![](/polopoly_fs/1.6948419.1719939760!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
'The root cause': Canada outlines national action plan to fight auto theft
The federal government has outlined what it calls its "national action plan" to combat auto thefts, which will include stronger penalties for thieves, and increased information sharing between police agencies, government officials and border enforcement.
Several cabinet members announced the plan during a Monday morning news conference in Brampton, Ont. The plan primarily includes previously announced measures to fight auto theft, including increased funding for the border and various police agencies, and proposed Criminal Code amendments.
According to 2022 industry estimates released at the time, rates of auto theft had spiked in several provinces compared to the year before. In Quebec, thefts rose by 50 per cent. In Ontario, they were up 34.5 per cent.
Police services in the GTA reported an uptick of 104 per cent.
"We are adding new offences targeting auto theft and its links to violence and to organized crime," Attorney General of Canada Arif Virani told reporters Monday.
He says the government is proposing new offences targeting ringleaders of carjacking gangs, and those who launder the money garnered through organized crime. While the national action plan was the subject of Monday's news conference, a handful of proposals included in the plan were first introduced as part of the federal Liberals' , which is officially titled C-69 and has not yet passed, and in the fall economic statement.
- READ MORE: Five weeks stand between MPs and the BBQ circuit, here's what the Liberals want to pass first
Most stolen cars are said to be sold overseas, particularly in Africa and the Mideast. Virani says the money from stolen vehicle sales is being used to fuel criminal activity in Canada.
"Those measures will help in the fight not just against organized crime, but against terrorist organizations as well," Virani said.
"This is largely about financial crimes and using the vehicle as a commodity to profit from," Bryan Gast of Equite, a non-profit that supports insurers to combat insurance crime, said in an interview Monday with CTV News Channel. "Being able to choke that financing off will have a downstream positive effect."
The 'root cause'
The plan would also allow courts to order someone to keep their bank account open to assist a police investigation, and bar financial institutions from closing that account if criminal activity is suspected.
"Investigations need to follow the money path. That is what we are doing with these changes," Virani said.
The federal government is proposing a new "aggravated factor" in sentencing, applied to adult offenders who involve a young person in their crimes. Virani says he hopes that will allow police to better target criminal gang leaders, rather than lower-ranked, and often far younger, members who do their bidding.
"Who is directing those youngsters? Who is directing that teenager? Who is orchestrating and providing the resources for that teenager?" he asked. "The root cause is not the actual teenager doing the theft. The root cause is the adult criminal who is leading them, or in fact forcing them, to do that crime."
So far this year, police have seized close to 1,200 stolen vehicles, according to Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who also spoke on Monday. Generally, most carjackings are carried out by violent street gangs, the federal government says.
Meanwhile, the federal Conservatives have tabled their own anti-theft legislation wrapped in : the Combating Motor Vehicle Theft Act. It's in its second reading in the House, meaning it is not yet law.
The bill would increase prison time for people found guilty of gang-related car theft for the third or subsequent time from six months to three years.
- READ MORE:
C-379 is part of a larger plan put forward by the Conservatives to combat theft, which party leader Pierre Poilievre detailed in February.
What about manufacturers?
Critics have also pointed to car manufacturers, demanding they do more to protect their vehicles from increasingly accessible theft devices.
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme says officials are in talks with manufacturers to do that.
"They brought a couple devices you can buy (online)," said Duheme, speaking of a recent meeting with one unnamed company where they discussed the technological arms race between carmakers and thieves.
Equipment used to spoof wireless keys, which is available for purchase by criminals online, is constantly updated to dodge software updates from manufacturers trying to play whack-a-mole, Duheme said.
He added that carmakers appeared interested in stepping up their prevention efforts, adding that details from their talks with government would be released soon.
"If you look at a company whose car is regularly stolen, nobody is going to buy that car," he said.
With files from CTV News' Dorcas Marfo
Correction
A previous version of this article incorrectly identified Equite as an investigative firm. The company's description has been updated.Â
IN DEPTH
![](/polopoly_fs/1.6922467.1718138898!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
![](/polopoly_fs/1.6850735.1713368648!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½
![](/polopoly_fs/1.6877535.1715120774!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
A Sturgeon County man has been charged after he allegedly shot a teen over the weekend.
Authorities broke up an altercation involving "numerous" golfers at a course in B.C.'s Lower Mainland over the weekend – an incident that was apparently prompted by serious breaches in etiquette.
Former Breakfast Television co-host and radio broadcaster Scott Boyd has died at the age of 68.
An Ontario judge has granted the University of Toronto an injunction allowing it to clear out a pro-Palestinian encampment from its downtown Toronto campus
RFK Jr. says he has 'skeletons in my closet' after sexual assault allegation
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Tuesday he has 'so many skeletons in my closet,' when asked about an allegation in a Vanity Fair article that he sexually assaulted a former family babysitter.
An eastern Ontario doctor facing four charges of first-degree murder and negligence causing death in connection with the deaths of four seniors at a Hawkesbury hospital was acquitted on all charges at the Ottawa courthouse on Tuesday.
Police in Cornwall, Ont. have seized approximately $1.3 million worth of cocaine and $300,000 in cash as part of a major drugs investigation.
Are fewer Canadians having children? We want to hear from you
Are you choosing not to have children? CTVNews.ca wants to hear from you.
NHL free agency shows teams in U.S. states with no income tax have an advantage
It's become difficult to deny the impact of favourable tax situations for teams around the NHL.
Local Spotlight
![](/polopoly_fs/1.6946213.1719658191!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
When Zhya Aramiy was living in Turkey and Iraq, he had to keep his Pride flags hidden away.
A rave at the Ontario Science Centre was the place where Greg LeBlanc says his relationship first began with his husband Mark in 1997.
Travellers watch as WestJet cancels flights with no end to mechanics strike in sight
Travellers flying with WestJet continue to watch as the airline cancels more flights due to a sudden strike by its mechanics union.
An unknown Newfoundland soldier killed in the First World War is being laid to rest
The remains of a soldier from Newfoundland killed in the battlefields of France during the First World War will be laid to rest in St. John's Monday, bringing an emotional end to a years-long effort in a place still shaken and forever changed by the bloodshed.
The city is entering the final stages of resuming water service through its repaired feeder main, as water consumption continues to fall below the city’s threshold level.
A grandfather and grandson duo proudly graduated alongside each other at the same northern Manitoba school.
A large basking shark was captured close to the shoreline on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore.
The world's largest hockey stick could soon become the world's most in-pieces hockey stick as a Vancouver Island community prepares to tear down and carve up the Canadian landmark.
For half a decade, a Saskatoon family has been trying to bring their orphaned niece to Canada, they say now it’s a matter of life or death.