Northumberland County Council Deferred Decision on Automated Speed Enforcement Program

Pete Fisher
3 weeks ago
• Categories: City Hall, Local

At Northumberland County council’s regular meeting Sept. 15, Director of Public Works Denise Marshall said there were a number of options to implement an Automated Speed Enforcement program for cameras to be installed in safety zones on county roads.

Council took a pause with the expectation of news from the province. It came late last week as the Ontario government announced its intention to introduce legislation in October “that will ban the use of municipal automated speed enforcement cameras across the province, ensuring they are no longer used as a form of revenue.”

Brighton is the only Northumberland municipality to implement an ASE program on its roads. Watch a video interview Today’s Northumberland conducted with County Warden and Brighton Mayor Brian Ostrander that was posted Sunday: https://todaysnorthumberland.ca/2025/09/28/video-brighton-mayor-says-province-ditching-speed-cameras-is-insulting/

Deputy Warden Olena Hankivsky, the mayor of Port Hope, asked Ostrander if other alternatives were considered in Brighton and wondered the reasons why Brighton moved forward the way it did, including purchasing their own cameras.

Ostrander said it gave the municipality more control over the process.

“Right now our fines are being processed through our bylaw enforcement department with the assistance of an outside corporation, but the corporation does not get any of your personal details if you were to go too fast down Elizabeth Street, as an example,” Ostrander said, adding “our cameras were paid for probably within four hours.”

Cobourg Mayor Lucas Cleveland said Cobourg officials have been discussing cameras as well, but noted he was expecting legislation from the province.

Cleveland mused about the reason for cameras to be installed.

“A lot of people will say for safety and I mean who can argue about safety, but then we look at why are municipalities tackling quote-unquote safety with speed cameras when we spend millions and millions of dollars already in tax revenue to pay for police – OPP, Cobourg Police, Port Hope Police – whose mandated responsibility through tens of millions of dollars in our tax dollars are for the safety and security of our communities,” Cleveland said.

“If this is truly a safety concern would we not be leaning on the police, who already are funded with millions of dollars, to execute it? I’m left feeling that opportunities like this, as we’ve heard, are very revenue positive. We can pay for these cameras in less than a few hours.”

Cleveland said tax dollars are paying for those cameras, which means the residents are on top of municipal, provincial and federal tax bills.

“I guess my concern is here we are using municipal dollars to quote-unquote create safety on our roads, again we’re looking at streamlining as organizations, we’re looking at not overlap and we’re looking at ensuring we stay within our lanes and I guess for me an upper-tier government getting involved in this, from my perspective, seems to be more of a revenue source and a revenue stream than a safety concern and so for that reason I don’t support this,” Cleveland remarked.

“I don’t support the move to speed cameras in the County and I think should lower-tier municipalities such as Brighton choose to engage and further tax their residents…by all means and no judgement passed,” he continued. “That’s their community, their elected leaders and I support that, but from a county-wide perspective, I’m adamantly against the use of speed cameras on County roads. If the OPP has any concerns, I’d love to hear from them. Otherwise, I see this as simply a revenue generation and for that reason I cannot support.”

Hankivsky said she has heard increasing concern of speeding from rural residents in Port Hope on certain roads where there are morning pickups of school children on buses.

“It is a real serious safety concern that’s not mitigated by signage or anything else and it’s something that has been brought forward, at least to me personally by concerned parents,” she said.

Ostrander pointed out that cameras could only be placed in designated community safety zones whether it’s on County roads or any of the roads controlled by the lower-tier municipalities.

“The logical community safety zone in Brighton was the one that has two schools, a seniors care home and our largest municipal park, which often has young families in it,” he said. “On the day we activated those cameras, we fined 300 people on Elizabeth Street that day. Last Friday we fined 73 so these speed cameras slow people down and it is precisely the reason we put it in place. It is not a cash grab. We are getting revenue, there’s no doubt about that…but if you don’t speed, you don’t pay so going the speed limit means no cash grab and it really is that simple.”

The same would be cameras installed in safety zones on County roads, the warden noted.

“The OPP are supportive of these speed cameras,” he added. “It helps them reallocate staff to other zones as they know that speed cameras will slow people down in the area of concern.”

Hankivsky reasoned that safety and revenue generation can both be achieved without being pitted against each other.

Trent Hills Mayor Bob Crate said he agreed with Ostrander.

“It’s not a cash grab. If you don’t speed, it doesn’t cost you a penny. I take umbrage with the premier getting involved in this and saying that it’s a cash grab. We have serious problems with speeding in my community and I think every community,” Crate said.

“We have to have some means. The OPP cannot sit 24 hours a day at every community safety zone to ensure that the people are safe. I voiced my concern last weekend when I happened to be in the same room as our MPP (David Piccini) and I just think that we have to step up and say we have to look after our constituents and this is one way to do it. I would be so happy to have a speed camera and not issue a ticket. It would mean everybody is obeying the law.”

Hamilton Township Mayor Scott Jibb said he would be in support of cameras, but suggested taking a wait-and-see approach first to see what the province does.

Alnwick/Haldimand Township Mayor John Logel said he agreed with waiting on a provincial decision but also stressed that speeding is a big issue.

Logel added there’s other areas of concern such as in front of recreational facilities. He has one in Grafton but can’t designate it a community safety zone, noting his municipality doesn’t have control of the road (County Road 2).

“So I think we should also be considering that in this as well,” Logel said.

Hankivsky said she was supportive of Logel’s comments as well due to tragic incidents that have occurred in Port Hope at intersections around school bus pickups and dropoffs.

“Maybe that’s something that also staff can be looking at is whether or not there’s other areas of high-risk and vulnerability that could be also contemplated,” she said.

Agreeing to wait for a provincial decision, County council passed a motion Sept. 15 directing staff to continue to investigate options for the implementation of an Automated Speed Enforcement program and to bring a report to a future committee/council meeting.