Life Insurance

TORONTO, April 26 /CNW/ - Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) today stronglyurged federal MPs to support Bill C-343, which would make auto theft aseparate offence under the Criminal Code and implement mandatory jail timesfor repeat offenders. Bill C-343 is currently before the House of Commons forsecond reading. "Bill C-343 is an important piece of legislation that could save lives,"said Mark Yakabuski, Vice-President, Federal Affairs and Ontario, IBC. "Itrecognizes that auto theft is a violent offence and should be treated assuch." He added: "Police say that auto theft is not a stand-alone crime. Takinga tough stand on auto theft helps police crack down on other offences, such asbreak and enter and drug trafficking." Currently, auto theft falls under theft of property over or under $5,000in the Criminal Code. Yakabuski added: "Auto theft is not merely a property crime. It is acrime that is both a serious and violent offence that threatens the safety andsecurity of our communities - something that the people of Ontario know alltoo well. We've all seen the media reports of Ontarians, including lawenforcement personnel, being injured or killed by people driving stolenvehicles." According to Statistics Canada, in 2005, the latest year for which datais available, a total of 39,483 motor vehicle thefts occurred in Ontario,including more than 16,200 in the city of Toronto alone. Overall, more than160,000 vehicles were stolen nationwide. Auto theft costs lives. A study by the National Committee to Reduce AutoTheft concluded 81 people were killed due to auto theft between 1999 and 2001. Auto theft costs Canadians more than $1 billion a year, a cost borne byevery citizen through taxes and insurance premiums. The national rate of autotheft is 56% higher than 20 years ago and is rapidly shifting away from beinga random act toward organized crime rings, as documented by Statistics Canadaand the RCMP. Insurance Bureau of Canada is the national trade association of theprivate property and casualty insurance industry. It represents more than 90%of the non-government home, car and business insurance in Canada. To view newsreleases and information, visit the media section of IBC's website atwww.ibc.ca.

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