Court denies injunction to stop Ontario removing Toronto bike lanes before legal challenge
Cyclists' court challenge to be heard during April hearing
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has denied an injunction by a group of cyclists that sought to stop the province from removing bike lanes in Toronto until a court challenge is heard in April.
Ontario will not begin removing bike lanes until March 20 at the earliest, the Transportation Ministry has said. The cyclists sought the injunction to prevent any biking infrastructure from being removed between that date and the court hearing on April 16.
The group, led by charity Cycle Toronto, launched the legal challenge in December against Bill 212, the province's law that would remove bike lanes on Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue.
Michael Longfield, executive director of Cycle Toronto, said the injunction decision released Friday is disappointing but he remains hopeful.
"Ultimately the judge did say that there's a strong case here, and we still feel really optimistic for April 16 and our Charter challenge," he said.
In his decision obtained by CBC Toronto, Justice Stephen Firestone wrote that applicants must pass a legal test with three components for an injunction to be granted.
The group of cyclists passed the first two, with the judge finding there was a serious issue to be tried and that cyclists will suffer irreparable harm through increased risk of injury and death without bike lanes.
But they failed on the last component, which considers which party will suffer greater harm if the injunction is granted or denied.
Courts assume government legislation aims to serve the public interest, meaning that suspending validly passed legislation causes irreparable harm, Firestone wrote.
The cyclists therefore had to convince the court the injunction will do more for the public interest by protecting rights.
But Firestone wrote they did not meet this "heavy burden of establishing that an injunction… will do more for the public interest when considering the legislation's stated purpose."
Removals may only start April 2026, MTO emails show
The group had argued cyclists will face increased risk of injury and death if the injunction was not granted, according to the decision. They argued hundreds of thousands of residents will continue cycling even if the lanes are removed.
But Firestone cited evidence that three to four per cent of all trips made within Toronto are cycling trips, and "an even smaller share" regularly use the bike lanes targeted by Bill 212.
"The evidence also suggests that if the lanes are removed, the volume of cyclists using these roads will decrease significantly, such that the raw total of cyclist collisions will be largely unaffected," he wrote.
Earlier this week, internal documents, reports and emails were released that showed the Ontario government is aware the bill may not have a meaningful impact on congestion and could increase collisions for all road users. These documents were made public during a hearing for the injunction on Tuesday.
The documents include a report the engineering and urban planning firm CIMA+ made for the Ministry of Transportation. It found collisions for all road users could increase by upwards of 54 per cent when bike lanes are removed, based on prior research.
At the time, the province's lawyer said Ontario will provide documents and evidence to argue its rationale when the court challenge is heard in full next month.
The government may only begin removing the bike lanes on April 27, 2026, according to a draft schedule in the released emails.
CBC Toronto has reached out to the ministry for comment.
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With files from Lane Harrison