Councillor Paula Fletcher has just confirmed she will be retiring from City Hall with only two days until nominations for the 2026 Toronto election close! Wished she could have announced this sooner to allow potential candidates to organize and register.
With Mike Layton officially confirming he's running to take his old University-Rosedale council seat back, it's game over for upstarts like Gabe Blanc and Diana Yoon. The article states Dana Fisher is already withdrawing to support Layton. Sorry, /u/Pristine-Training-70.
This morning before the disappointing Bill 212 court appeal decision was released, I biked the Bartley Smith Greenway in Vaughan. I wrote about the trail on my blog including the need to complete it along with the larger Vaughan Super Trail.
Thanks Toronto Star for publishing my letter this morning in response to an unacceptable proposal from Brad Bradford to remove the Bloor bike lanes in Etobicoke. Also rather timely given a decision on the Cycle Toronto appeal case is expected today.
Saw this notice on the Ontario Court of Appeal website thanks to John Michael McGrath's Bluesky feed. Time to brace ourselves!
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To be posted August 14, 2026 at 12:00 p.m.
Subject to change
With the nomination deadline for the 2026 Toronto being next Thursday at 2 PM, I'm kind of surprised that Paula Fletcher still hasn't registered to run for re-election or announce she won't run. At this time, only two candidates have registered; those being former councillor Susan Chapelle and Jason Stevens who's a total nut job. Is anyone here familiar with Susan Chapelle?
Does anyone else here have a fishy feeling that Fletcher may wait until the very last minute to announce she's not running and endorse a successor to limit the number of challengers?
After 23 years on council, Fletcher seriously needs to retire!
While this Calgary Herald piece by Celia Lee & David Barrett is focused on Alberta, the core message equally applies to Ontario. Bike lane & other road safety decisions are best left to municipalities!
It's official! Brad Bradford has thrown us under the bus with his latest announcement calling for the Bloor bike lanes to be removed in Etobicoke! If you want them to stay, please vote Olivia Chow! Better still, please donate and/or volunteer for her campaign too!
Per a recent survey done by Liaison Strategies, 81% of respondents support a greater police and security presence at street festivals compared to 15% who are opposed.
I don't know what that poll (or the respondents) are smoking, but security costs are what killed OpenStreetsTO, as well as threatened to derail the Church Street Pedestrianization Pilot & other street festivals. The key question is how to lower those costs while preventing future tragedies?
When the Finch West LRT launched in December, it was so slow to a point where runner Mac Bauer beat it by 18 minutes. Since then, Mayor Olivia Chow reached out to him for a rematch given the improvements done to the line since then. Will let the video speak for itself. ;)
Hey #BikeTO! The Drive Side will be hosting this year's Scarborough South Loop Community Ride on Sunday, September 20! Meet 10 AM at Guildwood Station and sign up at the link below. Having done this ride last year, I can vouch for how fun it is.
You can read my take on last year's ride here.
https://www.twowheeledpolitics.ca/2025/10/the-driveside-south-scarborough-loop.html
One shortcoming of the Church Street Pedestrianization Pilot - which many of us cyclists also support - is the high policing and security costs which the Toronto Star and other outlets reported in late June. My latest blog post makes the case for why candidates for this October's election must not only support pedestrian streets (including open streets), but also address those costs even in light of recent security incidents such as the Salsa on St. Clair shooting.
About 40 people took part in Cycle Toronto's rally this evening which marked one anniversary since their Bill 212 court challenge win. My blog post about the ride is now up for your viewing pleasure.
While I am sure a lot of us here will not approve of Chris Alexander given his barbaric cultural practices hotline idea during the Harper area, at least we finally have a mayoral candidate who can siphon off votes from Brad Bradford! 😉
Per this latest article from The Trillium, the Ford government is refusing to return the lands associated with the now scrapped Billy Bishop Airport expansion to the city. When you account for this, the bike lane fiasco via Bills 212 and 60, and that boneheaded 401 tunnel idea, there's one thing we need to do. Demand the resignation of Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria!
Not sure what's the best way to do this, but I'm all ears. We know for sure Doug Ford will never resign, so the next best thing is to focus on Sarkaria.
While on vacation, I unfortunately noticed this disturbing development from Alberta about a bike lane snitch line. Basically, people can report about bike lanes citing a bunch of ridiculous reasons including low usage, taking away parking or traffic lanes, costs, and impacts on businesses and residents. Hope that Doug Ford never considers something similarly reckless, but it wouldn't surprise me if he were. 🤬
Link to Alberta government page: https://www.alberta.ca/report-concerns-about-bike-lanes
Good afternoon. My partner and I from Canada will be flying to Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday evening - first time - and I have a question regarding the recent TezJet flight cancellations.
While I was already informed by a 3rd party booking agency that the July 18 flight from Bishkek to Osh got cancelled - and already got a refund for it - the return flight on July 27 from Osh to Bishkek (K9104) is still active? However, I also heard from other sources online that flights in late July and August are already starting to be cancelled.
Has TezJet formally announced any further flight cancellations beyond the July 14 to 20 window? Please let me know so I can make alternate arrangements for July 27 sooner rather than later. Already booked an alternate flight for July 18 via Asman Airlines.
Thanks / Спасибо
So let me get this straight! Brad Bradford - who's a cyclist and voted in favour of making the Richmond-Adelaide cycle tracks permanent in January 2019 - is now blaming those same bike lanes for gridlock on that street per his recent Facebook post?! SMH!
Link to Bradford's Post - https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18U7gcbYJg/
Link to Motion IE1.5 - https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2019.IE1.5
