Public Safety Committee on May 23rd, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Kurek. Your point is well taken.

As before, I encourage all members to respect the committee and to avoid heckling and crosstalk.

Mr. Viersen, you have the floor.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Chair, I would perhaps suggest that you put Mr. Bittle on the speaking list as well, as he seems to have a lot to say in this committee today. I might ask for unanimous consent for that, but it doesn't sound like I would—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Mr. Bittle, go ahead on a point of order.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Is there unanimous consent that I speak for 60 seconds?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Do we have unanimous consent?

[Some hon. members]

No.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Mr. Bittle, please go ahead on another point of order.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

It's unfortunate that motion failed, since Mr. Kurek wanted to hear from me. I'm hoping Mr. Viersen can turn his remarks back to S-210 and, again, as a champion for protecting children, say why he's—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

That's not a point of order, Chair. Can you enforce the rules? Mr. Bittle is showing disregard for the rules, as am I.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Mr. Genuis, please do not interrupt.

Mr. Bittle had the floor.

I believe that point of order is done, so let's carry on with Mr. Viersen as we were.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We did gather here today to hear from two ministers about what the Liberal government is going to be doing around auto theft. I would point out that part of the Conservatives' “stop the crime” initiative is around auto theft, and our “jail, not bail” idea for repeat offenders will go a long way to alleviating some of the crime problems that we have here in Canada.

Many of the crimes, as I pointed out earlier, are committed by criminals who are out on bail. The reality, in the one case that I was laying out earlier, is that this gentleman stole 15 vehicles over the course of 10 years, though he was in jail for four of those years, and he stole many of those vehicles while out on bail after being arrested for stealing the first one.

Vehicle thefts across the country have been going up dramatically in the last number of years and particularly in the last two years. Year over year, from 2022 to 2023, Ontario was up 50%, Quebec was up 50%, Alberta was up 20% and Atlantic Canada was up 35%. That's just in the one year from 2022 to 2023. That is significant.

Again, I would refer people to the graph. If you were to graph auto theft in this country, you would have seen declining auto theft up to 2015, and since 2015 you would see an increase. In the last couple of years, a dramatic 50% increase year over year has caused that line to go up very steeply.

We've seen the insurance industry come out claiming that vehicle thefts are costing Canadians over $1 billion every year.

I've spoken to many people who have had their vehicles stolen. I was in Toronto not that long ago, and I was talking to a fellow who had his Chevy Suburban stolen. It was a year and a half old, and he still had five years' worth of payments to make on it. He was frustrated by the fact that when he reported it to the police, they said, “Just contact your insurance.” He pointed out that to replace that Suburban, he was out of pocket about 30%. He said that, yes, he got a Suburban three model years newer when he bought a new one, but that new Suburban cost about 30% more than the original Suburban he had. He said he wasn't intending to buy a new Suburban, but there he was out of pocket.

Never mind when the insurance industry says they've lost more than $1 billion due to auto thefts; if the anecdotal story I heard means that the insurance company is out that much money and, on top of that, individuals perhaps have to come up with another 30% in order to replace their vehicles, that means Canadians are out of pocket another $300 million.

That is placing a drain on the economy; all of that value is presumably leaving our country. We heard about people's vehicles being in containers within days and leaving the port of Montreal.

I think I was here at this committee when we had the port authorities here. I think it was the Halifax Port Authority that said it inspects only 0.3% of the containers. Then, when we asked them how many containers they inspect that are leaving the country, they said it was virtually none. The inspections all happen to containers that are coming into the country, not containers that are leaving the country.

I was hoping to hear from the ministers today to see what they've put in place, how that's changing, what they're changing around the ports. We know that they made some significant announcements around this, but announcements don't mean that stuff is actually happening, so I was looking forward to hearing from the ministers about that today.

Nonetheless, the Liberals blocked the testimony of the ministers today, so here we are, not getting the answers we would like to hear from the ministers at this point.

The vehicle theft continues; the costs to Canadians continue, and we look forward to hearing from the ministers at a future date.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

I have a point of order, Chair. It's just to help me better understand Mr. Viersen's remarks here.

He did mention the port of Montreal. Can the chair confirm whether any Conservative MPs showed up at the port of Montreal when there was a site visit there?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I'm not able to speak to that.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

In that case, I can.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Please go ahead, Madame Michaud.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I can attest to that—

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

I have a point of order, Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Excuse me. Ms. Michaud has the floor.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Thank you very much.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

On a point of order, Chair, she doesn't have the floor. Mr. Viersen has the floor.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I have recognized Madame Michaud.

Please respond, Madame Michaud.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Chair, on a point of order, Mr. Viersen has the floor. We have a speaking list that has Mr. Viersen and then Mr. Kurek speaking next.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I am quite aware of the speaking list. Ms. Michaud is responding to Mr. MacGregor's point of order to give the information he's requesting.

It is at the chair's discretion—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Under which standing order was the point of order raised?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Mr. Genuis, please.