Education: 1) (Updated) Ford denies mayors’ request to tweak instead of scrap speed camera program; 2)Ontario school boards urge Ford to halt plan to scrap speed cameras

1) (Updated) Ford denies mayors’ request to tweak instead of scrap speed camera program

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Allison Jones, October 7, 2025

Ford denies mayors’ request to tweak instead of scrap speed camera program

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has denied a request from more than 20 mayors across the province to tweak instead of scrap the speed camera program, vowing to eliminate speeding through other measures.

The mayors, led by Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown and Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, say a total ban on automated speed cameras would reverse years of progress on safety in school zones and place more pressure on police.

But Ford says they are nothing more than a cash grab, criticizing the program his government put in place.

Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin was also among the mayors seeking a reversal by the premier.

He told the mayors in a letter Tuesday that from 2020 to 2024, the number of fines issued by speed cameras in Ontario grew by nearly nine times, with a total of more than $52 million.

“Clearly, if the point of speed cameras is to slow down drivers, they are failing miserably,” Ford wrote. “They’re cash grabs, pure and simple.”

The cities and towns that want to keep the cameras are “greedy,” Ford said, because if they actually wanted to deter speeders they would put in speed bumps and roundabouts on problematic roads.

“We know speed cameras do not work,” he said. “I have an idea that we’re putting forward. We’re going to put traffic-calming infrastructure (in), and that will bring it down to zero.”

Data from several municipalities that have analyzed the effect of the cameras on traffic speeds, as well as a study from the Hospital for Sick Children and Toronto Metropolitan University, show speeds are reduced.

Meed Ward said Ford’s move to scrap the program would mean that municipal and provincial taxpayers are funding the cost of road safety improvements, instead of the speeders themselves.

“I think it’s a reasonable ask to make speeders pay,” she said in an interview.

“I think it’s reasonable to give some relief to good drivers and law-abiding residents, not having to pay for traffic calming and most important, this will save lives. It will save the lives of our children. So, I am mystified why that is hard to get behind, but I will keep asking.”

The mayors suggested Ford could amend the program, for example ensuring that cameras are only in school zones, that they are only operational during school hours, and that he set a minimum speed that would trigger a fine.

“If you’re hit by a car at 30 kilometres (per hour), you have a 90 per cent chance of survival,” Meed Ward said.

“If you’re hit by one at 50 — and we know people go those speeds through school zones — your survivability drops to 20 per cent. Surely to goodness, the cost of a ticket for speeding, which is breaking the law, is not as important as the priceless life of a child.”

The mayors had also asked the provincial government to fully reimburse municipalities for lost speed camera revenues that were being used for traffic calming, staff severance costs and increases in municipal policing costs.

Ford said the province will indemnify municipalities for the termination of speed camera contracts, but appeared to shoot down Ontario footing any bills other than a fund the premier has already promised for the alternative traffic-calming measures.

“Regarding your request for funding to cover the cost of cancelling your municipal speed camera programs, I encourage you to instead cover these costs by insisting that the speed camera operators do so or by making use of the tens of millions of dollars that you have taken from hard-working people through these speed camera programs over the last several years,” Ford wrote.

2)Ontario school boards urge Ford to halt plan to scrap speed cameras

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Allison Jones, October 6, 2025

Ontario’s school boards are jointly urging the provincial government not to proceed with Premier Doug Ford’s plan to get rid of speed cameras.

A statement Monday from the province’s four publicly funded school board associations is just the latest in a series of groups supporting the automated enforcement tools, including municipalities, the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police and research from the Hospital for Sick Children.

“When it comes to protecting children in school safety zones, we must take every possible precaution,” reads a statement from the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, as well as Catholic and French organizations. 

“Slowing drivers down around schools reduces the risk of tragedy and keeps students and their families safer.”

Ford has announced that his government will introduce legislation this month to prohibit the use of speed cameras across the province.

The premier calls the cameras a “cash grab” and has criticized several parameters of the program his government put in place, including the locations of some cameras outside school zones and the threshold at which tickets are issued.

But the school boards are asking Ford to refine the program instead of scrapping it entirely, similar to calls last week from more than 20 mayors.

“We urge the province to work collaboratively with the people who know their communities well – local municipalities, local school boards, local law enforcement and local public health,” the school board associations wrote.

“Our children deserve the strongest protections we can provide.”

Ford believes traffic can be slowed down through alternate measures such as large signs with flashing lights, roundabouts and speed bumps.

A large amount of available data, however, does show that speed cameras slow traffic. A July study from SickKids and Toronto Metropolitan University found the cameras reduced speeding by 45 per cent in Toronto, and analyses from several other municipalities that use the cameras also show reduced speeds.