QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety
Crime Rates
October 2, 2024
Senator Gold, crime is seriously up in this country. Like all crime, auto theft is apparently going through the roof. The Insurance Bureau of Canada reports the cost of insurance claims for auto theft in this country reached $1.5 billion last year. That’s an increase of 254% since 2018.
It’s also well known that the majority of these stolen cars leave Canada through your hometown, the Port of Montreal, which is the largest container port in Eastern Canada.
About a year ago, a newspaper in Montreal reported that the Canada Border Services Agency, or CBSA, had only five agents working on the waterfront in the port inspecting shipping containers. They also relied on one cargo scanner, which was broken down half the time. It kept breaking down.
Shame.
Could you give us an update on the circumstances around the Port of Montreal today and what they are doing to alleviate this obvious problem?
It’s the Trudeau export strategy.
They interrupt their own people too.
Thank you. I was waiting for the noise to die down a little.
As I have stated in this chamber before, this is a disturbing problem in my hometown and, indeed, in far too many others.
The government has done a number of things to increase the capacity of the CBSA to address this issue. Indeed, there are results, as I reported in this chamber: The CBSA intercepted over 1,800 stolen vehicles last year alone. Police continue to collaborate across jurisdictions. The government is supporting this work through significant investments. This includes $28 million to support the work of the CBSA, strengthen our borders against stolen vehicles and provide support for them in all areas of their work.
Well, you didn’t really answer what is going on at the Port of Montreal, but there is also the Port of Halifax. In May, the head of the Halifax Port Authority, Captain Allan Gray, spoke to the House committee. He informed the House committee that the CBSA was scanning zero export shipping containers at the Port of Halifax — none — so they would not know whether they were losing cars or not. He also said that in the five years that he has been managing the port, he has never seen the seizure of one car.
Unbelievable.
Can you give us an update on what’s going on at the Port of Halifax?
I don’t have specific information about the Port of Halifax. I’ll raise this with the minister.
