Naming the cabinet ministers whose vehicles were clocked by cameras breaking the speed limit would violate their personal privacy and reveal ministerial “travel habits,” the Ford government is arguing.
Freedom of information documents obtained by Global News in October revealed vehicles registered to Doug Ford’s cabinet were caught speeding 23 times over three years, racking up more than $3,300 in fines.
Those records — which showed one minister’s vehicle had been recorded going 70 km/h in a 40 zone — redacted the names of the ministers whose vehicles were caught by the cameras.
Now, government lawyers are fighting to keep the names of those ministers secret, arguing that speeding in an official vehicle is fundamentally personal in nature.
“Although persons other than ministers may have been driving the vehicles, the records still reveal information of a personal nature about the ministers — specifically, their travel habits,” the government wrote in arguments submitted to the Information and Privacy Commission (IPC)
“It reveals information and identifiable patterns such as: travel conduct, patterns in such conduct, commuting hours, and potentially driving habits and conduct (such as repeated instances of speeding).”
The government also argued that the IPC has previously ruled records relating to someone’s “criminal history” are personal and not to be made public.
“In this case, as noted, the records link violations of law and potential violations of law to ministers and, as such, may reveal parts of identifiable persons’ criminal history or driving practices,” they argued.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the government should publish which ministers’ vehicles had been caught speeding because the provincial offences tickets were handed to publicly-funded cars.
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“It’s a perk of the office, it is something that is given to them to make their lives easier in the work that they do and the business they conduct,” she said.
Government lawyers also worried that revealing which ministers were responsible for speeding vehicles could harm their reputations — something they said would be unfair if the ministers hadn’t been driving.
“The release of the records could lead to the drawing of negative inferences concerning ministers’ travel and driving habits,” the government wrote.
“Because ministers are public figures, and are accountable for the vehicles in question, it is likely that negative inferences would be drawn about them, harming their reputation if the records were released.”
Stiles said not revealing the names creates the impression of a double standard.
“What bothers me here is that if this is a problem, if they’re so worried, if the premier is so concerned that his ministers are going to be looked at negatively because they’ve broken rules, broken the law, sped a lot, then maybe the actual speeding is the issue he should be more concerned about,” she added.
“Because at the end of the day, people out there are expected to follow the rules. Once again, it looks like Doug Ford expects his own ministers to live by a totally different set of rules, like it’s outrageous.”
Many senior politicians are driven by staff, and their vehicles are sometimes used by staff without them being inside.
The government did not address questions over whether it was staff or ministers who were driving on the 23 occasions that the vehicles were clocked speeding.
“Drivers are expected to always operate OPS vehicles safely, ensuring they comply with traffic and parking laws as well as licensing requirements,” a brief statement said.
The records obtained by Global News included a range of speeding offences involving cabinet minister vehicles.
The fastest speed the vehicles were recorded going was 30 km/h over the limit, and the lowest speed was 11 km/h over the limit. On average, the government vehicles were snapped 17 km/h above the limit, with the average cost of the tickets $144.
Ontario Liberal MPP Stephanie Smyth said the case was simple: the province should publish the names.
“If these records relate to government vehicles and the conduct of public office, there is a clear public interest in transparency,” she said in a statement.
“The possibility that disclosure could be politically embarrassing is not a valid reason to withhold information. Ontarians deserve confidence that public officials are being held to the same standards as everyone else, and openness is how that confidence is built.”
The premier previously explained that all fines had been paid back by the ministers themselves.
The revelations about the speed of cabinet ministers’ vehicles were first published as the government announced it would ban automated speed enforcement.
Ford has complained that the speed cameras are too sensitive, issuing tickets for minor infractions.
“I’ll use the stats just in Toronto because I know 32,000 tickets for going two kilometres over, four kilometres over, sometimes 10, 15 kilometres over — in three months,” the premier previously said.
None of the tickets given to minister vehicles were going less than 11 km/h over the limit, and the average speed of 17 was also above Ford’s example.
Early data from the City of Toronto since the cameras were banned has linked removing them to an increase in speeding.
Global News’ appeal to reveal the names of the ministers whose vehicles were caught speeding is ongoing.
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Time to take Dirtbag Doug behind the woodshed.
It would be almost refreshing to see a politician face the embarrassment of consequences for a speeding ticket. Afterall, embezzlement, fraud, conflict of interest, ethics violation, charter of rights breeches don’t seem to matter to the public
Trafficking in Persons is a very serious and traumatic offence that generally results in jailtime however ignorance to the reality over money and exploitations can form certain terrorist ideologies that left unchecked lead to mass incarceration and registry.
Time for Global news to go to jail for life. And people that break the law realize they are sexually offending prostitutes traumatizing minors. Especially that of Transportation.
So you’re now going to start publishing speeders names??? That is an idiotic waste of tax dollars because somebody will need to be employed to list EVERYBODY’s names – ALL OR NOTHING!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Rules for thee but not for me mentality. Time to throw Conservatives out the door, make them unemployed. Seems the Ford government thinks it’s totally acceptable for them to break the law, but the rest of the population, gets the book thrown at them.
Speed cameras were working but they were working too well. Who knew the criminals speeding was Ford ministers. They have the right to speed and police won’t touch them. Cameras made them equal and that shames them. Look to the premier to make it legal for his friends.
As pointed out, speed cameras only collect money, they do nothing to curb speeding. Changing the speed zones is the answer. Removing speed cameras is the answer. Our town just declared the 50km speed zone for towns does not apply to our town, and they posted an illegal 30km speed zone. The UK tried that, and then they had to do the right thing. Other provinces have removed the speed cameras, and other than the police budget, nothing is affected.
Jason: Why should this information be public? It is a private matter. Nobody else is on a public list. Do the right thing, remove the cameras.
Its easy. Don’t speed. No need to reveal information.
When you are in a government car you are on government business. Surely the rules should apply even more so.
He speeds. He pays! End of story. He likely paid the fines with government money too. Ford is such a narcissist.
Your information is to important to be divulged to the public, leave 5 minutes earlier and DONT SPEED.
Politicians deserve every piece of grief given to them to them.
The adage is true, power corrupts. Politicians need to learn their power is based on trust, not manipulation.
Fire ALL politicians and save our crumbling democracies.
The Ford government is as corrupt as it comes
Nothing wrong being politician is no excuse for speeding and no excuse for not revealing who they are if anything they should be held fully accountable and yes VERY PUBLICLY SHAMED AND CHARGED
Tim Bits ironically the speed cameras would never have gotten these people off the road without the ability to deduct points or revoke licenses
Wow Ive never read a story that was as much of a nothing-burger as this. Speed trap cameras are gone, step up enforcement to catch the people who are doing dangerous speeds, and drive on
Personal privacy? When did that become important again?
A minister would have to get an awful lot of tickets for speeding to establish a travel pattern. If they are indeed getting tickets for speeding in numbers that could be concerning then for public safety alone the information should be released. If indeed they are receiving tickets then they need to be dealt with as any repeat offender would be, get them off the road.
The idea that you’re the victims and driving rules are hostile to you, like speed bumps, cameras, planters, etc.. , rofl pathetic. Get your your elitist attitude. Try being a transit user or pedestrian. That is constant disregard. You’ve had impunity for 100+ years. Your car is a privilege, not a right.
Pure corruption and secrecy! This Criminal on all of his ministers who keep breaking our laws deserve prison! #dofomustgo
A cowards response to a legitimate question.
Defund the police, drive the speed limit.
Why can’t we get politicians that have integrity and take responsibility for their actions. Seriously, grow up and become adults. I’m so tired of people that ‘work’ for the people scamming, cheating and twisting the system to take advantage and benefit themselves and connected friends. Time for people to stop accepting this behaviour and run these crooks out of town.
Are you kidding me? Ford thinks this is the right thing to do? This is not Protect Ontario, this is Protect Doug Ford. Its ok for his ministers to break the law cause he is afraid it will give away travel secrets etc. What’s the worry Doug? Someone after you guys? Scared the public has had enough of you and is going to lash out? Good. I hope all politicians are feeling that. Time to end the politician’s empire across Canada. They are the only ones getting rich and prospering at all with their corruption and fraud.
They could indicate who had tickets without disclosing where they received the ticket. Like, no location covers that travel habits. But breaking Ontario’s laws, no matter which ones, is poor behaviour. Ministers need to set examples of themselves.
No, it wouldn’t – thats a complete lie.
So the argument is:
If the people know the politicians do bad things then the people might think politicians do bad things, therefore the people can’t know about the bad things the politicians are doing.
This is not dystopian future in the present day at alllllllllll.
Their idea of transparency is as pathetic as the LPCs
I couldn’t care less if they were going the 10 km over to trigger these Scam Cams. If liberal voters want them so bad voluntarily attach a tracker to your car and you can pay for it when you inevitably speed.
Based on the number of speeding infractions it is clear that the speed limits are out of step with traffic flows and driving habits. The logical and practical solution to reduce speeding and the flaunting of the law is to simply increase the speed limits. This action will have the desired effect of reducing the number of speeders. Another possible solution would be to follow Toronto’s example and be even more hostile to the automobile and install more road planters, reduce lanes on major roads, create more bicycle lanes and restrict turns. This will result in such gridlock that vehicles will not be able to travel at more than 10 km per hour.