“Surveillance Society”

Premier Ford wants to introduce surveillance cameras in Ontario communities to catch suspects in home invasions, car thefts

Premier Doug Ford says he is looking to expand the use of surveillance cameras in municipalities across the province to help catch suspects in car thefts and home invasions, but he is providing few details about exactly how such an initiative would work.

Ford made the comments at an unrelated transit news conference in Hamilton on Monday morning.

“I was asking the mayor (of Hamilton) about crime as well because I want to start introducing cameras on crime, if approved by residents,” Ford said.

It’s always for our own good.

It’s finally happening—after decades of successive governments threatening Brits with a mandatory ID scheme, the UK is set to at last impose the ‘BritCard.’ Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer is planning to reheat the Blair-era plan to make national identification compulsory in the UK. The government intends to complete the rollout of these cards by the end of 2029—before the next, presumably non-Labour, government can stop it.

The idea is that anyone with the right to work in the UK will be issued one of these digital ID cards, stored on your smartphone. This would contain a passport-style photo, as well as information like your full name, nationality, date of birth, and residency status. They would be issued not just to Brits but also to those born abroad, so long as they have permission to work in the UK.

So digital ID, the tyrannical policy that just won’t flush, has bobbed up into the Armitage Shanks bowl that is Keir Starmer’s Labour government. Out of ideas and with all the authority of an embattled supply teacher, the prime minister is falling back – yet again – on Continuity Blairism, on the great unfinished business of New Labour. Somewhere, in a lair under a dormant volcano, Tony Blair is stroking a cat and cackling incessantly.

At the press of a key you’re de-personed.

I believe we are much further along the road to dystopia than we realize.

A gulag is being built silently piece by piece. 

Photo radar does not belong in a free society

Years ago I received a letter informing me that, some months before, I had run a red light, and would have to pay a fine. It included a series of pictures of the rear of my car, captured by photo radar.

There must be some mistake, I thought. I’ve never run a red light in my life. Sure enough, closer inspection of the images revealed that I had in fact turned right on a red, a perfectly legal act. I took the letter to the address indicated for inquiries. The lady behind the desk glanced at it, and said: “Yeah, you didn’t wait the required three seconds before turning.”

Every working adult in Britain will require a Government-issued digital ID card under a ‘dystopian’ plan set to be announced by Sir Keir Starmer.

The idea of a mandatory identification system has long been advocated by Labour as a way to tackle illegal migration.

But the proposal is fiercely opposed by civil rights campaigners, who warn it will erode civil liberties and turn the UK into a ‘papers please’ society.

Premier Doug Ford is set to ban the speed cameras that he has denounced as a municipal “cash grab,” the Star has learned.

Sources, speaking confidentially in order to discuss internal deliberations, say Ford’s Progressive Conservatives will table legislation later this fall to outlaw the controversial “automated speed enforcement” devices.

“We’re looking at all options on how to slow down traffic without the use of speed cameras,” a senior government official said.

Canada’s security and intelligence organizations face “significant challenges” detecting and responding to security threats because of legislative gaps and outdated resources limiting when and how they can access private messages, one of the country’s intelligence watchdogs warns.

A recently tabled report from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) examined the fiercely contested issue of lawful access — court-approved interception of electronic communications.

A funny thing happened earlier this year when many residents of the City of Vaughan complained about speed cameras and one of them was even knocked down shortly after 10 cameras were installed this spring.

Before the cameras were installed, Vaughan Councillor Gila Martow anticipated the backlash and proposed a number of revisions to make the system less punishing. The rest of council didn’t support her on it, but they soon learned the hard way after complaints came flooding in. To their credit though, council then voted for a complete pause to issuing fines until this fall when they’d reassess the issue.

Sixteen speed cameras were damaged by vandals in Toronto overnight, police confirmed Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Premier Doug Ford said it’s time for Ontario municipalities to put the brakes on speed cameras, calling the automated devices “a tax grab.”