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Toronto bike-lane fight escalates: cyclists seek Supreme Court leave, protest halts removal
Cycle Toronto and co-applicants announced they will seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada; Tuesday night protesters surrounded removal trucks, forcing a halt on Bloor Street.
Why it matters
Toronto's bike-lane removal battle has escalated to the country's highest court. Cycling advocacy group Cycle Toronto and co-applicants Eva Stanger-Ross and Narada Kiondo announced Tuesday (Oct. 13) they will seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, challenging an August Ontario Court of Appeal decision. That ruling overturned a lower-court decision that had found Ontario's plan to remove bike lanes unconstitutional, clearing the way for Premier Doug Ford's government to proceed under a 2024 law.
The legal arguments
The applicants, represented by Ecojustice and Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP, are asking the top court to overturn the Appeal Court ruling, arguing it leaves unresolved legal questions about how Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms — the right to life and security of the person — applies to government decisions that could put lives at risk. A government-commissioned report found the removals could increase collisions by 54 per cent among all road users, without meaningfully reducing congestion. Over the past decade, 28 people have been killed and 380 seriously injured while cycling in Toronto, most on streets without protected infrastructure.
The Ford government insists removing 19 kilometres of protected bike lanes on Bloor Street, University Avenue and Yonge Street will ease traffic congestion that it says costs the provincial economy $56 billion a year. A spokesperson for Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said the Appeal Court's decision should stand.
Removal work stalled by protesters
Work slated to begin Tuesday evening on a stretch of Bloor Street West in Etobicoke was halted when dozens of cyclists surrounded the work trucks. As of Wednesday afternoon, cyclists were still holding a sit-in near Bloor and Islington, with Toronto police on scene. Mayor Olivia Chow had offered the province a design that restores car lanes while keeping the bike lanes, which the province rejected. The dispute lands two weeks before Toronto's mayoral election on Oct. 26, with the two front-runners staked out on opposing sides.
Source: Ecojustice news release; Canadian Press via CBC / Canadian Cycling Magazine, Oct. 13–14, 2026.
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