Yes, those are great points.
Downtown Toronto is often a litmus test for other issues that are going to be coming to other downtowns. We work a lot, very closely, with our colleagues in Toronto. Toronto's blessed to now have 85, I think, business improvement associations and six large ones in the core that do great work.
However, it's a real concern, and it's a trend we're seeing across the country. There's a lot of co-mingling of things: homeless encampments, crime, social issues, addiction issues.
When we, as a group, came to Ottawa last fall and met with a number of MPs and senators, one of our big focus areas was broadly public safety. What we really encompassed in that was the stick approach of bail reform, Bill C-14, and better, more effective law enforcement, especially for repeat offenders. That's one part of the equation.
The other part of the equation is that we're also advocating for more effective deployment of funds around mental health services for addiction and for homeless issues as well, because there is a lot of cross-pollination. A good example we often hear—it's probably more anecdotal than evidence-based—is that people may be shoplifting initially from a sense of need because they're homeless or have addiction issues or whatever, but because of the catch-and-release system, suddenly, people are able to shoplift with impunity. We're hearing, especially from western Canadian colleagues, that those are the perfect people to be employed by organized crime to do retail theft for them, and that's what we're seeing escalating.
It is a small number of individuals, but we're also very concerned about how it seems to be becoming much more organized, and it's coming across the country.