September 28, 2025 - In a landmark ruling on July 30, Superior Court Justice Paul Schabas sided with cycling and safety advocates, finding that Premier Doug Ford government’s Bill 212, and the plan to tear out dedicated bike lanes from three Toronto routes, violates Canadians’ Charter rights under Section 7.

Schabas ruled that government decisions that increase risk to people, particularly vulnerable road users like cyclists, are unconstitutional when not made in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

“… the conclusion [is that] any steps taken to ‘reconfigure’ the target bike lanes that removes their protected character for the purpose of installing a lane for motor vehicles in order to reduce congestion, would be in breach of s. 7 of the Charter and not be saved by s. 1,” reads the ruling.

Furthermore, Schabas found that the government provided weak anecdotal evidence and poorly supported “expert” opinion, and contrary to the consensus of experts.

In fact, the ruling notes that, “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.”

Whereas, “The Applicants have also met their burden of proving that the restoring of a lane of motor vehicle traffic, and its consequent impact on cyclists and road safety, is arbitrary and grossly disproportionate, and therefore not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice the Cycle Toronto’s application was fully supported by expert evidence.”

The court’s ruling affirms that government action cannot knowingly make streets less safe, especially when it won’t achieve the goal of reducing traffic congestion, and that public safety must be a paramount consideration in policymaking.

The ruling comes after months of legal wrangling and a court-imposed injunction that had prevented the province from following through on its promise to remove the dedicated bike lanes on Bloor Street West, Yonge Street and University Avenue.

The injunction was granted on April 22 by Justice Paul Schabas following a challenge in Dec. by advocacy group Cycling Toronto, joined by individual applicants Eva Stanger-Ross and Narada Kiondo, and represented by lawyers from Ecojustice and Paliare Roland LLP, arguing that Ontario’s Bill 212, the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act passed last November, violated the Charter-protected rights to life and security of the person.

“This is a full win,” said Michael Longfield, Executive Director of Cycle Toronto. “We won on the facts and on the law. The court accepted our argument that the government’s actions increased the risk of harm to Ontarians, and that doing so without justification breaches our most basic constitutional rights.”