Ontario Liberal leader Stephen Del Duca announced over the weekend that if elected, he would take action to end a series of car thefts that plague Toronto.
The leader has already said he will ban the sale, possession, transportation and storage of pistols in Ontario, as well as suppress arms smuggling at the border, although little detail has been released on how the policy will be implemented.
On Saturday, Del Duca added that his government would strike a provincial working group on car theft to tackle car theft driven by organized crime. The working group will consist of representatives of various police forces, as well as prosecutors.
“Every day we see more and more brazen thefts of targeted cars. This is a frightening reminder that we need urgent action to remove weapons from our streets, “Del Duca said in a statement.
“These brazen attacks are escalating and threatening the lives of families in Ontario – and the fear must stop.
This commitment was not initially included in the Liberal Party’s platform.
Del Duca made the promise as he stood on the corner of Islington Avenue and The Queensway in Etobicoke, the area where Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner was abducted by a target car.
According to police, three suspects approached Marner’s car around 7:45 p.m. Two of them were armed with pistols and another had a knife.
Marner complied with the demands and was not physically injured, but said the incident was “terrible”.
Three armed car thefts occurred in Toronto on Wednesday within two hours.
As of Friday, Toronto Mayor John Torrey said there had been 93 car thefts in the city this year. At that time in 2021 they were 21.
Toronto police confirmed that out of 93 car thefts, 64 were under the mandate of the detention team and involved weapons or violence.
There were a total of 103 car thefts in 2021, police said.
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