Brock Vandrick

Not quite “Gone in 60 seconds." More like six minutes. That is all the time it took for two guys to break into and drive off with my vehicle, as later seen from a doorbell camera.

It’s a dreadful feeling. You walk out of your front door Monday morning to start your work week, only to find that your truck is not where you left it. Stolen overnight, right from your driveway. Probably already sitting in a shipping container at the Port of Montreal. This happened to me in March. I became a statistic that is quickly rising in Ontario and Canada as a whole.

In Ontario, a car is stolen every 48 minutes. In Ottawa, where my vehicle was stolen, more than 1,200 vehicles were reported stolen in 2022, according to Statistics Canada. And unfortunately, that number is steadily climbing throughout the first few months of this year.

So why the rapid uptick? Are newer vehicles just that much easier to steal? Is law enforcement understaffed or underfunded? Has organized crime upped its game?

Luckily (or unluckily), I put an Apple Airtag in my vehicle a few months ago. I was able to pull up the vehicle's location on my phone and share the Montreal address with the police, who then recovered the vehicle. Six weeks later, after mechanical and exterior repairs from what looked like quite the joyride, I finally got my vehicle back.

But hey, that’s what insurance is for, right? According to a report from the Insurance Bureau of Canada, auto theft costs Canadians nearly $1 billion every year. This includes costs for insurance companies to fix or replace the stolen vehicles, and costs for police, health care, and the court system.

Earlier this month in Ontario, Solicitor General Michael Kerzner and Attorney General Doug Downey announced that the government is fighting auto theft by investing $51 million in new measures to help police identify and dismantle organized crime networks and put thieves behind bars.

The measures will include the creation of an organized crime towing and auto theft team led by the Ontario Provincial Police, a new community safety grant that targets auto theft, and a new major auto theft prosecution response team.

This is a huge first step and a much needed response from the Ford government. Having said that, auto theft is not just a problem in Ontario, it is a national issue. Some provinces will obviously be more affected than others, but auto theft is a problem that affects all Canadians.

While these measures are headed in the right direction, the Ontario government cannot solve the issue of auto theft alone. The federal government must also step in and work with the provinces to find solutions.

In the process of recovering my vehicle, I dealt with the Ottawa Police and the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal, who both suggested that they can only do so much. Had my vehicle ended up at the Port of Montreal, I would have then had to deal with Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Montreal Port Authority.

It is clear that a cooperative approach from municipal, provincial and federal agencies is needed. Most stolen vehicles are being taken out of the country, which means that federal law enforcement agencies, such as the CBSA and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), need to be involved in addressing these organized crime syndicates.

The CBSA is responsible for monitoring border crossings and can play a critical role in identifying stolen vehicles that are being taken out of the country. The RCMP can also assist in tracking down stolen vehicles and working with international law enforcement agencies to recover them.

Others have been vocal on preventing these thefts in the first place. Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown has put the onus on vehicle manufacturers. Thieves can now easily bypass the remote key fob that activates the engine immobilizer, and manufacturers haven’t come out with anything in response to this.

Auto theft is a serious problem nationwide and it is one that requires a coordinated effort from all levels of government and vehicle manufacturers to address. While the Ontario government has taken real steps to combat the issue, more needs to be done. With a concerted effort led by the federal government, I think it is possible to reduce the number of auto thefts and make the roads safer for everyone.

Brock Vandrick is the senior vice president at Wellington Dupont Public Affairs. Brock was previously the chief of staff to Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources as well as the director of stakeholder relations for Premier Doug Ford. Prior to that, he was an advisor to Canada's Minister of International Trade.

_________________________________________________________________________________

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all QP Briefing columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of QP Briefing. 

Auto theft is a serious problem nationwide and it is one that requires a coordinated effort from all levels of government and vehicle manufacturers to address.

All levels of government must act to curb auto thefts

Read this for free.