Political leaders, police, border brokers and auto business executives will likely be known as collectively subsequent month to attempt to give you higher methods to sluggish the expansion in auto theft plaguing most main Canadian cities.
Public Security Minister Dominic LeBlanc introduced what he known as a nationwide summit on combating auto theft Sunday, simply because the federal cupboard started assembly for a three-day retreat in Montreal.
The announcement comes as automobile theft has develop into an even bigger downside throughout the nation, with common studies of automobiles disappearing from driveways and road corners in document numbers.
In 2022, automobile thefts rose 50 per cent in Quebec, almost as a lot in Ontario, and 35 per cent in Atlantic Canada. There have been 9,600 automobiles stolen in Toronto alone that very same 12 months, 300 per cent greater than in 2015.
And LeBlanc stated extra usually the targets aren’t simply parked automobiles, however ones the place drivers are nonetheless behind the wheel.
“One of many issues that issues all of us is it’s turning into a violent crime the place individuals are assaulted within the technique of stealing automobiles,” LeBlanc stated.
“So we predict it’s an essential alternative for us to work with companions throughout the nation and take motion to cope with one thing that’s more and more turning into a priority in each a part of the nation.”
Toronto-area police companies say there was a 104-per-cent enhance in carjackings between 2021 and 2022.
LeBlanc stated he spoke to Ontario Premier Doug Ford concerning the challenge in current days and Ontario is on board to take part.
The federal government stated gangs steal automobiles and work with organized-crime teams to ship them to the Center East and Africa, or use them inside Canada to commit crimes earlier than destroying them.
Photographs have appeared on-line of automobiles nonetheless bearing Canadian license plates in used-car heaps abroad.
That’s regardless of Ottawa insisting it has sturdy legal guidelines aimed toward stopping thefts and monitoring protocols meant to cease the stolen automobiles from being exported in delivery containers.
The summit is scheduled for Feb. 8, and can embody municipal and provincial police forces, the RCMP, Canada Border Companies Company and auto corporations. The hope is to determine brief and longer-term options to the issue.
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