Tory leadership candidate Ric McIver says that speed-on-green cameras are a money grab that have to go.

But the Calgary-Hays MLA — along with fellow leadership hopeful Thomas Lukaszuk — is rejecting a call from the Wildrose party to scrap controversial legislation that cracks down on drivers whose blood-alcohol content is over 0.05.

The centrepiece of McIver’s justice platform released Friday in Calgary is a promise to ban speed-on-green cameras that are used to catch speeders at intersections.

“These are little more than tax collection devices,” the former alderman said in a news conference overlooking McKnight Boulevard.

The MLA for Calgary-Hays said he would retain red-light cameras, used to give tickets to drivers who run red lights, and conventional photo radar.

There are currently 51 intersections in Calgary that have speed-on-green cameras, red-light cameras or both.

Last year, the were 108,723 infractions caught by the speed-on-green cameras, with $9.8 million in revenue brought in from the machines last year, according to the Calgary police commission. Both figures declined from a year earlier.

The money collected goes to the province as court fine revenue, a portion of which is redistributed to the city, which allocates the funds to the police budget.

Besides Calgary, the speed-on-green cameras are also used in Edmonton, St, Albert, Fort Saskatchewan, Sherwood Park and Lethbridge.

McIver did not address whether the province would reimburse police services for the lost revenue.

Lukaszuk said in an interview he sees no need to get rid of the green-light cameras and he’s heard little on the issue from the public or municipalities.

However, the MLA for Edmonton-Castle Downs promised a review of photo radar regulations to ensure they are being used in dangerous areas such as school zones.

McIver’s platform release came a day after Wildrose announced that, if elected, it would repeal legislation passed in 2011 that allows police to seize the vehicle of a driver caught with a blood-alcohol level over 0.05.

Under the law, drivers also face a three-day suspension that increases to seven days on the second offence, while those who blow over 0.08 have their licence suspended.

McIver, who was transportation minister under then premier Alison Redford when the law was passed and came into effect, said the legislation should stay in place.

“The research is clear, people are impaired at 0.05 ... to the point where they shouldn’t be driving,” he said.

Lukaszuk, the former deputy premier, acknowledged the law caused some consternation when it came into effect in 2012 “but we have adjusted to it.”

“You will not see me and my name in any way affiliated with raising the level of blood-alcohol content of drivers, because that’s exactly what they’re asking for,” he said.

The third candidate in the Tory race, Jim Prentice, was not available for comment Friday. PC party members will vote for a new leader — and premier — in September.

In his justice policy, McIver also called for a pilot program in Red Deer, which sees global positioning system (GPS) devices used to track high-risk domestic violence offenders, formalized and extended across the province.

“Protecting victims should be a primary function of the justice system,” he said.

McIver also promised to establish a voluntary work program for provincial inmates, modelled on two federal programs, in a bid to reduce recidivism.

jwood@calgaryherald.com