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‎SnowSite/Snow/_posts/2024-11-20-bill-212.md‎

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---
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published: published
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layout: post
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category: Politics
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title: Bill 212
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---
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So in a fit of pettiness, the Government of Ontario is set to wrap up bike-lanes
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in a 50-foot-ball of red tape to prevent their construction. I asked on Bluesky
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what was the best way to complain - if there was a petition I should sign or
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something. Craig Burley recommended I send a _fax_ of all things. It's got a
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good chance of being physical media in their space, and won't just be in a
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slushpile of emails they ignore, or forgettable names on a petition. So I wrote
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up the letters for the Premier and the Minister of Transportation at lunch on
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Tuesday and faxed them from my local UPS store. Also emailed them for good measure.
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The bodies of the letters are attached below.
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<!--excerpt-->
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## First, to Premier Ford
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> The Honourable Premier of Ontario Doug Ford
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> Legislative Building
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> Queen's Park
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> Toronto ON M7A 1A1
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>
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> Dear Premier,
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>
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> I am a father of three who lives in Hamilton. I am a regular cycling commuter
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> (yes, even in winter), from a family of cyclists, and have taught and equipped
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> my children to use their bikes for travel as well. When my kids were younger, a
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> bike-trailer is how I got them to school and to their daycare. I hope this
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> conveys that this is not about recreation - this is me living my life. My
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> interest is about protecting my children and being able to care for them.
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>
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> The bike-lanes that enable this were carved out of existing roadways, and so
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> they would be covered under Bill 212. The new Keddy Access Trail lane (named for
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> a kindergarten teacher and cyclist killed in a hit-and-run) allows me to get up
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> the escarpment to my doctor’s office instead of having to take a taxi. Each of
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> these lanes were a battle in Hamilton’s city council to obtain - adding new red
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> tape to this process will likely push such improvements out of reach, which
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> harms the safety and freedom of myself and my children.
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>
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> And speaking of red tape, I’m not one who opposes this change on democratic
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> grounds - I truly believe the province should overrule the municipal governments
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> on some matters, as is your right. But when I worry about my kids, it’s not
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> whether they’ll be able to travel fast-enough in their cars, but whether they’ll
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> be able to have homes of their own. Their own views reflect this - they are
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> worried about ever being able to move out in our broken housing market, but
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> getting my oldest to show any interest in obtaining his driver’s license has
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> been like pulling teeth.
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>
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> The Housing Affordability Task Force emphatically told the province what to do
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> to fix the housing crisis, explaining which municipal rules and processes need
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> to be overridden top-down to get homes built… and yet instead of that critical
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> cost-of-living crisis, you’re focusing on bike lanes of all things? The tiny
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> handful of HATF recommendations that were embraced have been scaled back to
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> almost nothing, and the remaining lion’s share are completely unapplied. Where
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> are the as-of-right intensification rules? Where is shutting down the ability
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> of busybodies to block the construction of critically needed homes? Are there
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> not enough people living in tents already?
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>
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> To be blunt: Why do we see this power and enthusiasm spent on removing a
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> nuisance from your commute, instead of fixing life-ruining problems?
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>
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> Thanks for your time,
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>
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>
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> Martin Zarate
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## Second, to Transportation Minister Sarkaria
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> The Honourable Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria
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>
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> Ministry of Transportation
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>
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> 5th Floor
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>
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> 777 Bay St.
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>
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> Toronto, ON M7A 1Z8
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>
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> Dear Minister,
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>
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> I am a father of three who lives in Hamilton. I am a regular cycling commuter
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> (yes, even in winter), from a family of cyclists, and have taught and equipped
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> my children to use their bikes for travel as well. When my kids were younger, a
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> bike-trailer is how I got them to school and to their daycare. My kids used
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> these bike lanes to get to summer day-camp programs.I hope this conveys that
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> this is not about recreation - this is my family living our lives. My interest
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> is about protecting my children and being able to care for them.
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>
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> The bike-lanes that enable this life were carved out of existing roadways, and
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> so they would be covered under Bill 212. The new Keddy Access Trail lane (named
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> for a kindergarten teacher and cyclist killed in a hit-and-run) allows me to
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> get up the escarpment to my doctor’s office instead of having to take a taxi.
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> Each of these lanes were a battle in Hamilton’s city council to obtain - adding
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> new red tape to this process will likely push such improvements out of reach,
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> which harms the safety and freedom of myself and my children.
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>
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> And speaking of red tape, I’m not one who opposes this change on democratic
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> grounds - I truly believe the province should overrule the municipal
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> governments on some matters, as is your right. But when I worry about my kids,
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> it’s not whether they’ll be able to travel fast-enough in their cars, but
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> whether they’ll be able to have homes of their own. Their own views reflect
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> this - they are worried about ever being able to move out in our broken housing
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> market, but getting my oldest to show any interest in obtaining his driver’s
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> licence has been like pulling teeth.
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>
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>
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> Surely the Ministry could be focusing on other things? All over Ontario we’ve
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> watched critical public transit projects get bogged down in over a dozen years
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> of delays. Why does an LRT line take a decade when destroying active transit
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> apparently takes a few days? Where is this excitement and motivation on those
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> matters? To me, this sounds like a problem of priorities in the Ministry of
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> Transportation.
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>
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> The Ministry of Transportation could be making Ontario healthier, greener,
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> safer, and easier to get around. Instead, bill 212 proposes to do the exact
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> opposite. I hope you’ll reconsider this plan, it is literally a matter of
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> life-and-death for my family.
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>
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> Thanks for your time,
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>
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>
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> Martin Zarate

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