Cycling advocates are looking to escalate the legal battle over bike lanes on three major Toronto streets, asking the Supreme Court of Canada to take on the Ford government’s years-long effort to tear them out.
In a mid-August ruling, the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned a lower court’s decision that removing bike lanes violated the Canadian Charter, allowing the government to proceed with its plan.
The decision reactivated a policy that the Ford government first put in place at the end of 2024 to restore space for vehicles — and remove bike lanes — from portions of Bloor Street West, Yonge Street and University Avenue.
On Tuesday, the government said it would begin that work by reverting a 600-metre section of Bloor to vehicle-only lanes.
Ahead of the removal, CycleTO and EcoJustice, two groups that launched the charter challenge, revealed they are appealing the case to Canada’s highest court asking it to strike down the policy as unconstitutional and weigh in on the government’s ability to implement potentially life-threatening legislation.
“The consequences of this case reach far beyond bike lanes and beyond Ontario,” said Bronwyn Roe with Ecojustice.
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“We are asking the Supreme Court to hear this case in order to provide clarity about the scope of the rights to life and security of the person protected by Section 7 of the Charter.”
In the August ruling that paved the way for the lanes’ removal, Justice Grant Huscroft took issue with the lower court allegedly meddling in the business of the legislature.
Huscroft wrote “it is illegitimate for courts to involve themselves in matters of legislative policy.”
While Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said the ruling underscored the government’s “clear and direct mandate” to fight gridlock, advocates argue their substantive arguments still apply.
“The Ontario Court of Appeal found that, as a matter of law, removing protected bike lanes could not infringe the Charter if there was no positive right to the bike lanes in the first place. The court did not consider, let alone overturn, the superior court’s factual findings,” Roe said.
Michael Longfield, the executive director of Cycle Toronto said their principal arguments will be reintroduced in front of the supreme court, if the case is heard.
“Bike lanes do not cause traffic congestion, ripping them out will put people’s lives at risk, there’s no network of side streets that can replace the bike lanes that are here,” Longfield said.
The Supreme Court of Canada will only hear an appeal if the case “raises a question of public importance,” the court states on its website.
According to the Court, a case that meets that bar for appeal could include one that involves the interpretation of constitutional rights, or if it raises a new issue of law or if it requires the Court to resolve conflicting decisions from courts of appeal.
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