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The Ontario Court of Appeal hasn’t just overturned the ridiculous court ruling claiming a Charter right to bike lanes, it has excoriated the judge and the ruling.

In a unanimous decision published Friday, the three judges of the appeal court have stated clearly that there is no Charter right to have bike lanes in Toronto .

The case goes back to November 2024 when the Ford government passed the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act . Part of that legislation called for removing bike lanes from specific parts of Toronto’s roads, including Bloor St., Yonge St., and University Ave.

These were all bike lanes that increased congestion, were in the wrong place, and caused problems for traffic — removing them was the right move.

Yet, cycling activists rallied to challenge the law in court, and lucky for them they found an activist judge in the form of former Toronto Star lawyer Justice Paul Schabas, who gave them the political ruling they wanted. In fact, the ruling by Schabas, issued July 30, 2025, was so blatantly political that he ruled on issues not raised before the court to declare that legislation removing bike lanes would violate the Charter and be unconstitutional.

No Charter right

Thankfully, Justices Fairburn, Huscroft, and Zarnett have a better understanding of the law and how our system works — they weren’t having any of Schabas’ ruling.

“There is no Charter right to bicycle lanes — neither specifically nor as inference from any of the rights specifically enumerated in the Charter,” Justice Huscroft wrote in the unanimous decision.

They also rejected Schabas’ claims that removing the bike lanes violated the principles of fundamental justice, was arbitrary and disproportionate. In fact, the appeals court ruling systematically dismantles the very weak and highly political ruling issued by Schabas.

Stay out of policy

The ruling chastises Schabas for engaging in what amounts to politics and attempting to engage in public policy making.

“The temptation to do so may be great; judges may suppose that they have much to offer to public policy debate. But the temptation must be resisted,” Huscroft writes.

“It is not just that courts have no expertise in policy making — no expertise in making the sorts of polycentric decisions that legislatures make routinely. It is illegitimate for courts to involve themselves in matters of legislative policy. Policy is for politics. Whether courts think legislation is wise or unwise, is irrelevant so far as its constitutionality is concerned, and constitutionality is the only question with which courts are legitimately concerned.”

The decision goes further.

“Lest there be any doubt: in formulating policy or legislating, neither the government nor the legislature is under any obligation to accept policy advice, whether from bureaucrats, experts, or members of the public. The choices they make are the stuff of politics. We are governed by those whom we elect and they are accountable to the people for the choices they make, not to the courts,” the decision reads.

There is a tendency among some judges to believe that they know better than elected legislatures, and in some cases they very well might know better, but that is not the point. We elect politicians to make policy, and under our system that is their role. Judges are there to interpret the law, to safeguard the Constitution and Charter rights, but that does not mean second-guessing policy decisions that belong to elected bodies.

Time to rip ’em out

The decision last year by Schabas was an abomination. It brought the system of justice into disrepute, it attempted to usurp the role of the legislature and hand it to the courts, and, as the appeals court noted, it would have made any question in Ontario around traffic management a constitutional question.

The Court of Appeal did the right thing in striking this down in spectacular fashion.

Now, it’s time for the Ford government to start removing those bike lanes.

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