I have concerns that I wish…

ERO number

013-4293

Comment ID

20469

Commenting on behalf of

Individual

Comment status

Comment approved More about comment statuses

Comment

I have concerns that I wish for my Provincial representatives to understand and voice on my behalf, regarding Bill 66.
My concerns are regarding the QUALITY that will remain in Ontario with what is referred to as "Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act" as it is currently presented.

I am concerned about the QUALITY of our environment. Both in Green spaces and in our Community.
There are blanket repeals in this act. I - as a layperson learning - read them as for convenience, not quality life or quality communities.
For "Schedule 1: Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs" - "Remove outdated and time-consuming reporting requirements"
For "Schedule 2: Ministry of the Attorney General" - "Repeal the Pawnbrokers Act."

Instead of repeal, these acts require (through provincial IMPROVEMENTS) greater support, not a lack or removal of support. Despite perceived "coverage" elsewhere.

A significant amount of finance, at every political level, goes towards enforcement. (Police / enforcement agency resources and tools.)
Support to enforcement and consequences deters crime.
As a result it provides citizens a sense of SAFETY and SECURITY - of person, of home, of community.
That safety and security results in positive attitudes, less "closing in of the wagons", relaxation, trust. When we feel that we may trust, when we feel secure, we relax, we are more inclined to go out, enjoy, creating a successful byproduct that we ADD to the ECONOMY! (Restoring in competitiveness to our society through financial freedom- even just in a social coffee or beer at the local shop).

For many years municipalities across Ontario have asked for PROVINCIAL SUPPORT with the Ontario Pawnbrokers Act. (Supported by many news articles sourced online).
To UPDATE the act.

The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police have requested, repeatedly, improvements to the Ont Pawnbrokers Act and support through implementation and support of a Provincial Electronic Searchable Database to break down borders of cities/communities that comprise our province and thus decrease crime through united deterrent, enforcement and consequences. ("The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police endorses ... attempt to change what Ontario’s top cops call an outdated system, but there is more frustration than hope with this group that has for more than a decade been unsuccessfully calling on the provincial government to change its laws." Sourced from Article "Pawnshop law needed: Police can’t track who sold items" Ottawa Citizen- 7 Oct 2013. Additional articles for such support may be found online.)

Currently the borders of cities/communities are taken advantage of by the criminal industry to profit from:
-THEFT from homeowners - Break and Enter/Theft
-THEFT of business - from bricks and mortar locations
-Theft of "Off the Truck" - of which I have learnt recently is a significant concern in Ontario such that "Insurance Bureau of Canada and the Canadian Trucking Alliance teamed in 2014" as this was a concern to the tune of MILLIONS of DOLLARS. (https://www.ttnews.com/articles/cargo-theft-rising-canada)

This results in free profit to the CRIMINAL INDUSTRY (and lost revenue to communities/taxes), that funds GREATER COMMUNITY CONCERNS - Drugs, Gangs and GUNS!
Resulting in an increased need of support down the road for the consequences of those community concerns.

Municipalities, the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police and citizens of Ontario have sought support from the Province.
Received by deaf ears.

Yet you are a "new government".

You may HEAR the call for support provincially to TIMEWARP us to MODERN times in the way that decades ago traffic concerns have been supported.
Traffic has been allowed to progress from 1800's technology and resources of pen and paper, an officer sitting on the side of the road to "just stop speeding", from logging license plates manually as they zoomed by to compare to license plate records - manually - from filing cabinets has been supported.

Enforcement has sought similar support of modern resources and technology to provide ACTIVE, POSITIVE enforcement and consequences for theft as has been provided for YEARS to traffic concerns through the Modern tools of RADAR TECHNOLOGY to stop/deter through consequences for speeding, red light runners, illegal turns....
In the equal way that a computers equipped with a searchable electronic database has been made available to officers, provincially, to confirm the car registration and ownership, that the driver maintains an active drivers license, etc.

Yet
Law enforcement in and between many Ontario municipalities continue to have available mere 1800's technology of manual (paper) for pawnbooks / ledger for second hand use shops/pawnshops/cash for gold - locations criminals sell off stolen items for profit.
Manual file cabinets are all that is available to maintain records, inefficiently, for items taken into those businesses, resulting in a poor use of resources, thus enforcement and consequences are not encouraged or maintained!
("No province-wide electronic database No Pawnbroker transactions are generally recorded manually and submitted to police services manually. The large amount of information transmitted makes it difficult and time-consuming to identify suspicious and/or stolen goods, much less link them to specific crimes." Sourced - DATE: November 8, 2017 - FILE NUMBER: ACS# ACS2017-EPS-GEN-0019
SUBJECT: REVIEW OF PROVINCIAL PAWNBROKERS ACT - https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja…)

The CRIMINAL INDUSTRY is PROFITING!
Organized CRIME is thriving in Ontario. UNCHECKED!
Community concerns GROW as thefts from HONEST citizens occur as they are working or at school! As they support society.
Many areas of our province have had a record number of GUN INCIDENTS in 2018.
The PROFIT from theft/selling stolen belongings is NOT going to charity or to school councils! It funds these community concerns!

While this Ontario Govt pledged 25 MILLION dollars to help with "guns and gangs", (https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/ontario-to-spend-25-million-to-h…) the PROVINCE is continuing to SUPPORT THE CRIMINAL INDUSTRY through a lack of enforcement and consequences that provide funds to the guns and gangs.

Removing what few outdated requirements exist as "many municipalities may have bylaws".
Yet even when the municipalities do have bylaws in place, the border issue of municipalities prevents success at municipal level, allowing criminals to just drive stolen "merchandise" a few KM away and be FREE to conduct business, to gain profit to fund greater crime.
(This perspective is supported with relation to "off the truck" as " it’s a relatively easy way to raise money that is invested in drugs where the rewards are much higher, ..... For instance, criminals may garner $7,000 from a stolen truckload and use it to buy cocaine that they sell in Toronto for $50,000," https://www.ttnews.com/articles/cargo-theft-rising-canada)
Likewise, breakin/theft of homeowners, resulting in profit from unchecked transactions through pawnshops/second hand use shops, cash for gold - funds the buyers for those drugs, that cocaine - providing greater profit to the criminal industry!
Funding the guns and gangs that Ontario is now trying to "help" with - after the fact.

Citizens need support at the provincial level to decrease profit from home breakin/theft to falling off the truck sales funding greater community concerns!

I encourage my provincial government to STOP THE REPEAL of the Ontario Pawnbrokers Act and to bring enforcement and thus consequences to modern times through the support of uniting municipalities through a Provincial Searchable Electronic Database, ideally a PHOTO database. To create greater success and efficiencies, to support and enable municipalities and your citizens that make up our province as a whole. To provide tools to hold criminals accountable and provide support and CONFIDENCE in Ontario citizens to then restore true competitiveness through pursuit of community life, greater relaxed, confident environment, therefore funding economical support by citizens thorough choice of greater relaxed spending over hiding behind locked doors at home.

My family was recently broken into and stolen from. The outdated Ontario Pawnbrokers Act allowed loopholes to exist where calls to close them were made over many years.
Yet instead of closing the loopholes it seems that my current provincial leaders are washing their hands of the act all together, likely unaware and thus without consideration to the consequences, encouraging support to the criminal industry rather than of the HONEST CITIZENS who are victimized as they are out working for a living!

I do not currently feel supported by my province or provincial representatives. Yet the resource cost, provincially, is minimal.
The resource/cost to such a positive, proactive endeavor would provide proactive effects to guns and gangs in earlier stages.

I look forward to your educating my community and I as to how you will support honest citizens in this situation.
Beginning with a re-examination of the Ontario Pawnbrokers Act.

Thank you for your time.