Kitchener’s mayor supports Doug Ford’s plan to ban speed cameras in Ontario

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Local leaders react to Ford’s speed camera ban

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The province said new legislation will be introduced next month banning municipal speed cameras across Ontario, with Premier Doug Ford calling the automated devices nothing more than a “cash grab.”

“Enough is enough,” he said at a press conference Thursday in Vaughan. “Instead of making life more expensive by sending speeding tickets to drivers weeks after the fact, we’re supporting road-safety measures that will prevent speeding in the first place, keep costs down and keep our streets safe.”

If passed, the new law would require the removal of more than 700 speed cameras in 40 municipalities across the province. The Ford government would also require all municipalities to install large warning signs by mid-November, with permanent flashing signage by fall 2026.

Instead of speed cameras, Ford said a new provincial fund would help municipalities implement alternative safety measures, including proactive traffic-calming initiatives like speed bumps, roundabouts, raised crosswalks and curb extensions, as well as improved signage.

Ford pursued the issue in earnest after more than a dozen speed cameras in Toronto were damaged or cut down earlier this month.

The city’s mayor spoke to reporters moments after Thursday’s announcement.

“I think this is the wrong decision,” Olivia Chow said. “It signals to people that the provincial government is okay with speeding. It will mean our roads are less safe. Instead of using money from speeders breaking the law, the province wants you, the law-abiding citizens... to pay for road safety... I do not believe that is fair if you follow the rules.”

Ford’s decision was a complete reversal of a 2019 law, implemented by his own government, that permitted them in the first place.

“Today Premier Ford outlawed speed cameras. Fine,” Cam Guthrie, mayor for the City of Guelph, wrote in a social media post. “Cities only implemented them because it was his government that allowed them AND promoted them in the first place. If he wants them gone, so be it.”

He added: “Is the same safety can be achieved in new ways, then we’ll do that, and let’s hope the province pays.”

Kitchener’s mayor supports new law

Berry Vrbanovic, mayor for the City of Kitchener, was also at the press conference and backed the premier’s position on speed cameras.

“The residents we hear from also believe having safe communities and safe roadways is a major priority,” he told reporters. “People want traffic calming. People want infrastructure improvements… People want speed enforcement but prefer it from a real live officer.”

Residents, he continued, did not want automated speed cameras.

“They were just getting angry, losing their faith in government and having dollars taken from their pocketbooks.”

Instead of speed cameras, the mayor touted the city’s Vision Zero strategy.

“We’re using citywide data to understand where the greatest risks exist and understanding them through traffic calming, road reconstruction and other measures like those being proposed today. It’s making a real difference,” Vrbanovic insisted.

The mayor also said it was the reason Kitchener council decided not to participate in the Region of Waterloo’s plan to add automated speed cameras on city-owned roads.

“We believe that our Vision Zero initiative, built on a foundation of changing behavior to road design and not punitive measures, has been the best tool to balance safety and affordability for our community,” Vrbanovic said.

Speed cameras in Waterloo Region

On Wednesday, the day before Ford’s announcement, five new speed cameras went into operation in the Region of Waterloo.

Six more were set to be installed over the following two weeks, bringing the total to 28.

The Region of Waterloo said, as there had been no formal directive from the province at that point, they would continue with the program.

“Municipal speed cameras remain one of the tools in our toolbox that the region, and our area municipal partners, use to protect children and other vulnerable road users in school zones,” they said in a statement to CTV News on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Region of Waterloo said should provincial legislation change, the region would assess the impacts at that time.

Waterloo’s mayor reacts

Waterloo’s Mayor Dorothy McCabe called the premier’s decision disappointing.

“It really is populist politics trumping good public policy and the safety of our kids,” she said.

Municipalities that have speed cameras in school zones right now will have to instead install large new signs meant to slow down drivers.

McCabe said she doesn’t think it will be as effective as speed cameras.

“We’ve tried these methods before across our communities and the have proven not to change behaviour of people,” she said.

Program results

The Region of Waterloo expanded its Municipal Speed Camera Program earlier this year.

They said data collected over the first six months showed there were over two million speeding incidents between Feb. 3 and July 31 and a total of 55,899 traffic tickets issued since the start of the program. The median cost of those tickets was $108.25, with 73 per cent of them paid out in full.

The region touted the results they collected, suggesting that, on average, drivers were slowing down in school zones. They said 57 per cent pumped the breaks and adhered to the speed limit, increasing to almost 90 per cent in some school zones.

- With reporting by Heather Senoran and Shelby Knox