Uncovering fake news, verifying politicians’ statements, finding the real figures: our Bureau of Investigation, based in Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa, specializes in the art of reestablishing the facts. Our journalists and researchers present their findings to you to help you see more clearly the week’s news.
THE STATEMENT
The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, wrote on Monday in a publication on X (formerly Twitter) that there were “105,673 car thefts in 2022 under Trudeau.”
FACTS
It was not 105,673 cars that were stolen, but rather 105,673 “motor vehicles” according to Statistics Canada. An important nuance since “motorized vehicles” includes automobiles, but also trucks, motorcycles and other motor vehicles.
So, Mr. Poilievre’s comments are inaccurate as he only talks about automobiles.
The independent organization, Équité Association, estimates instead that around 70,000 cars, trucks, SUVs and vans were stolen in Canada in 2022.
A summit on vehicle theft is planned for Thursday in Ottawa. The provinces of Quebec and Ontario have seen the number of thefts explode in recent years.
AND AT YOUR HOME ?
Is your municipality often the target of car thieves?
Find out on this map compiled by our Investigation Office, which allows you to locate down to the street, in certain cities, where thousands of vehicles have been stolen in Quebec since the start of the year.
Municipality (number of flights)
Number of flights to the same address
Methodology
This map of vehicle thefts in Quebec covers the year 2023, from January 1 to a date between June 30 and October 12, depending on the city.
The data comes from the Sûreté du Québec, the police service of the City of Montreal, the city of Laval, the city of Longueuil, the police service of the City of Gatineau, the police service of the city of Quebec , from the police service of the city of Lévis, from the police service of Sherbrooke, from the city of Blainville, from the police service of Châteauguay, from the police service from the city of Mascouche, from the city of Granby, from the city of Trois-Rivières, the police department of the city of Bromont, the police department of Lac des Deux-Montagnes, the police department of Memphrémagog, the police department of the city of Saint-Eustache, the department of police of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, the city of Repentigny, the city of Mirabel, and Équité Association. Some were obtained through access to information.
Note that municipalities may have included vehicles such as motorcycles, trucks or boats in their balance sheet. As for location data, it was transmitted to us in different forms: postal code, street corner, street or neighborhood.
Data compilation: Nora T. Lamontagne and Philippe Langlois, Bureau of Investigation