Ward Stamer (image credit - BC Legislature/YouTube)

By Michael Reeve

Bill M 217

MLA Stamer’s private members bill on dash cameras receives pushback from NDP

Nov 18, 2025 | 12:30 PM

VICTORIA — Ward Stamer has been advocating for mandating dash cameras in commercial vehicles since his days as the mayor in Barriere.

Now in his first term for Kamloops -North Thompson, the Conservative MLA moved a private members bill in the hopes of getting cross-party support for the change he believes will increase safety and accountability on B.C. highways. On Monday (Nov. 17) the bill was up for second reading, with the NDP pointing to two potential concerns.

“A couple of things they threw up there was about privacy. That is ridiculous because right now we are only asking for face forward, and everything that is taped face forward is already in the public domain,” Stamer told CFJC News. “If you have a dashcam in a vehicle and you witness a crash, you can still have that subpoenaed so that is a non-issue. And as for sharing it up in the cloud and having a data breach, that is ridiculous because it’s stored on the dashcam itself.”

The other pitfall discussed by the governing party was that no other jurisdiction in North America has taken to mandating dash cameras, possibly creating legislative and enforcement challenges.

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“That is absolutely ridiculous. I mean I would much rather be proactive instead of reactive in this province,” said Stamer. “We have always been a leader in safety. We should be able to continue to be able to be a leader in safety. That is why I want to get through second reading, that is why I want to get to committee, that is where we can flush out the issues, and we want to talk about the fine-tuning of the bill.”

The second reading debate will conclude next Monday (Nov. 24), with MLAs set to vote on whether to advance the bill to the committee stage or have it defeated.