Grey County Council has asked the Ford Government to allow municipalities to make their own decisions in the wake of the province's move to ban automated speed traffic cameras.
Council approved a motion from Councillor Scott Greig objecting to the province's plan to put the brakes on speed cameras.
The province has suggested that other traffic-slowing measures are more effective. However, Greig called on provincial officials to visit Midwestern Ontario to understand why those ideas don't make sense in the region during the long, snowy winters.
"We will inform the Premier and the Premier's staff about what kind of obstacles that speed bumps and enhanced crosswalks provide in terms of the machinery and the mechanics in the snowy area that we have to look after for five, hopefully not six months, of the year," Greig added.
Greig also raised concerns that these decisions prevent municipalities from governing their own affairs.
"I would hope the premier would entertain a free vote at Queen's Park," he continued. "So that each legislator can represent their people and not have a whip vote where we've lost that ability now to have meaningful dialogue at Queen's Park. Let's have democracy, let's have a free vote."
The motion will be circulated to the Ministry of Transportation and the Premier. Grey County will also request local MPPs Brian Saunderson and Paul Vickers support the County’s position
Councillor Paul McQueen said he supports the cameras for school and pedestrian zones, but questions their usage in other areas.
He said he has been told the speed threshold on some of those cameras is set to issue tickets for just a few kilometres per hour over the limit. He added he knows of someone in a neighbouring municipality who ended up paying a large fine after going by a speed camera in the middle of the night while rushing to a medical emergency.
"The intention was there. I think there needs to be a rework on some of this stuff to maybe get more public support," he explained. "There are a lot of dynamics here that one size isn't fitting all. I think one of the things is the threshold."
He pointed out that police officers can use their own discretion when determining the need for a ticket.
