A slew of opinion pieces suggests Ontario’s Ford government is going the wrong way by ripping out bike lanes that cost Toronto $27 million to build, and raising questions about whether it should be focusing on more pressing challenges: an ongoing trade war with the United States, and the debt-burdened province’s existing spending commitments.

“With nearly half a trillion dollars in debt and vast spending commitments for transit, highways, health, and other urgent needs, the government of Ontario cannot afford to waste any money,” wrote Globe and Mail staff columnist Marcus Gee. “So why on earth would we want to spend tens of millions to rip out a bunch of bicycle lanes in Toronto?”

On Sept. 1, Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria announced a plan to begin work on removing or reconfiguring bike lanes on Bloor Street in Etobicoke, with further changes to come on more than 19 kilometres of protected bike lanes on major Toronto streets.

“The vehicle lane will take priority and we will restore the vehicle lane in those areas to get traffic moving again,” Sarkaria said. The announcement follows an Aug. 14 ruling by the Court of Appeal for Ontario that the province’s 2024 bike lane removal plan is not a violation of Charter rights. The recent decision overturned a previous court’s ruling last summer.

Gee points to cities like Montreal, London, and Paris that have been expanding their bike networks, adding that for Premier Doug Ford in contrast, putting bike lanes on Toronto’s big streets was “part of that grand conspiracy against the long-suffering motorist.”

Internal ministry documents released last year showed the province knew the removals could increase collisions for everyone who uses roads—and that they may not have a meaningful impact on congestion.

Toronto Star columnist Shawn Micallef says the Ford government is waging a “Trump-like war on bike lanes.”

“Ridiculous that during a threatening, existential trade war both the Ontario Premier and Minister of Transportation had time to make videos this week bragging about removing them,” he writes. “It’s ridiculous that regular people, working and living their busy lives, have to fight for infrastructure that keeps them, their kids and friends safe.”