On Monday, I was informed by city staff that the eglintonTOday Complete Street Project website was updated to say the project can no longer proceed due to changes in the Highway Traffic Act. Something which Aidan Chamandy of Toronto Today reported on yesterday. With all due respect to the courteous and professional staff within the Cycling and Pedestrian Unit, we need to call out this recent news for what it really is: an outright betrayal of Toronto’s cycling community by the City of Toronto! Let’s go through to explain why that is the case.
Recap of Previous Update
In late August 2025, Aidan wrote that the City would proceed with resurfacing Eglinton from Keele to Mt. Pleasant without bike lanes which prompted me to issue an action alert some of you responded to. Cycle Toronto then organized a Rally and Ride for Eglinton on September 11, 2025 which about 100 people attended (and over 1000 people signed their petition). The cycling community had warned the City that failure to install the bike lanes at the time could lead to a situation where they may never get installed; an unfortunate case of “told you so”.
Those who e-mailed Mayor Olivia Chow last year would have gotten the following reply:
“Thank you for your email and for sharing your concerns with Mayor Chow regarding Eglinton complete streets. After years of construction, Eglinton is in rough shape and in desperate need of resurfacing. The City is doing that work now.
Unfortunately, delays and uncertainty around the opening of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT mean that the TTC continues to need to run a high volume of buses (up to 19 per hour) along Eglinton to keep people moving. Reconfiguring the street now would impact the ability of these buses to keep people moving while we wait for the LRT to open. When the LRT does open, the City will be able to install the bike lanes in accordance with the Council-approved eglintonTOday plans.
This approach lets the City improve conditions on Eglinton now for all road users while we anticipate the opening of the LRT.”
Debunking Provincial Blame
Despite the cowardly tendency to blame the provincial government for this broken promise, we need to remind ourselves Bills 212 and 60 had exempted projects where construction contracts were already awarded as should have been the case with Eglinton. The Toronto Today article cited “the contract was officially closed on May 20” and that a new contract would have been needed because of the need to wait for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT to open. If the contract was closed on May 20, why couldn’t they have rushed the project as soon as the snow had melted given that LRT line had already opened? We cannot in good conscience let the City off the hook on this one given they were warned last fall about the consequences of not proceeding and they chose not to listen to us!
Consequences of Inaction
The timing of this news couldn’t be any worse! With a municipal election scheduled for October 26, I am concerned the City’s betrayal on Eglinton could lead to some people refusing to support Olivia Chow when we need to stop Brad Bradford at all costs given he threw the cycling community under the bus. It’s not the first time Toronto has experienced this kind of heartbreak with the scrapping of ActiveTO back in 2022, while no major road closures or open streets events were held in this city ever since. These broken promises can lead to people losing trust in the political process which in turn risks a vicious cycle where carbrains hijack the agenda and slow down progress even further (or even reverse it if ABC Toronto gets their way); thus, leading to an even greater loss of trust!
#NEW: University Ave. should be a hospital corridor first, not a traffic experiment. We are calling for removal of bike lanes that slow ambulance access to Canada’s busiest hospitals. Sign the petition. Share this post. https://t.co/IjubqaHqH5 #TOpoli #Toronto pic.twitter.com/Zhfd6KWChb
— A Better City (ABC) Toronto (@abctoronto_) May 21, 2026
This phenomenon is not limited to Toronto given Brampton has been experiencing their own bike lane removals with Charolais Boulevard being the latest target. Another bike lane removal on Clockwork Drive prompted local advocate Lisa Stokes to express how livid she was over this disregard for active transportation and expert staff advice. Yes, Lisa, I AM LIVID as well!
Moving Forward
To be honest, I don’t know where we move from here, but we need to be mindful about what’s at stake for this October’s election and call out Mayor Chow and City Council for their betrayal. We must also urge them to do everything necessary to fix this mess – even if it means rebelling against Queen’s Park – given Eglinton was a once in a generation opportunity that has been squandered! We can afford to wait until the next provincial election in either 2029 or 2030 to make our streets safer. Even with the recent dip in the polls over the jet purchase and FOI changes, I wouldn't rule out Doug Ford getting in yet again given the Ontario Liberals and NDP refuse to work together to avoid splitting the vote.
Let this serve as a lesson that we can’t afford to delay safe streets! Not only because of the ever-escalating climate crisis, but our adversaries won’t waste time to roll back progress when given the chance.
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