海角社区官网

Well, the legislation that made speed cameras possible聽聽(who鈥檚 now the mayor of Vaughan and is banning them locally). But the regulations that actually enable them were passed in 2019 鈥� under Ford. And both he and Del Duca were acting by request of then-海角社区官网mayor John Tory, who once led the provincial party that Ford leads now.

Then there鈥檚 Brampton mayor Patrick Brown, out there in the heart of Ford Nation. He also led the Progressive Conservatives once, and he recently told Momin Qureshi of 680 News that during his time in office, Brampton has tried various traffic interventions, including road signs and speedbumps.

鈥淣othing has been as effective, not even close, as speed cameras,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淲herever we鈥檝e placed the cameras 鈥� we鈥檝e seen a dramatic reduction in speeding.鈥� What鈥檚 more, he says, these things are actually popular: 鈥淔or every complaint I get about a speed camera, I probably get 10 more asking for a speed camera in their neighbourhood.鈥� (And Brown has the data to back that up:聽.)

Ford, a former 海角社区官网councillor, and his late brother Rob, another former mayor, than Councillor Frances Nunziata. What does she have to say? As she put it in a council meeting this summer: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 even know why we鈥檙e debating this.鈥� Nunziata added that she鈥檚 constantly asking the city for more speed cameras in her ward because 鈥淚鈥檓 getting requests from all my constituents.鈥�

These are conservative voices representing areas where Ford鈥檚 party won in the 2025 provincial election. And what else has Ford himself said about the cameras? That 鈥渁ll municipalities are collecting hundreds of millions of dollars, (but) I don鈥檛 believe that slows (motorists) down.鈥� In other words, he doesn鈥檛 believe they work.

Here鈥檚 the thing: they do work.

罢丑别听Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police says they work. A big study by聽海角社区官网Metropolitan University and the Hospital for Sick Children says they work. An overwhelming consensus of research 聽shows they work.

Ford鈥檚 idea that speed cameras are some kind of unjustified car tax is nonsense, too. These are fines, levied against drivers who break the law. They are specifically meant to serve as a deterrent, although they also serve as a punishment. Anyone who wants to avoid paying this so-called tax can easily do so. The trick is to obey the law.

Scratch any part of Ford鈥檚 talk about this issue, and you鈥檒l find beneath the surface indignation a huge pile of what former Ontario MPP Peter Kormos used to call 鈥渂ullspit.鈥� Granted, that鈥檚 nothing new:聽as I鈥檝e written before, Ford is a natural-born BS artist.

Moreover, words tend to travel from his gut to his mouth without first consulting his brain. This usually serves him okay: his gut may not always align with reality, but it鈥檚 a reliable indicator of how his voters feel. In this case, though, I鈥檓 not so sure that鈥檚 true. Speed cameras enjoy聽broad public support, as seen in opinion polls聽and in commentary from institutions and politicians alike. Who鈥檚 actually crying out to ban them?

It鈥檚 not unusual for Ford to blatantly disregard evidence in making decisions. But usually when he does that, you can at least see the political sense in it. Here, we have a policy that saves lives, that鈥檚 popular even among Ford鈥檚 ideological allies, that the police brass supports. And it was his own policy in the first place.

The only people who have publicly opposed speed cameras in a concerted way are the anonymous criminals who keep cutting them down. The absurd wave of widespread and repeated vandalism they鈥檝e perpetrated has made a laughing stock of our police department, and it also appears to have provided Ford with an occasion to reconsider this whole topic.

If you can鈥檛 catch 鈥檈m, join 鈥檈m,聽I guess. It鈥檚 as sensible an explanation for Ford鈥檚 anti-camera crusade as any.