Thank you, Chair.
I want to speak to this motion because of my community and concerns with auto theft and what that means for safety. It's not just the theft of our vehicles. It's the safety of our persons as well. To very quickly give you some background, in the first nine months of 2024, Oshawa reported 223 auto thefts. That is alarming. The Durham region has seen a concerning trend of rising auto thefts, with a 205% increase since 2019.
I'm a single mom, and I have a daughter who's about to turn 15. She'll be driving before long. I have some concerns for her safety. Auto thefts are escalating, and they're escalating to the point where now, instead of people just going to your driveway to steal your car, they're much more brazen. They're perhaps hijacking and doing all sorts of things like that. It's because of this concern that I don't even feel comfortable sending my daughter out to the car to get something that I've left in there.
I think the study is important, and I think doing it now is wise. I just wanted to speak to that motion.
Thank you.