OTTAWA, ON: Pierre Poilievre, Leader of Canada’s Conservative party, has announced more to his plan to combat the significant rise in car theft.
He said, “After 8 years of Justin 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 his Liberal government took office. Canadian cars are being stolen at historically high rates, many of which are being shipped overseas.”
This rise in car theft has made Canadians less safe. 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.
Poilievre said that federal ports have turned parking lots for stolen cars that then disappear overseas.
He said, “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, only has 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.
“Despite car thefts skyrocketing, 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 said.
Poilievre announced how he would try to fix the mess. He said his government will fire useless management consultants. “We will 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.”
He also plans to 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, “We will pay for this innovative solution by firing useless management consultants at Public Safety. These consultants include GC Strategies, one of the many firms linked to the $54 million ArriveCan scandal. 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 5 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 5-year cost of $36 million. The cost of hiring the 75 CBSA officers over 5 years will be $41.5 million. This means the total initial and ongoing 5-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.
