The Doug Ford government is asking for more inspections and agents at Ontario ports, in addition to a review of the Criminal Code, ahead of the federal government’s national summit on auto theft this week.

In a letter dated Feb. 6, Ontario’s solicitor general wrote that national ports have become “hotspots for organized crime.”

“Stolen vehicles are slipping through them at an alarming rate,” Michael Kerzner wrote to Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc

“That is why we are asking for your government to invest in increasing outbound inspections at ports and rail yards. This is especially crucial at the Port of Montreal and the various rail yards in Ontario.”

In addition, Kerzner is requesting more border agents and officers at those ports, as well as an investment in technology that can be used to scan shipping containers.

"Every 14 minutes a vehicle is stolen in Ontario," he wrote. "This problem has turned into a crisis, and all levels of government need to work together to get a handle on it."

The requests in Kerzner’s letter are not new. For about a year Ontario Premier Doug Ford has been calling for federal change, saying he would like to see tougher sentences and penalties for individuals accused of auto theft and other violent crimes.

Just last week he told reporters at a news conference that he wanted to keep those accused in jail “as long as we possibly can.”

At the time, Canada's attorney general said he was open to reviewing the Criminal Code and to tweaking it if necessary to include harsher sentences.

Federal officials are set to meet industry executives, police representatives, and members of the Canada Border Services Agency on Thursday to develop a plan to tackle a spike in auto thefts nationwide. The government has promised new measures will be announced afterwards.

Pierre Poilievre points finger at Justin Trudeau for car theft spike

In a news release issued Monday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre placed the blame for Canada’s rise in violent auto thefts on the prime minister.

He reiterated his four-point plan to tackle auto thefts, which was released earlier this month in a campaign-style announcement in Brampton, Ont.

Among the ideas is an increase of mandatory prison time for repeat car thieves, from six months to three years.

He also wants to remove eligibility for some house arrests, remove so-called “catch-and-release” policies to ensure repeat offenders are not released on bail, and allow auto theft to be considered an “aggravating factor” if committed on behalf of organized crime.

The federal government says that auto theft rates in Quebec went up by about half in 2022 compared with the year prior. In Ontario, the numbers are similar.

Data from the Toronto Police Service’s public-facing dashboard shows a slight decline in car thefts last month. The data showed that 844 vehicles were stolen in the first few weeks of January comparted to the 963 vehicles stolen in the same period a year earlier. However, the same data shows that in 2023 more than 12,000 vehicles were stolen in Toronto, marking a five-year-high for the city.

Ontario Provincial Police confirmed a “slow in the rise” of car thefts late last month as well; however officials say the decline is not enough to offset concerns they have about violent vehicle crimes.