On Sunday, the 18th annual Becel Ride for Heart fundraiser was held in Toronto. approximately 12,000 showed up to ride bicycles or rollerblade and raised $1.65 million for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
The Sunday ride took place on the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway, Toronto’s major north/south and east/west roads respectively. The charitable event necessitated both expressways to be closed from 3 a.m. until mid-afternoon. Even though the ride took place on a Sunday, the closures of the two major expressways clogged other arterial roads throughout the city including the downtown core.
Many drivers, interviewed while sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, said that they didn’t mind being caught in traffic because it was for a good cause. There were a minority that did complain, most notably two members of Toronto City Council. Both Councillors Rob Ford and Denzil Minnan-Wong criticized the closing of the expressways. Minnan-Wong, whose ward borders the Don Valley Parkway said that many of his constituents understand that the DVP must, out of necessity, be closed on occasion to do repairs and construction, but were fed up with unnecessary closures and the resulting traffic chaos.
allowing both the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway to close to raise money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation is a good illustration of how this city council works and how they think. It is hard to criticize a municipal government or anyone else for allowing a legitimate charity such as the Heart and Stroke Foundation to raise over $1.5 million in a single. But allowing the ride helped Toronto City Council go forward with its anti-car and anti-business agenda. It didn’t seem to matter that by closing the expressways and forcing cars onto smaller roads in stop and go traffic would increase pollution on a hot and humid day. added to the traffic chaos were those that who would normally cycle, jog or stay home on a Sunday morning were now attaching bicycles to their cars and SUV’s and driving to the ride’s starting points. The fact that businesses would suffer because people who normally would be out shopping decided to stay home played no part in the decision to allow the ride to be held on the Don Valley and the Gardiner.
The road closures were bound to have an adverse affect on tourism. Weekends, especially summer weekends are prime times for tourists to visit Toronto. Unlike those who live in the GTa, they would have no advance knowledge of the fact that the expressways that lead to the downtown core were going to close. Even if tourists never went anywhere near the closed roads, they could easily get caught in the resulting traffic jams that would make them come to see Toronto as a less desirable place to visit. Then again, if Toronto City Council actually cared about what visitors to the city thought, they would ensure that people would not be living and sleeping on those downtown streets that tourists frequent. allowing the closures of the DVP and the Gardiner for the Heart and Stroke Foundation is consistent with the views of Toronto’s leftist city council. To complain, as Minnan-Wong and Ford did, seems almost like a complete waste of time.
If the municipal politicians had the political will, they could find a way to facilitate the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s ability to raise money for their good work without causing the traffic chaos that was caused by closing the expressways. But this will is lacking; after all, it’s too much trouble to try to minimize the disruption to the city that the Becel Ride caused.
and if people are upset about the traffic congestion last Sunday, they have only themselves to blame. Mayor David Miller and his leftwing cohorts have always been up front about what they consider their priorities, and drivers, tourism and businesses have never been anywhere near the top of the list.
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