r/toronto • u/SeniorMustachio • 14h ago
News Toronto police chief warns bike lane protesters could face charges for blocking removal
https://www.torontotoday.ca/local/transportation-infrastructure/bike-lane-protesters-toronto-police-chief-warning-blocking-removal-12891751?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky369
u/Frig_Off_Baerb 14h ago
I feel like Doug Ford himself should have to be a flagger on the job site and deal with the public over this debacle.
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u/swearengens_cat 14h ago
He could help dig with his little shovel.
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u/Little_Election_4302 12h ago
He can protect the workers from insects by swallowing them like a frog
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u/SkivvySkidmarks 14h ago
He'd have to be issued a chair. I doubt he could stand longer than 30 minutes and he'd probably be winded just from that.
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u/SensitiveEffort1906 6h ago
Doug Ford isn't in the province. He's tanning his disgusting corrupt ass down at his Miami condo.
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u/SeniorMustachio 14h ago edited 14h ago
Arrests are currently being threatened to protesters on bloor.
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u/Sapphosbeardedcrepes Newmarket 14h ago
Sounds like a section 7 safety issue that the courts denied existed.
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u/turxchk Downtown Core 14h ago
And this is in Etobicoke. Let’s see what happens when they remove the downtown lanes.
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u/Malakas_Tsiblas East York 14h ago
Currently 17 cruisers on scene, absolutely ridiculous and embarrassing for the city.
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u/TheInverseKey 14h ago
Wow, look at all those cars blocking traffic.
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u/magpepper 13h ago
Almost like it wasn’t about traffic, and it was just about Dougie trying to rule Toronto via Premiership
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u/meta_adaptation 14h ago
You should make your own post that’s a great picture. Unbelievable waste of resources. I can understand having a police officer or two to protect the safety of construction workers in case things get out of hand / violent (the workers are just doing their job) but like 17 cop cars, really?
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u/lifeisarichcarpet 13h ago
Good thing we're going to hire 1,000 more of these guys soon. Then we can have 517 cruisers there!
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u/aledba Garden District 12h ago
Of course we need to criminalize freedom of expression as hard and fast as we can
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u/Syralei 12h ago
Can't let the working class realize that standing up and protesting can actually work! They'll do more of it! Ugh I fucking hate it here.
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u/aledba Garden District 12h ago
I emailed that dick head police chief and the mayor too. It's as much as I can do sitting on my ass sick with covid
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u/itchygoopark 11h ago
That still a thing?
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u/Syralei 10h ago
It literally never stopped being a thing. And it's still dangerous, especially to immunocompromised and elderly people.
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u/Gunslinger7752 6h ago
So the same people it has always been dangerous for, just like any other cold and flu virus?
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u/Syralei 5h ago edited 5h ago
Nope. It's dangerous to everyone still, just more dangerous to those who are immunocompromised or elderly. Anyone can get long covid/ME(myalgic encephalomyelitis) from a covid infection, especially if you get infected multiple times as the cellular damage caused by the virus is cumulative. I know perfectly healthy people in their 20s/30s that now have long covid and can't do half of what they used to. Just going for a walk around the block is a marathon for them.
In fact: "Most large U.S. studies estimated that approximately 10% to 20% of infected individuals develop long COVID"
https://schaeffer.usc.edu/research/long-covid-prevalence-current-evidence/3
u/awesomesonofabitch 10h ago edited 9h ago
The key is to not stop standing up and resisting their brutality.
If everyone goes home after this, they've proved their point and will continue to do so.
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u/Signal_Tomorrow_2138 14h ago
That picture says two things
1) the only thing blocking traffic are other cars, in this case, police cars;
and
2) there aren't any traffic to block.
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u/ForMoreYears Baldwin Village 14h ago
I assume the Province will be making us whole for all this spending, right? Right??
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u/the_honest_liar 13h ago
How many of these people aren't getting help because they need 17 cops to stand around? https://gtaupdate.com/
Now we've got tax dollars paying these cops to scare off protesters so that our tax dollars can tear up bike lanes that our tax dollars paid for in order to protect the safety of the people protesting. Dumbest timeline.
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u/swift-current0 11h ago
I am generally willing to give police the benefit of doubt. This photo, however, is radicalizing me. Not just because I bike, but because if this is what the constant budget increases are funding, motherfuckers need to be cut down to size.
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u/BTTLC 9h ago
What radicalized me was the undercover police officer shoving a 60 year old man and giving him a brain injury, then proceeding to charge the guy in the hospital. Ridiculous escalation of force and doubling down on it.
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u/oictyvm St. Lawrence 8h ago
Are you familiar with /u/Whatisthequestion and their tireless work here on Reddit, exposing the TPS’ endless corruption?
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u/Asleep-Illustrator99 Trinity-Bellwoods 14h ago
All I see here is plenty of room for all the cop cars on the road, two cars in a bike lane, many cyclists using the bike lane, plenty of cars parked on side roads, and no vehicular traffic.
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u/BloodJunkie Bike Lane Enjoyer 13h ago
are they there to protest removing bike lanes because they won’t have a place to park or?
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u/armedwithturtles The Junction 13h ago
What’s it like now? Just got off work and want to make my way down there
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u/TorontoBoris East End 14h ago
We live in the dumbest possible time line...
Break ins and car thefts? Sorry TPS is swamped arresting peaceful protesters..
Spent 12 hours in an ER waiting room because they're under funded? Sorry the provincial gov't is spending 48million to rip out bike lanes...
Doug Ford's Ontario inaction.
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u/aledba Garden District 12h ago
You are very clever so I used some of your verbiage in my weekly email to Douglas just now
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u/Gen_Sherman_Hemsley 14h ago
They should just start calling themselves anti vax protest and they’ll get to stay there forever
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u/Awestruck34 13h ago
Throw a few Israel flags in the mix and the cops will join them
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u/anewidentity 12h ago
It's funny but I lived at harbourfront during COVID, and there were weekly anti vax protests there. I still don't understand why but a quarter of the anti vaxers were waving Israel flags.
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u/Oliveloaf_29 14h ago
I think we will look back at this moment and shake our heads. Road safety should not be political. I see healthcare workers, families, people with mobility issues all using bike lanes.
Toronto has some of the worst congestion in North America because we’ve prioritized cars and our politicians have been lobbied heavily by the auto industry.
Ford is a bully. He doesn’t care about what his own reports on bike lanes show (that they are not associated with congestion) and that they reduce mortality for ALL road users. He doesn’t care that some people cannot afford a car and a bike is one of the most affordable options to get around. He likes that he can override the local government and do what he wants. He’s acting like a king.
At some point, we need to collectively stand up to bullies. We need to say enough. Not when an issue impacts us individually, but when it impacts anyone especially those that are vulnerable. He has dismantled so many things in 8 yrs (municipal autonomy, healthcare, education, social services etc) and everyone is just sitting there with their hands up. Then when this is all over and everything is awful, people will complain and wonder how it got so bad.
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u/Electrical-Risk445 14h ago
Road safety should not be political
Sadly, this is north america where everything gets politicized, especially when it shouldn't.
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u/Syralei 12h ago
And usually it's politicized to hide other shady things the politicians don't want you to look at.
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u/Electrical-Risk445 12h ago
Mostly to divert the attention from their record. It's all about creating wedge issues while the important stuff is left to corruption.
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u/SomethingOrSuch 12h ago
At some point is not going to happen. English Canadians and especially those in Toronto are probably some of the most apathetic citizens one could have. I don't know if it's because people are struggling to make ends meet, so therefore they have two to three jobs and no free time to even think.
I feel like if this was in Montreal there would be a lot more fighting in the street.
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u/vukov 12h ago
I'm surprised that he hasn't started some bullshit taxpayer-funded initiative to get people to buy cars and learn to drive. It'd be an infuriating method of coercion and start the process of turning everything into stroads and strip malls, but at least it'd show that he's committed to the bit.
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u/MoreGaghPlease 7h ago
The auto industry doesn’t give a shit about bike lanes. There’s no special interest pushing for this, it’s just braindead populist anger.
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u/Midtier_laugh 4h ago
yes, Toronto is now under an authoritarian rule and everybody needs to understand how dangerous that is.
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u/Signal_Tomorrow_2138 14h ago
Meanwhile, not too far away is a driver parking in a no-parking zone, another driver rolling through a stop sign, another one rushing his turn and cutting off a pedestrian trying to cross.
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u/hippiechan 14h ago
So just to be clear, locals in the community/city want to keep the bike lane, they're protesting to keep the bike lane, but no level of government is able or willing to represent that interest and to ensure people's desires in the community are reflected in policy, and the police are threatening people with arrest?
I've said it before and people seemed to think it's ridiculous but all that sounds like a police state with no democracy to me. If we actually lived in a democracy it would be enough for people in a community to say they want things done a certain way without threat of arrest - clearly it's not.
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u/daftlydone 13h ago edited 4h ago
Not quite- The Municipal government derives its power from the provincial government. The municipal government did what little it could to resist but ultimately it doesnt have the power to do more.
Its actually much worse than you'd think on other levels though:
-The construction company are close with Ford. They are campaign contributors and bought land in the greenbelt just before Ford opened it for building. Undoubtedly they will be receiving your tax dollars for this and then sending some of it back to fund Ford's campaigns.
-Virtually all of the anti bikelane side have been donors to Ford. These bike lanes in particular, along with the other ones he raves about, are all along his drive to and from work
-The Toronto Police are doing this when it should be the Ontario Provincial Police, which means the city is being forced to pay for ignoring its own wants
-Anti bikelane advocates put out a survey saying 2/3 of Toronto wants the lanes removed, which is blatantly false, as other surveys have shown somewhere around 80% of the folks in the areas of the lanes support them. The survey comes from a company with a banner on their site bragging they will twist stats to fit whatever message you want
-The province's own Ministry of Transportation data shows that removing these lanes will not help traffic and may make it worse, along with increasing collisions involving cyclists or pedestrians by between 30-50% depending on the area
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u/to12007 14h ago
They're about to arrest people right now
https://bsky.app/profile/seanyyz.bsky.social/post/3mxtyn2mbsc2c
https://bsky.app/profile/seanyyz.bsky.social/post/3mxtypzvrrs2c
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u/cmstlist 14h ago
Excuse me, why is the TORONTO Police Service, funded by the city, actively defending rogue contractors who are carrying out work that the city has not consented to?
If the province wants to have cops defending their acts of vandalism, they can send in the OPP. Our city should not pay a dime to help these contractors.
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u/guckmaschine 11h ago
Those cops don't live in the city where they work, the commute from the suburbs and drive cars voting for backwards ass politicians
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u/SmellyTeamSeven 14h ago
Imagine if the Chief had this energy for the blatant, unchecked corruption running in the TPS.
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u/Mazzi17 14h ago
Next provincial election, I will vote for the candidate who promises to jail Doug Ford.
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u/Planet0ftheJapes 14h ago
Someone should run for Premiere on the platform of de-amalgamating Toronto, AND then making the newly deamalgamated Toronto a separate governing entity from Ontario.
It's win-win. We here in Toronto get what we want, and the rest of the province finally gets a premiere who focuses on everyone else in Ontario.
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u/geoken 13h ago
To be fair, this is in Etobicoke. So if we're operating under the assumption that it's Etobicoke residents wanting this - wouldn't it still be happening in a de-amalgamated Etobicoke?
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u/Planet0ftheJapes 13h ago
- This is bigger than the bike lane issue.
- It won't stop at the Etobicoke stretch.
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u/sbuxxo 14h ago
I don’t know why the focus is on bike lanes when it’s the street parking that should be removed. Big arterial streets should never allow street parking if you’re trying to move people along. The amount of times cars need to swerve in and out of lanes because there’s 2 parked cars. It’s not the bike lanes…
Build more parking lots underground with new builds if the businesses need to survive
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u/nerolispicoli 13h ago
The street parking in this city is so insane
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u/Uncomfortable-Line 13h ago
A certain pub owner was deeply put out that "his" parking space was removed. It is literally the triggering incident for all this bullshit. One entitled loser with too much access to a too corrupt Premier tossing enough money while whining about not being able to park his lazy ass directly in front of his shitty bar.
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u/Drekkan85 11h ago
I mean if the city wants to be petty what they should do is designate all of the lanes on the effected streets to be "no parking no stopping" and enforce it strictly 24/7 with maximum tickets/no leniency.
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u/armedwithturtles The Junction 13h ago
It’s my right to park on College and then complain I’m getting stuck behind a streetcar!!
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u/GreasyWerker118 13h ago
Fouggie wants everyone to believe that parked cars in lanes on main arterial roads help move traffic better. When the FACT is they dont.
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u/VisualFix5870 14h ago
I support Canadians right to protest, whether I support their cause or not. They have a right to be heard.
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u/FullyGroanMan 14h ago
What about the construction crews that showed up to complete work outside of their allotted work permit time? Any charges for that? No? Sounds about right.
ACAB forever and ever.
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u/sargeantavocadotoast 14h ago
Apparently after being deterred by protesters last night they were able to amend their permit at 8:30pm to allow for this
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u/JitzInMyPants 14h ago
Construction work outside of permitted times wouldn't be a police matter. That would be a Bylaw and/or Building department issue.
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u/WestQueenWest West Queen West 14h ago edited 14h ago
Is this supposed to be a threat? We know the police ideologically don't give a shit about cyclists dying. Not all lives matter in this society and people know this - people who went there were expecting arrests. The concern is bigger than whether cops might lay chargers.
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u/apartmen1 14h ago
Toronto police are nakedly anti cyclist so it’s no surprise. We are lead by bullies.
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u/king_bungholio Leaside 13h ago
Meanwhile they have bike cops, so you would think that they would want their officers on bikes to be safe by being able to traverse the city in dedicated lanes.
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u/AnyoneButDoug The Annex 12h ago
While I was there and counted over 30 cops I checked to see the TPS calls for that time, lots to do.
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u/underwooding 14h ago
Genuine question from a total idiot: Obviously, this is a directive from Ford and the city is opposed. So why is TPS enforcing it? Why doesn't the city direct them to stand down?
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u/w8upp 14h ago
The City isn't legally permitted to instruct the police on who to arrest (or not arrest). They can have certain guidelines for the cops but no direct authority.
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u/Neat-Air-8305 14h ago
People on this subreddit have no idea how canadian systems work
They watch to much american politics i find.
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u/Neat-Air-8305 14h ago
Canada doesn't operate that way...provinces have total control over cities.
Also chow isnt the type go in high risk showdown with ford due to the fact they are 100 other issues they are working on.
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u/ComplaintDry1975 14h ago
Called it. No wonder Brad Bradford wants to fund 1000 more of these goons.
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u/AcanthocephalaDue431 13h ago
How about figuring out where the money for this farce is coming from? AFAIK this is going to cost Toronto much more than the original infrastructure cost for... What? Not improving congestion? Making the cities commuter infrastructure worse? So that drivers with shitty narrow minded views can stick it to cyclists?
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u/Icy-Computer-Poop 12h ago
Cops are infuriated by the idea that they might have to actually do their jobs.
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u/Purplebuzz 12h ago
When there is no bike lane the right lane is the bike lane. Not sure how that makes anything better for anyone?
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u/Appropriate-Regret-6 13h ago
Fucking TPS. Go do something useful like stopping violent crime and preventing car thefts. "It's hard to be a cop these days" yeah, I wonder why...
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u/Kindly-Condition-478 14h ago
Why are they removing them ?
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u/WeiGuy 14h ago
To get suburban voted and because people on bikes spend less on gas
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u/Kindly-Condition-478 14h ago
Well that seems wrong
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u/Kindly-Condition-478 14h ago
Toronto the weird
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u/NefCanuck 13h ago
Toronto isn’t doing this.
This is the Premier of Ontario who has this weird fixation on making things more difficult for the citizens of Toronto to please his voter base outside of Toronto.
It’s very much the sign of a msn with tunnel vision (and no I’m not referring to his fever dream of a tunnel under the 401)
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u/TTCBoy95 Steeles 13h ago
Hate to break this to you but unfortunately there's a pretty strong lobby in Toronto (outside downtown but with an M-postal code) for bike lane removals. We can blame the rest of Ontario all we want but guess who created Balance on Bloor? Someone from Etobicoke/Toronto. These people have lobbied their hardest to Doug Ford to have them removed.
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u/NefCanuck 13h ago
So it’s still Doug Ford interference on Toronto when the rich whiners in the former Etobicoke can’t get the city of Toronto to let them get wherever they want to go with their overweight SUVs a minute or two faster 🤦♂️
Those folks should have to pay to restore the bike lanes when the next provincial government comes in to reverse this mess
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u/TTCBoy95 Steeles 13h ago
Exactly. That's why I dislike Etobicoke (except those that protest) more than even Vaughan or Markham.
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u/count_dudeula 13h ago
It's not Toronto rebelling against the bike lanes
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u/TTCBoy95 Steeles 13h ago
I hate to break it to you but unfortunately, it technically is someone from Toronto rebelling against bike lanes. We all like to blame the rest of Ontario for all our problems and that's true. These people aren't going to help us at all. But do you know who lobbied Doug Ford as hard as possible to remove them? Some business in Etobicoke/Toronto. So if anything, the rich Toronto class decided to lobby for this.
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u/Drew_You_To_91 Vaughan 13h ago
The police have never and will never serve the people, only the rich and powerful. Embarrassing
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u/MaterialDefender1032 12h ago
The police reminding us they were established to hunt down slaves and protect businesses, not serve the public.
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u/BarcAlexander 12h ago
If the decision is already made and put into place why even keep protesting.
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u/Asleep-Illustrator99 Trinity-Bellwoods 14h ago
Why is our city budget being allocated to the municipal police when this is a provincial ordnance? DoFo should ship the OPP from surrounding areas to enforce this. It is ludicrous that our city is paying for police to arrest its own citizens who are advocating for the autonomy of the city and our democracy.
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u/RPS93 12h ago
So to preface this - I support the protesting.
But this is straight up illegal protesting. It being peaceful doesn't make any difference. If they are stopping lawful work from being done, then they are breaking the law and can absolutely be arrested for it.
Section 2(c) of our Charter outright states that you cannot physically impede or block lawful activities. See Guelph (city) v. Soltys (2009). There is already precedent here.
Again - while this is peaceful by definition, it is not lawful and the protestors absolutely can be arrested and it is 100% entirely their fault.
When you protest - make sure you know if you are in a LAWFUL protest or not, and be ready for the consequences.
Again, I FULLY SUPPORT the protesting - but people getting upset at people being arrested are just ignorant of how the law works.
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u/cmstlist 14h ago
The city needs to issue a blanket order barring all city funded staff and services from assisting the vandal contractors. INCLUDING our police.
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u/fabulishous 13h ago
So, if the police wanted to prevent these bike lanes from being removed, they could. They just won't because none of them actually live in toronto and they don't give a shit about its residents.
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14h ago
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u/toronto-ModTeam 13h ago
No shitposting or trolling.
Off-topic comments which detract from the conversation may be removed.
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u/maybecs0 13h ago
Any update on what's going on? About to head down but it will take me about 45 min to get there
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u/Fubar236 Downtown Core 13h ago
Pigs being pigs ….. then they cry people hate and don’t respect them… go figure
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u/Pretend_Tea6261 12h ago
And yet someone suffers a home invasion and the police show up hours later if at all.
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u/spanksthemonkey 11h ago
obviously the removal is "the will of the people." oh wait.. no, it's just a fat Conservative turd.
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u/admin_bait14 10h ago
Doesn't sound like Serving or Protecting the community it purports to represent, especially knowing that this Provincial overreach will lead to people dying as it has already with the removal of speed cameras. Fuck Doug Ford and the policies he enacts!
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u/Qaplalala 6h ago
Will drivers face arrest for not passing bikes and holding up every car behind them now that all lanes are bike lanes?
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u/lyidaValkris 14h ago
Oh you'll show up for that, TPS?