Several parent groups against a looming speed camera ban in Ontario are holding a provincial day of action on Monday as MPPs return to Queen's Park for the beginning of a new legislative session.
Premier Doug Ford announced earlier this month his Progressive Conservative government will table a bill to ban speed cameras.
The announcement comes after a war against the technology by the premier, who has called speed cameras a "cash grab" for municipalities and said they weren't necessary with things like speed bumps, roundabouts and flashing lights on roadways to slow drivers down.
Parent groups in Toronto, Vaughan, Midland, Kitchener-Waterloo and Ottawa are holding demonstration events Monday morning, while another group held a protest in Toronto's east end on Saturday.
Tom DeVito, who lives in the Toronto's Junction neighbourhood with his wife, Danielle, and three-year-old daughter, Goldie, is one of the organizers of a rally in his neighbourhood. He called the prospective bill to ban the cameras a "horrible piece of legislation" and said he was outraged when he learned the province was looking to ban them.
"When an announcement comes out of the blue that a very effective tool that's used to control very dangerous driving behaviour near schools is going to be dismantled it kind of shocked me to my core," he said.
That feeling travelled through his community, which he describes as a "child superhighway," with children frequently walking and biking to and from home, school and other activities in all directions.
As the father of a toddler, DeVito's biggest fear is unsafe roads. He knows firsthand how rambunctious young children can be and can see their lack of situational awareness at times. It also doesn't help that car crashes are one of the leading cause of death in children in Canada.
He says it doesn't make sense to take away something that is proven to keep children safe.
"Roundabouts, speed bumps, all of those things are great. It does not justify taking another tool, effective tool out of your tool kit. You still need a screwdriver, and that's what speed safety cameras are," he said.
"This would be like a carpenter saying, I don't need a screwdriver because I'm updating and improving the hammer that I own."
Parents aren't the only groups asking Ford to reconsider the ban. Mayors from more than 20 municipalities, including Innisil, as well as school boards, have asked the premier to refine the program instead of scrapping it altogether, saying the technology protects children.
At a meeting last month, Barrie City Council directed staff to begin phasing out the speed camera program.
Existing cameras remain active in community safety zones, and the city will announce an end date for the program once provincial legislation has passed. The city says all funds from the speed camera program are used to fund road safety and traffic calming initiatives.
Speed cameras went live in Barrie in December 2023.
Barrie has 27 community safety zones. According to the city's website, community safety zones were identified for the speed camera program based on data collected that shows areas where drivers regularly go over the posted speed limit.
City staff said in a report to council in May that the initial data analysis indicates that ASE cameras are functioning as intended to reduce vehicle speeds through areas where vulnerable road users are present.
Revenue collected from the speed cameras since the launch is $1,246,684, according to May 2025 data from the city, and operating costs are $711,000, which means a surplus of $535,684.
The city is exploring other traffic calming measures, such as red light cameras. Red light cameras capture images of vehicles entering an intersection after the traffic signal has turned red.
In 2016, the City studied three busy intersections and found that there were about three red light infractions per day at those intersections. A more recent study now shows between two and seven red light infractions per hour at the city’s busiest intersections. The City is currently collecting data to determine which intersections are best suited for this technology, and where it can have the greatest impact on safety. Staff will report back to City Council before a red light camera program is implemented
Data from several municipalities that have analyzed the effect of the cameras on traffic speeds have shown speeds are reduced. A study from the Hospital for Sick Children and Toronto Metropolitan University also found the cameras reduced speeding by 45 per cent in Toronto.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2025.
Files from Barrie 360
