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Dear neighbour,
On October 23, hundreds of cyclists joined our Rally and Ride for Road Safety at Queen’s Park to tell the Ford Conservatives that bike lanes save lives and are essential for making travel safer, faster, and more accessible for everybody.
Weeks before the legislature reconvened, Premier Doug Ford and Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria announced that new restrictions on bike lane infrastructure were forthcoming.
On our first day back in the legislature Monday, October 20 the Ford Conservatives introduced Bill 212, the Reducing Gridlock Saving You Time Act, 2024. This bill includes measures to restrict where bike lanes can be built and is positioned as a solution to Ontario’s traffic woes despite years of evidence showing that bike lanes do not cause it.
The bill grants Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria authority to demand data from municipalities to "review" existing cycling infrastructure and require approval to install new ones. While the legislation, in its current form, wouldn’t allow Ford to remove bike lanes that have already been installed, he has announced this is coming and bike lanes on Bloor, University, and Yonge will be the first to go.
It was inspiring to see cyclists and road safety advocates come out in strong numbers to oppose this bill, and we’ll need to keep the pressure up.
You can take action by signing this letter, signing and returning this paper petition, and by participating in committee hearings.
Sincerely,
Jessica Bell
MPP, University-Rosedale
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In this newsletter:
- Why did the Conservatives abandon their plan to increase density around transit stations?
- New government bill aims to fast-track highway construction. What a terrible idea.
- Mental health care is health care, and it's time Ontario treated it that way
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New government bill aims to fast-track highway construction. What a terrible idea.
Bill 212, the Reducing Gridlock Saving You Time Act, 2024 is not just an attack on road safety, it also enables the Ford Conservatives to bypass environmental assessment processes to fast-track building Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass.
If built, Highway 413 would run through Ontario’s Greenbelt, prime farmland, wetlands, woodlands and waterways, connecting suburbs north and west of Toronto. In addition to studies showing Highway 413 would dramatically increase pollution and have devastating consequences for environmentally sensitive ecosystems in Southern Ontario, many of the same well-connected developers who stood to make billions off of the Ford Conservatives Greenbelt Grab are directly benefiting from the construction of Highway 413.
Instead of paving over farmland the Ford Conservatives should be investing in traffic solutions that work--like funding public transit, diverting transport trucks onto Highway 407, and building more homes closer to where people work and play so we can move more efficiently in our communities.
Reminder: Bill 212 is at second reading and will move to committee soon. You can send a request to speak at committee hearings and/or send a written submission here: https://www.ola.org/en/apply-committees?prvcachecommwf=1729877370116.
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Why did the Conservatives abandon their plan to increase density around transit stations?
In question period on Tuesday, October 23 I asked the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra what's stopping the Conservatives from allowing fourplexes & higher density housing near transit stations? You can watch the exchange here.
Last month, Global News reported that the Ford Conservatives were seriously considering legislating height minimums near transit stations and allowing fourplexes as-of-right to increase housing density but abandoned that plan at the eleventh hour.
Ontario needs to build 1.5 million homes to meet the needs of current and future Ontarians. Building more homes in existing neighbourhoods is far more sustainable than low-density urban sprawl. It allows us to protect farmland and the natural environment, promotes more sustainable transportation like walking, cycling, and public transit, and allows municipalities to provide key services more efficiently.
We have been calling on the Conservatives to allow fourplexes as-of-right and increase density in towns and cities for years.
In 2022, I introduced a motion that, if passed, would have put forward these changes, bringing us closer to solving Ontario’s housing crisis than we are today. You can support that motion here: https://www.jessicabellmpp.ca/homes_for_ontarians.
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Mental health care is health care, and it's time Ontario treated it that way
On Monday, October 28, the Ontario NDP introduced a motion to make mental health care universally accessible. The Ford Conservatives voted against it.
Currently, Ontarians can only access free mental health services through inpatient hospital care or community health centres. Publicly funded psychiatry services are limited and hard to access, even with a referral from a doctor. Counseling and therapy are not covered by OHIP, leaving many without affordable options.
There are an estimated 200,000 kids in Ontario with serious mental health needs who have no contact with services, treatments, and supportive programs. When a child's mental health needs are not met, it has significant impacts on their long-term success, their family, the education system, and the criminal justice system.
Adults too are waiting months too long for counselling and therapy services. The waitlists for more complex care and supportive living are even longer, with people in some regions waiting 5 or more years.
If you agree that everyone deserves access to mental healthcare — no exceptions, no out-of-pocket costs — add your name here: https://ontariondp.ca/mental-health.
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