November 23, 2025 - Over 200 cyclists began at Christie Pits and joined up with a reported 1,000 tenants, who marched to Queen’s Park on National Housing Day, to protest against the Ontario government’s controversial Bill 60, Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act.
Part of a sweeping omnibus bill designed to “flood the zone” and distract and confuse, Bill 60 will effectively ban municipalities from building any bike lane that would involve road reconfigurations, and strip away tenants’ rights in favour of landlords.
Many speakers representing multiple tenant advocacy groups such as York South-Weston Tenants Union, Acorn Ontario, Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations (FMTA), No Demovictions and many others spoke of the unfairness of the bill that shortens the grace period for non-payment of rent from 14 to seven days, and cuts the period to request a review of a final order from 30 days to 15.
“We need more support for tenants, not less. Many tenants are struggling just to make ends meet, and these new restrictive rules will lead to more evictions and more homelessness, which is currently a big problem in the province,” was a key message echoed by many speakers as former city councillor, Chiara Padovani, from the York South-Weston Tenants Union helped MC the event.
In mid-November, Toronto City Council voted to support Mayor Olivia Chow’s motion opposing Bill 60 that she said would make it easier for landlords to evict tenants and “cut renters’ rights.”
Cycle Toronto, a big supporter of the fight against Bill 60, won a legal challenge last month against Bill 212, the provincial government’s attempt to rip out 19 km of bike lanes in Toronto.
“This bill is about more than making housing more insecure and weakening tenants’ rights. Buried deep in Bill 60 are additional provisions that would expand and escalate Bill 212’s attack on evidence-based decision-making and further handcuff municipalities from making meaningful decisions about their roads,” said Michael Longfield, executive director at Cycle Toronto.
“Bill 60 would ban cities from building new bike lanes if they would impact a car lane, full-stop. And the wording is so vague it could also be used to include bus priority lanes, streetside patios and cafes, or festivals – all at the Ministers whim. We’re proud to join your fight today and beyond, and won’t let Doug Ford divide us,” he concluded.
Also on hand for the event were Marit Stiles, leader of Ontario’s NDP, the Official Opposition, and Mike Shriener, leader of Ontario’s Green Party. Stiles was recently ejected from the Ontario Legislative Assembly for calling the Ford Government corrupt and refusing to withdraw her remarks.
An open letter, signed by 132 groups including legal clinics, unions, food banks, shelters and student unions have warned the Ford government that Bill 60 would worsen homelessness by stripping away core tenant protections, and remove key discretion from Landlord and Tenant Board adjudicators when ruling on eviction cases, at a time of rising living costs and unstable work reports CTV.
Bill 60 is scheduled for its Third Reading vote in the Ontario Legislative Assembly on Monday, November 24, 2025 (ed. – the Ford Government passed Bill 60 on Nov. 24 amidst shouts and chants of “People over Profits” as Premier Doug Ford tells the yelling crowd to “go find a job” – read more here)
