Ford vows to scrap speed cameras, Windsor councillor uncertain about city’s plans

Premier Doug Ford is calling for automated speed cameras to be gone. How will this impact Windsor? CTV Windsor’s Chris Campbell finds out.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says municipalities should get rid of automated speed cameras, or he’ll do it himself, leaving Windsor officials uncertain about the future of their own program.

Ford calls the cameras nothing more than a cash grab and says if cities want to slow traffic near schools, they should put up flashing lights and bigger signs instead.

The premier’s remarks come as Toronto deals with a string of vandalism incidents targeting its cameras. Toronto introduced them after legislative changes in 2017, and the city has since expanded the program to 75 cameras, with another 75 planned this year.

In Windsor, council had already voted to move forward with automated speed cameras, alongside an expansion of red light cameras. Ward 4 councillor Mark McKenzie says Ford’s comments raise questions about whether the city can continue with its plans.

“We pushed forward at committee, we pushed for it at council, and it all passed,” McKenzie said in an interview on AM800. “But now with this announcement from the Premier, I’m not sure where it’s going to sit. I read that and was like, oh no, where does that put us now?”

McKenzie says he supports red light and speed cameras as safety tools, not revenue generators.

“We’re going to be reasonable. We’re not going to set it at one or two over the speed limit to try to use this as a cash grab, because we don’t want to use it as a cash grab,” he said. “We just want to make our neighborhoods safer.”

But McKenzie admits Windsor’s existing red light cameras have not curbed bad behaviour.

“It shows people are still going through red lights. They don’t even care that the red light cameras are there. I know people who’ve gotten three or four tickets,” he said.

The Ford government says it will remove automatic speed enforcement cameras this fall if municipalities do not take steps to scrap them. McKenzie says he hopes Windsor’s administration will provide an update at the next city council meeting.