The federal government plans to ban the free sale on major online platforms of gadgets used for vehicle theft, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the opening of the summit on vehicle theft being held in Ottawa on Thursday.
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“It is unacceptable that it is possible to purchase tools that help car theft on major online shopping platforms,” said Mr. Trudeau. “I can assure you that the minister [François-Philippe] Champagne is exploring all means to prevent their sale and use for criminal purposes.”
Certain items that make life easy for thieves – like “pinball machines” – are easily found on platforms like Amazon or AliExpress, for example, and often at ridiculous prices.
Flipper Devices Inc.
Mr. Trudeau appealed to the automotive sector to step up to the plate “by innovating and improving the design of cars to prevent theft.”
“When Canadians invest in a car, they must do so with complete confidence,” he said.
The summit on vehicle theft brings together several members of Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, representatives of the provinces, insurers, police forces and representatives of the automobile industry.
It is estimated that approximately 90,000 vehicles are stolen nationwide each year. Between 2021 and 2022, there was a 50% increase in flights in Quebec.
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 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