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A cyclist rides in a bike lane on University Avenue in Toronto, in 2024.Laura Proctor/The Canadian Press
Cyclists challenging Ontario’s plan to remove major Toronto bike lanes are asking Canada’s top court to hear their appeal.
The cyclists said today they will seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, the same day as Ontario said it would start taking out more bike lanes along parts of Bloor Street West.
A lower court initially ruled the province’s plan to replace 19 kilometres of bike lanes with car lanes on three major roads was an unconstitutional risk to cyclist safety.
But the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned that decision in an August ruling that said the trial judge had improperly strayed into policy-making and political considerations.
Anyone who receives a judgment from a top provincial or territorial court can ask the Supreme Court to consider their case.
The Supreme Court only hears a fraction of those cases, which typically must involve a key constitutional question, conflicting lower court decisions or a new issue of law.