Premier Doug Ford has flatly rejected Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown’s request to reconsider his government’s upcoming ban on automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras, doubling down on his promise to eliminate the program despite widespread opposition from municipalities and education groups.
“The answer is no. Our government is banning this municipal cash grab once and for all,” Ford wrote in a letter to Brown and Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, which he posted on X. His response came after 20 Ontario mayors, including Mississauga’s Carolyn Parrish and Hamilton’s Andrea Horwath, signed a joint letter urging him to compromise on the ban.
The mayors’ October 2 letter proposed several changes to make ASE programs more palatable to the province, including raising speed thresholds for tickets, restricting camera operation times, issuing warnings for first offences, increasing signage visibility, and imposing a seven-day blackout period on fines after the first infraction. They argued that these adjustments would allow municipalities to maintain speed cameras in school zones while addressing provincial concerns.
The pushback extended beyond city halls. Ontario’s four major school board and trustee associations joined the mayors, citing research from SickKids Hospital and Toronto Metropolitan University showing ASE programs reduced speeding in school zones by nearly 45%, with significant drops in dangerous high-end speeds. “Speed is the single most important factor in whether a child survives a collision,” pediatric specialists stated in a joint release, warning that eliminating cameras would remove one of the most effective tools for protecting students and families.
Brampton has invested tens of millions of dollars in ASE technology, installing 185 cameras and establishing a ticket processing centre. Council unanimously passed a motion on October 1 outlining compromise proposals and asking the province to refund municipal investments if the ban goes ahead. Ford rejected that request as well, saying municipalities should use revenue collected from the cameras to cover cancellation costs or seek compensation from operators.
“Regarding your request for funding to cover the cost of cancelling your municipal camera programs, I encourage you to instead cover these costs by insisting that 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.
The premier reiterated his plan to replace photo radar with alternative traffic-calming measures such as signage and speed bumps, which he argues are more effective. Municipal leaders, meanwhile, maintain that ASE cameras are proven to change driver behavior and reduce speeding near schools, and they continue to push for the province to reconsider before the ban takes effect later this month.