August 11, 2025 - Alberta’s Transport Minister, Devin Dreeshen, has signalled that he wants cities in the province, particularly Edmonton and Calgary, to alter or remove any cycling bike lanes that impede automobile traffic reports CBC.
If not, the Alberta government may table legislation to give them the power to do so, similar to the recent scenario in Ontario which passed Bill 212 allowing the province to oversee and remove bike lanes.
However, the recent landmark court ruling in Ontario, that struck down the largest province’s bid to tear out bike lanes in Toronto as a constitutional breach of the Charter, will likely influence Alberta’s decision on how to proceed.
Cycle Toronto’s court challenge of Ontario’s Bill 212 “Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act” was fully supported by expert evidence, whereas the government provided weak anecdotal evidence and expert opinion which was unsupported, and contrary to the consensus view of experts.
“To the contrary, records produced by the government in this litigation show that the internal advice prior to passing Bill 212 was that protected bike lanes can have a positive impact on congestion and that removing them would do little, if anything, to alleviate gridlock, and may worsen congestion,” Ontario Justice Paul Schabas’ ruling states.
Read the full report here.
