Petition to stop photo radar under review

Opponents of a plan to implement photo radar in St. Paul have submitted their petition to town council. The town is now seeking legal advice on whether the petition is sufficient.

Amil Shapka, an organizer of the petition, said there was a strong response with 500 signatures easily collected within the first few weeks of its launch.

To be deemed sufficient, the petition needs to represent 10 per cent of the municipality's population of over 6,000. Shapka said 734 signatures were submitted.

“If we had kept the pedal to the medal, I think we could have collected 1,000 easily,&” he said.

“The petitioners have to put forward the reason they're having the petition. Once our lawyer looks at the petition, he will advise us accordingly from that point on,&” said Town of St. Paul CAO Ron Boisvert. “It's the town's responsibility to check the names and addresses on the petition to ensure the names and addresses match, and everyone who signed is a resident of the town. We've already started checking and we have 30 days to check all the names.&”

Under the Municipal Government Act, the CAO cannot count names in the petition that don't comply with the act's requirements, which include a witness for the signature, identical purpose statements for each page of the petition, the inclusion of a petitioner's name and address, and a signing date.

If the petition is deemed sufficient, council must provide a response. In this case, council may decide not to proceed with photo radar, submit the issue to a public vote, or introduce a bylaw stating that RCMP and peace officers should do all traffic enforcement, which after first reading, would be open to debate.

Shapka said he wouldn't mind if the matter went to a public vote, since there are two distinct opposing viewpoints on the matter.

“I think that would be fair,&” he said.

Shapka noted he has seen enough opposition to photo radar that council should have gotten the feedback themselves.

“I think there's enough discontent in the community, they're going to have their ears full,&” he said.