CONSERVATIVE Leader Pierre Poilievre has slammed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the significant rise in car theft and unveiled his own plan to combat the menace.
Poilievre pointed out that after eight years of Trudeau, car thefts are up 300% in Toronto and 100% in Ottawa and Montreal. Nationally, car thefts are up by more than a third since the Liberal government took office. Canadian cars are being stolen at historically high rates, many of which are being shipped overseas.
In 2022, car insurance payouts totalled more than $1 billion. In Ontario, car theft claims were up 329% in the first half of 2023, adding up to more than $700 million in losses. The Insurance Bureau of Canada estimates this costs every driver in Ontario an extra $130 a year.
Car theft has become a “get-rich-quick” scheme for violent criminals and gangs, and hard-working Canadians are paying the price, said Poilievre.
He noted that Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is in charge of protecting our borders, but the federal Port of Montreal, where the majority of stolen cars leave Canada, has only five agents to inspect the massive volume of containers that leave each year, according to the Journal de Montreal. They also only have one X-ray scanner that constantly breaks down. Federal ports in Vancouver, Prince Rupert, and Halifax tell a similar story.
According to Peel Detective Mark Haywood, the CBSA checks less than 1 percent of all containers leaving the country.
Poilievre said that despite car thefts skyrocketing, the CBSA is seizing about the same number of cars today at the federal port of Montreal as they were years ago, frequently ignoring suspicious containers, even after they’re reported.
He accused Trudeau of continuing to waste the CBSA’s money, saying that last year Trudeau spent $15 million on “useless” management consultants at CBSA. He added that Trudeau spent $54,000,000 on the ArriveCan app, which not only didn’t work properly, but is currently being investigated by the RCMP for corruption. Also, CBSA failed to spend $117,000,000 that had already been approved by Parliament.
On Monday, Poilievre said he would:
- Increase the mandatory prison time from six months to three years for a third offence of motor vehicle theft.
- Remove eligibility for house arrest if convicted of motor vehicle theft by way of indictment.
- Create a new, specific aggravating factor where the offence of motor vehicle theft is committed for the benefit of organized crime.
- Repeal catch-and-release rules in Trudeau’s Bill C-75 to ensure that repeat offenders get jail, not bail.
On Tuesday, Poilievre said he would also:
- Fire useless management consultants at CBSA and use this money to fix federal ports.
- Invest in state-of-the-art x-ray equipment to allow for rapid scanning of containers at our four major federal ports in Vancouver, Montreal, Prince Rupert, and Halifax. We will purchase a total of 24 scanners.
- Hire a special team of CBSA officers who will run the scanners, and catch stolen cars before they leave our country. We will hire 75 CBSA officers to secure our federal ports.
He said that a Poilievre government will find a dollar of savings for every new dollar of spending. It will pay for this innovative solution by firing useless management consultants at Public Safety. A new ombudsman report on the ArriveCan app itself found that 76% of the contractors did no work. Right now, Public Safety Canada spends $33 million a year on management consultants, which works out to $165 million over five years.
The total cost for the upfront acquisition of these scanners is $55.2 million. Ongoing scanner maintenance will cost $7.2 million annually, a five-year cost of $36 million. The cost of hiring the 75 CBSA officers over five years will be $41.5 million. This means the total initial and ongoing five-year costs will be $132.7 million.
“By firing useless management consultants, we can pay for the much-needed x-ray scanners and the CBSA officers needed to operate them, and still end up with a net savings for taxpayers of $33 million,” Poilievre said.
He added: “Justin Trudeau has failed to protect your property. I will bring home stolen cars. Let’s hit the brakes on car thieves and protect our federal ports.”
