Privacy officials working for the Ontario government won’t release details of who was responsible for cabinet minister vehicles caught speeding, arguing that doing so would violate personal privacy and could threaten the “safety or health of an individual.”
Documents previously obtained by Global News show vehicles assigned to Premier Doug Ford’s cabinet ministers were caught by automated speed cameras 23 times over three years, including one instance where the car was driving at 70 km/h in a 40 zone.
Separately, the government’s internal monitoring systems recorded a cabinet minister-assigned vehicle hitting stunt driving speeds 12 times. At one point, that vehicle was recorded going 162 km/h.
The premier’s office suggested the individual driving the vehicle was still employed by the government, but had promised it would “never happen again.”
Global News asked the premier’s office which ministries the speeding vehicles were assigned to and who was driving the vehicle that repeatedly passed 150 km/h.
A spokesperson did not address those questions, but said any fines received had been repaid by those who accrued them, not the taxpayer.
Details of who the vehicles were assigned to were also not included in the records released to Global News through freedom of information laws. Those documents were redacted to exclude the first name, last name and ministry associated with the speeding vehicles.
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Government privacy officials said revealing who the vehicles were assigned to would violate their personal privacy and “could reasonably be expected to seriously threaten the safety or health of an individual.”
Global News has appealed the decision to the Information and Privacy Commission.
Asked about the incident where a cabinet minister-assigned vehicle hit 162 km/h on an Ontario highway, Ford said he didn’t tolerate speeding, but offered no specifics.
“There’s many people speeding out there, and it’s unacceptable,” the premier said, before appearing to talk about traffic calming measures, which would not apply on highways.
“I do not condone speeding with anyone, but it goes back — if I put infrastructure in with the support of the municipalities… I guarantee no one will be speeding, 100 per cent.”
Opponents said the premier’s response was inadequate.
“Anybody who is repeatedly speeding at speeds of 150 km/h is not learning their lessons and Mr. Ford needs to have better judgment than that, rather than defending this individual and keeping them on staff,” Ontario NDP MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam said.
“He must realize the responsibility falls solely on him as the leader of the party, but also as the premier of Ontario; there has to be an example set.”
Ontario Liberal MPP Rob Cerjanec said the details of who the vehicles were assigned to when they were caught violating speed limits should be made public
“The public deserves to know which minister’s vehicles received speeding tickets, were stunt driving, and whether the minister was driving or a passenger in the vehicle,” he wrote in a statement.
“Why is Premier Ford running away from accountability and hiding the truth?”
Asked twice about the violations, Ford said he did not accept speeding from anyone.
“Speeding’s unacceptable, no matter who it is,” the premier said. “And they’re paying it out of their own pocket. Again, I’m going to repeat it: it’s unacceptable. But I’ll tell you one thing, if we put infrastructure in, nobody’s going to be speeding.”
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the tickets issued to cabinet ministers’ vehicles were evidence of the need for cameras to enforce traffic laws.
“As the driving records of his ministers show, the premier needs to take this issue seriously and listen to municipalities who are calling for the continued use of speed cameras,” he said in a statement.
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