Canada’s insurance crime watchdog says auto thefts were significantly down across the country in 2024. However, there is still concern that the numbers remain well above previous years.
17,600 is the number from the Insurance Bureau of Canada on how many auto thefts occurred nationwide in the first half of 2024. Compared with almost 22,000 the year before, that’s almost a 19 percent drop, and in Quebec, the difference was even more, a decline of about 33 percent.
The data comes a year after government officials, police and other partners met during an Ottawa summit aimed at finding solutions to the problem, a national action plan.
Bryan Gast is with the insurance watchdog, Association Equite. He says there is a real effort to coordinate the fight against auto theft.
“Now the fact that everybody is working together. They’re not working in silos. The partnerships and the collaboration are outstanding. Provinces working together, the CBSA, provincial and municipal police services working together,” Gast said.
Despite the drop, the impact was still costly, to the tune of 545 million dollars. Insurance executives, however, say there’s still more work to be done.
They single out automakers as a group who can do more, citing anti-theft devices. But federal transport minister Anita Anand says Ottawa is working with the auto manufacturers, and there will be changes this year.
“We speak to manufacturers regularly and we are on top of how we can make our regulatory regime and our legislative regime under the criminal code as secure as possible for vehicle owners,” Anand said.
The insurance bureau says, however, that the problem remains significantly above historical trends. Others have also called for tougher criminal penalties for those engaged in auto theft.