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Usually, when Ontario's Minister of Transportation, Stephen Del Duca, comes to town, you expect to hear news about a major transit project.
Today, though, the first day of Bike Month, the minister and his cabinet colleague, Eleanor McMahon, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, visited Toronto to announce that Ontario is funding more cycling infrastructure across the province. The ministers launched the new Ontario Municipal Commuter Cycling Program (OCCP), investing $50 million dollars this year from its "carbon market" to support the program.
According Minister Del Duca, the Ontario Municipal Cycling Program helps cities and towns to build more bike lanes and other cycling infrastructure, or enhance their current cycling infrastructure.
Municipalities with less than 15,000 people could receive as much as $25,000 this year, "on a first come, first serve basis", whether or not they already have bike lanes and other projects that enhance cycling. The program allocates even more money to larger municipalities by using a funding formula to determine the amount. Ideally, the municipal governments should have created a cycling plan to prioritize the projects that the funds will support, or they could also use the program funds to develop a plan.
Cities, towns, villages, townships, counties and regions can apply for funds from June 5 until August 18 this year, with the program continuing to flow funds every year until 2021.
The OCCP continues the provincial government's efforts to respond to its Climate Change Action Plan. One of the chief goals of that plan is to reduce greenhouse gases by encouraging commuters to seek alternatives to driving cars that emit carbon monoxide and other substances.
So, Minister Del Duca's cycling announcement is not so far off his usual beaten track, after all. Although the government is fond of saying it's made the biggest investment in transit infrastructure in Ontario's history -- which also helps it fight climate change – it's been investing in cycling, too.
In 2013, the government announced #CycleON: the Ontario Cycling Strategy to promote safe cycling and encourage more people to ride their bikes to work, school and recreation.
In 2015, it followed up on those efforts by establishing the Ontario Municipal Cycling Infrastructure Program. That two-year fund paid for 50 percent of eligible local project costs to a maximum of $325,000. It has helped 37 Ontario municipalities build new, or improve current, cycling infrastructure and improve cycling safety.The municipalities used those funds to install on-road cycling lanes, off-road cycling and walking paths, cycling-specific traffic signals and signs, active transportation bridges and bike racks.
The OMCC builds on that program and on Ontario’s Cycling Tourism Plan: Tour by Bike—which explains why Minister McMahon is involved. The tourism cycling plan encourages more visitors to bike around the province. Although a small segment of the total tourist market, cycling tourism is a growing sector in Ontario with 1.7 million cycling visits, accounting for 1.2per cent of total visits to Ontario. Cycling visitors spent $428 million, or 1.8 per cent of total visitor spending in Ontario.
Ontario's "carbon market" emerges from its "cap and trade" program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The cap limits how many tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution businesses and institutions can emit. The cap drops each year to encourage lower emissions.
Companies can trade (buy or sell) allowances. For example, if a company emits more greenhouse gas emissions than the cap permits, it could buy credits to comply. The Ontario government has predicted that cap and trade could generate as much as $1.9 billion per year in proceeds. Ontario will invest this into programs--such as OCCP--that reduce greenhouse gas pollution.
The government says that about 1.5 million people in Ontario hop on their bikes at least once a week during the spring, summer and fall, and many cycle year-round.
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