TheToronto Environmental Alliance(T.E.A.) is hosting a mayoral candidates debate on environmental issues this Wednesday October 15th at 7:00 - 9:00 pm. The debate will be held at the Great Hall at 1087 Queen Street at Queen and Dovercourt. One of the issues that may come up is the support of the candidates for the Toronto Bike Plan.

T.E.A. has kept a watch on the performance of Toronto City Council on environmental issues including the implementation of The Toronto Bike Plan. The most recent of their activities includes their 6th annual Smog Report Card T.E.A. Smog Report Card 2003(PDF). One of the sections in this report card include a rating on Council's performance on implementing the Toronto Bike Plan. Last year, 2002, they gave Council an 'A'(see previous article). This year the grade was dropped to a 'D'. The reasons are quoted below.

WHAT WAS ACTUALLY DONE IN 2003

The Bikeway Network was modestly expanded in 2002, with 8 km of new bike lanes and 5 km of new and reconstructed trails. The Bikeway Network currently has 50 km of bike lanes and 135 km of trails with 18 km of new bike lanes and 7 km of new and reconstructed trails planned for 2003.

The implementation of the Bike Plan is in jeopardy, however, for the 2003 Bike Plan budget of $1,547,000 is only 53% of the 2002 budget, and far below the $4 to $5 million per year necessary to fully implement the 10 year plan.

T.E.A. is helping out on this score too by pointing out the positions of candidates on some important environmental issues. TEA Releases City Council Candidates' Grades They have compiled the environmental voting records of incumbent councillors. Some of the votes covered in their list include important votes for implementation of the Bike Plan. You can see these here: Voting Records. They have also done a candidate survey. While this survey does not have questions specifically related to the Bike Plan you can get a good idea of the candidates inclination on the issues. TEA candidate survey(PDF)

The debate this Wednesday will include an opportunity for some questions from the audience. If you want to make sure cycling issues get covered you can attend and try to get some questions on cycling issues included.