(Ottawa) The federal government is spending $28 million in new money to combat the export of stolen vehicles to Canada.
Ottawa says this money will give the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) greater capacity to detect and search containers carrying stolen vehicles.
The federal government also maintains that this funding will improve collaboration and information sharing with partners across Canada and abroad, in order to identify and arrest the perpetrators of these crimes.
This announcement comes on the eve of a national summit on vehicle theft, which will bring together government representatives, industry leaders and police representatives from across the country on Thursday in Ottawa.
The announcement also follows pressure from federal Conservatives, who this week presented ideas to solve the problem.
Monday in Toronto, then Tuesday in Montreal, the Conservative leader denounced “the mismanagement of federal ports by Justin Trudeau” and proposed tougher penalties imposed on criminals involved in vehicle theft.
The federal government says about 90,000 cars are stolen each year in Canada, costing policyholders and Canadian taxpayers about $1 billion.
Nearly 6 million will be devoted to improving intelligence at the CBSA and 3.5 million to increase the capacity to inspect containers, especially on trains, and 5.9 million for inspections at ports, such as that of Montreal, and 4 million for new technologies, said Public Security Minister Dominic LeBlanc in Ottawa on Wednesday.
“We are already investing hundreds of millions in this direction and we are always ready, with our partners who will be there tomorrow, to see what more we can do,” he said. to journalists.
“You know, cars are not stolen at the port of Montreal,” he explained. They are stolen in big cities as well as in small centers across the country,” which is why Mr. LeBlanc is very happy that Thursday’s summit will welcome police chiefs from everywhere.
His colleague from Justice, Arif Virani, added that vehicle theft is no longer like before. “It’s an organized crime and we already have possibilities to change the rules regarding organized crime, in terms of money laundering,” he said.
“This bill is already in the Commons, but Pierre Poilievre is asking his deputies to vote against it,” said Minister Virani. This is why we question his sincerity, and I [déplore] his hypocrisy: if you want to tackle this problem, you have to go after the mafia boss, not the 16 year old who stole the car. »
“There are tools to do it, and [M. Poilievre] blocks them. »