that additional car lanes, especially in a dense urban area like Toronto, will almost immediately become filled with traffic.
Ontario’s lawyer argued that despite any harms that may or may not come to pass as a result of the bike lane removals, the legislature has the final say, and that cyclists won’t face “irreparable harm” from the loss of the lanes.
Firestone disagreed, writing that he was “satisfied that on balance the applicants have established that they will suffer harm that cannot be quantified in monetary terms or cannot be cured or compensated.”
The legislation also barred lawsuits against the province for injuries and deaths on routes formerly containing the bike lanes, meaning cyclists or their loved ones would have no way to seek compensation.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” said Michael Longfield, executive director of Cycle Toronto. “But we think the decision still shows that our Charter challenge itself has merits.”
“The judge confirmed that there is a serious issue around the idea of irreparable harm to cyclists with the bikeway removal,” Longfield said in a phone interview.
“It just seems that we lost on the issue of balance of convenience, the presumption that because this legislation was passed by the provincial government, it in itself is valid.”
Ontario has said it will not begin removing bike lanes until March 20 at the earliest.
