September 2025
There’s an old proverb: “Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile.” Premier Doug Ford has announced his government will ban photo radar on municipal roads by next month. This is a reversal of his government’s 2019 legislation permitting their use, citing an “out of control” program.
It seems that most, if not all, of our cash-strapped municipalities have been getting a little greedy lately. In some ways, I can sympathize, as municipalities have to provide more and more services that used to be provided and funded by other levels of government, with property taxes and user fees being the primary way to fund those expenses.
An underlying issue with the automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras is a growing distrust in governments. More and more, people see governments doing things in their own best interests, with the general public relegated to an afterthought. Governments across the country have been wasting our hard earned tax dollars for their own benefit, while leaving the rest of us to stretch our paycheques further and further, with around 50% being $200 or less away from not being able to pay their monthly bills. We’re well beyond a $16 glass of orange juice being a big deal and people are tired of being treated like chumps.
There are many, many examples of government waste. How does it make sense that Governor General Mary Simon expensed $71,000 in limo fees during her four-day Iceland trip in 2022? Besides being within walking distance to most of the venues she had to attend, it would have been cheaper to buy a car and then abandon it at the airport when she left Iceland. There’s also the catering bill aboard her government aircraft for her trip to Dubai, but we’ll be here a while if I list all her outrageous expenses. The average Canadian earns less each year working a full-time job than some typical government expenses like these ones.
Some will argue that if you don’t want to get a ticket, don’t speed. I’d argue that it’s not quite that simple. Putting ASE cameras in school zones makes sense, but ASE in areas with unnecessarily slow speeds, or on a down-slope, make people angry. In reality, unless you have the cruise control on, your speed can very easily fluctuate without you intending to go over the speed limit.
Municipal governments have been arguing that the money generated from the speed cameras goes into other traffic enforcement initiatives, like speed bumps, pedestrian crossing lights and curb extensions. Frankly, many people believe most, if not all, the money actually goes into general revenues to fund pet projects and to pay for the increasingly outrageous expenses claimed by elected officials and civil servants (trips to Italy to buy art work).
Now, I will admit that I’m not to happy to hear that Premier Ford announced that his government will instead establish a fund to help cities implement alternative safety measures like speed bumps and raised crosswalks in areas that previously used by ASE cameras. Unless Ford is planning on massive cuts to provincial spending, something that won’t be happening anytime soon, funding for this replacement initiative will require more and more government debt.
Also read: Municipal speed cameras are a cash grab – Canadian Military History.
Sources: $71K in limo service for Governor General’s 2022 four-day Iceland trip | National Post, Governor General, guests rack up $100K in-flight catering bill during Dubai trip | National Post, Ford photo radar ban to pull plug on Hamilton speed cameras.
