Toronto plans to install signs blaming Doug Ford for traffic

Toronto is considering installing signs along city streets to blame congestion on Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Toronto city council passed a motion in its November 14 meeting that could result in new signage being placed in local streets designed to fight back against the Ford government’s controversial Bill 212, the Reducing Gridlock and Saving You Time Act, which was tabled in late October. 

The legislation would allow the province to veto any bike infrastructure that would remove traffic lanes, effectively eliminating municipalities’ ability to plan and implement new bike lanes on many streets, and would also result in some existing bike lanes being ripped out.

But the City isn’t taking this change without a fight, and a successful motion proposed by Councillor Mike Colle on Thursday would, if implemented, publicly shame the provincial government.

Colle proposed that “council direct the city manager to report back on the feasibility of placing signs on City roads where there are traffic delays resulting from the provincial mandate to remove bike lanes.”

The proposed signs would read, “This road congestion and traffic delay is the result of Premier Ford’s Bill 212.”

Colle did not mince words when addressing council on Thursday, saying, “the worst thing about this approach the premier is taking is that it takes away from the solutions,” and taking a swing at the Ford government’s track record on getting people moving. “God forbid he should complete the f-ing Eglinton Crosstown [LRT],” he said.

Suburban councillors made similarly heated comments in favour of the bike lane removals. Stephen Holyday told council that they “broke it” and “won’t fix it,” and asks municipal politicians to “step aside and let somebody else fix it for you. It’s the easiest way out of it.” 

Colle’s motion carried narrowly by a vote of 14 in favour and 11 opposed.

Unsurprisingly, support for the motion was clearly divided between the city’s urban and suburban councillors, with councillors representing central cycling-friendly wards voting in favour of the motion and the elected officials representing less densely populated car-dependent suburbs voting against the motion.

The “yes” votes included Alejandra Bravo, Shelley Carroll, Lily Cheng, Rachel Chernos Lin, Olivia Chow, Mike Colle, Parthi Kandavel, Ausma Malik, Josh Matlow, Amber Morley, Jamaal Myers, Gord Perks, Anthony Perruzza and Dianne Saxe.

The “no” votes included Paul Ainslie, Brad Bradford, Jon Burnside, Vincent Crisanti, Paula Fletcher, Stephen Holyday, Nick Mantas, Chris Moise, Frances Nunziata (Chair), James Pasternak and Michael Thompson.