Welcome to Canada Bikes’ Fall Newsletter! This one is chock full of exciting updates for people who love to ride bicycles in Canada….
National Cycling Strategy
Momentum on a National Cycling Strategy for Canada is growing. We were proud to support Hon. Minister Catherine McKenna when she called for a National Cycling Strategy on the steps of Parliament Hill on Bike Day in Canada with MPs from all parties. We were also honoured to attend and speak at the announcement of a private member’s bill calling for a National Cycling Strategy by Gord Johns MP for Courtenay-Alberni.
Bike paths, everywhere.
When the Government of Canada invests in cycling and walking infrastructure, we all win. We are thrilled to share this national cycling and walking infrastructure fund proposal. We are excited by the collaboration with the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Canadian Automobile Association, Velo Quebec, the Canadian Lung Association, Share the Road, Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Independent Bicycle Retailers Association (CIBRA) and the British Columbia Cycling Coalition (BCCC) and we know it has the full support of many many others! We will be working closely with members of the government to offer helpful advice on the best way to make it happen. Along with millions of Canadians, we were pleased to see the word “bicycle” appearing in conjunction with a big increase in infrastructure spending in the Fall Economic update and we look forward to the future. If you want to get involved, remember it always helps to contact your local politician or federal MP to talk about cycling infrastructure projects you’d love to see near you.
Canada Bikes, lately.
Coast to coast, we are growing our reach. We were in Vancouver last month for Pro Walk Pro Bike and found time to visit CIBRA’s fall conference in Toronto. We added five talented new faces to our board at our AGM in October. A big welcome Cornelia Dinca, Yvonne Bambrick, Cheryl Trepannier, Christina Vietinghoff and Karly Coleman, each of whom bring incredible amounts of expertise and energy. Lastly, we want to welcome and thank the new organizations who have joined us recently including Cycle Toronto, Bike Brampton, Citizens for Safe Cycling (Ottawa) and Bicycle Nova Scotia. Learn more about Canada Bikes here.
In Case You Missed it (Important Developments Across Canada and Around the World).
Transport Minister Hon. Marc Garneau announced a task force on pedestrian and cycling safety. There was a unanimous vote in Edmonton to fast track a downtown protected bike lane network. Now Winnipeg wants one too. Better infrastructure can’t come too soon to help address gender imbalance on the roads of Canadian cities and equity issues in transportation everywhere. Speaking of important research, don’t miss this big report from Velo Quebec or the TCAT study that found that 1.3 of the trips (4 million) in the GTA could easily be made by bike. Montreal will host the 5th international Winter Cycling Congress Feb 8-10. Velo Quebec has also called on all school boards to adopt an Active Transportation Charter. Finally, since many European countries already have national cycling strategies of their own, our friends over at the European Cycling Federation (ECF) are taking the next logical step and working on a pan-European cycling strategy. We are watching closely.
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Remember, you can help make Canada a bike friendly country.
Become a member, donate or contact us to find out about other ways you can help.
Sincerely,
Anders Swanson
Chair
On behalf of the board of Canada Bikes
