Toronto woke up to chaos Tuesday morning after 16 automatic speed cameras were vandalized in a single night, reigniting tensions between Mayor Olivia Chow and Premier Doug Ford over the controversial program. Nearly 50 cameras have been damaged since last November, but this was by far the most widespread attack.
Ford, who has long derided the cameras as “a tax grab,” doubled down on his opposition, going so far as to threaten to pull the plug himself if the city doesn’t. “Get rid of the speed cameras or I’m going to do it for you,” the premier warned, praising Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca for suspending his city’s program earlier this year after resident backlash.
Chow responded with a firm defence of the devices, framing them as life-saving tools. “Think about a kid that won’t come home today at four o’clock because they got hit by a car,” she said at a press conference. Citing a SickKids study, she noted the cameras cut speeding by 45 per cent and significantly reduce the most dangerous cases, where survival odds plummet if a pedestrian is hit at higher speeds.
Toronto’s speed camera program began with a 2018 pilot but only started issuing tickets in 2020. Since then, 150 cameras have been deployed across the city, rotated through more than 600 locations. While most devices have operated without major incident, vandalism has grown in frequency and intensity. The Parkside Drive camera has become the most infamous target, cut down seven times since last fall, while other hotspots like Avenue Road and Leslie Street have seen repeated damage.
Toronto Police released grainy surveillance stills of two suspects cutting down the Parkside camera during Monday night’s spree but offered no updates on arrests. They are now exploring additional measures, including installing security cameras to protect the existing network.
Despite the backlash, the program remains popular with road safety advocates, who point to staggering ticket numbers as proof of its impact. The Parkside Drive camera alone has issued nearly 70,000 tickets since April 2022, far outpacing any other location in the city.
For now, Ford and Chow appear headed for a showdown over whether Toronto’s roads will remain monitored by automated enforcement — or whether Ontario’s premier will make good on his threat to pull the plug.