Thank you.
We know that this issue has caught the attention of the government. It announced what it thought was going to be a pivotal moment in time. It was going to convene a summit with industry leaders, government officials and law enforcement officials to discuss this ever-increasing, urgent need to get control on our streets and to ensure that criminals who engage in this activity are not only detected, but charged, prosecuted and sentenced accordingly.
This soft-on-crime government over the last eight and a half years has done nothing but telegraph a message to criminals and would-be criminals that crime pays in this country. Bail provisions allow repeat offenders to continually receive bail on very generous conditions, providing no measure of community safety. In relation to this area of car thefts, they essentially allow criminals to continue this trade almost unabated.
The problem we have here is that this is not a recent phenomenon. This has certainly been the cause of Justin Trudeau's failed leadership over the last eight years, which has seen a marked increase of criminal activity across the board in this country. However, in relation to property offences and car thefts, we have seen a pronounced increase. It's almost three times, 300%, in Toronto alone.
Criminals are getting wise to the fact that luxury vehicles have a significant market abroad. They aren't stealing them for their own purposes. They're not stealing them so they can enjoy the benefits of a luxury vehicle. They're stealing them because they're part of an organized crime entity that operates numerous criminal organization entities that operate from coast to coast in this country, and they have found a niche market of having these individuals—some as young as 12 and 13 years of age, anecdotally.... I prosecuted those young offenders who were stealing cars, primarily at that time to strip vehicles of the wheels and other apparatus. They called it “chinging”, and they received a handsome amount of money for it.
Long gone are the days when shoplifting at grocery stores and convenience stores actually paid off. They've realized that cars, in particular, carry a significant value abroad.
What's happening—and we're reading these stories literally ripped from the headlines every single day across this nation—is that because of our porous ports in this country, given that this Liberal government has not seen fit to equip CBSA officials with the appropriate powers and resources to check containers that are often placed on railcars or placed on ships, eventually, leaving our country for international domains.... This is where the cars are going. There is a market in the Middle East. There's a market in Africa. There's a market in South Asia for these vehicles. This is a very lucrative operation for these criminals.
This federal government has been derelict in its responsibility to deal effectively with criminal laws surrounding this area. Police services across this country are under-resourced or understaffed and are dealing with serious violent criminals, and when they have the time, they are investigating car thefts.
Unfortunately, anecdotally I can speak to this. In my own riding of Brantford—Brant, we simply don't have the resources to put into car thefts, and it's a shame, because victims come in many forms in this country. Generally, we think of victims in the physical sense—that some physical violence has been bestowed on them—but people who are subjected to car thefts are indeed victims.
I recall a story that we heard most recently at our Conservative caucus event on Sunday, where our leader spoke about some town halls and some meetings he'd had in metro Toronto over the past few days. He was talking to one individual in particular who had his luxury vehicle stolen from his driveway, not once but twice. The first time he didn't see the culprits, and they made good their escape. I'm sure that vehicle is now safely in the hands of some foreign individual. However, he equipped himself with the appropriate surveillance outside of his house. Within days of his replacement of that vehicle with a similar vehicle, he happened to be alerted to the fact that these individuals—probably the same individuals—were in the process of stealing his car again.
Once he saw that happening in his driveway, he immediately called the police, and the police said, “We're sorry. We can't get there because we're dealing with other pressing, urgent matters.” He informed the operator that he was going to take matters into his own hands and deal with this, and he was warned against that: “Don't do that.” I think he received that advice for good reason: You don't know if these individuals are armed with a gun or a knife or some other violent apparatus.
He literally saw this happening, but he was wise, because he had put one of those AirTag trackers on his second vehicle and he was able to track the movement of his second stolen car. He followed that particular device to a railway and happened to confirm that his vehicle was secured in a railway container. He hopped the fence—whether it was CN or CP rail—and was approaching the railcar when he saw railroad officials descending upon him. He thought, “Great! I have authorities and officials who will help me stop the train to retrieve my stolen vehicle.” What did he get in exchange for that misperception? He was actually fined for trespassing, even though he had the evidence that his stolen vehicle was on a railcar controlled by CP or CN. It was allowed to leave. He saw the railcar leave in the presence of these officials. Talk about double victimization, Mr. Chair.
That is just one story of probably thousands of stories that I'm sure members can share with this committee. This is a pressing and urgent matter that the public safety committee has a mandate to review thoroughly.
Canadians in particular can't wait for this miraculous summit to produce results. The Liberal government is great at convening, great at having meetings and great at announcements, but terrible at follow-through. This is the follow-through that needs to take place. We need to have this motion passed, and we need to set aside the appropriate days to hear from the appropriate witnesses.
Thank you, Chair.