Ottawa to hold auto-theft summit amid uptick in stolen cars sent abroad

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced what he called a national summit on combating auto theft Sunday, just as the federal cabinet began meeting.

Political leaders, police, border agents and auto industry executives will be called together next month to try and come up with better ways to slow the growth in auto theft plaguing most major Canadian cities.

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced what he called a national summit on combating auto theft Sunday, just as the federal cabinet began meeting for a three-day retreat in Montreal.

The announcement comes as car theft has become a bigger problem across the country, with regular reports of cars disappearing from driveways and street corners in record numbers.

In 2022, vehicle thefts rose 50 per cent in Quebec, nearly as much in Ontario, and 35 per cent in Atlantic Canada. There were 9,600 vehicles stolen in Toronto alone that same year, 300 per cent more than in 2015.

And LeBlanc said more often the targets aren’t just parked cars, but ones where drivers are still behind the wheel.

“One of the things that concerns all of us is it’s becoming a violent crime where people are assaulted in the process of stealing vehicles,” LeBlanc said.

“So we think it’s an important opportunity for us to work with partners across the country and take action to deal with something that’s increasingly becoming a concern in every part of the country.”

Toronto-area police services say there was a 104-per-cent increase in carjackings between 2021 and 2022.