Letter to the editor: Auto-theft prevention is what we really need

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AN AUTO-THEFT PLAN

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Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc’s assertion is that his Liberal government is doing everything it can to combat auto theft. My response? BS!

In a W5 interview, everything LeBlanc listed was an “after-the-fact” action. How about invoking the old adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?”

They should be working with provincial counterparts to make anti-theft devices mandatory. They work. Eventually such devices would be mandatory inclusions at the manufacturers’ level. In the interim, make an after-market installation compulsory in vehicles already built and on the road. At least in the top 20 targeted makes.

Along with mandatory installation must be a substantial, mandatory insurance premium reduction. In 2023, insurers paid out $1.54 billion in auto-theft claims, up more than 20 per cent from 2022.

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Once these device installations are as ubiquitous as seatbelts, insurance companies would benefit from reduced costs (i.e. payouts). Meanwhile, until that maximum state is achieved, use claim-payout savings to fund premium reductions.

LeBlanc’s claims they’re doing everything they can is as bogus as another politician’s claim that speed cameras reduce speeding and are not a cash grab.

MIKE ALAIN

OTTAWA

THE WOKE RCMP

Re: RCMP adds ribbon skirt to uniform in effort to build bridges with Indigenous people, online, May 23

Having proudly served in the RCMP for nearly four decades, I no longer recognize it because of Justin Trudeau‘s new DEI-woke changes. Having travelled the globe as a member of the RCMP, I found foreigners recognized two symbols of Canada: its flag and the easily identified RCMP scarlet tunic. The more that uniform is changed, the less symbolic it will be.

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When I lived in England for five years, I learned that, unlike here, traditions there mean something. That includes maintaining easily identifiable uniforms in the police and military as being historically important.

LARRY COMEAU

OTTAWA

WHAT WOULD WILL SAY?

“I never met a man I didn’t like.” I wonder what the late, great American humourist Will Rogers would have said in the age of Donald Trump?

Likely something along the lines of: “Well, OK, I take that back.”

TIM FRANK

OTTAWA

HAVE YOUR SAY

Your letters are welcome, at: OttSun.Oped@sunmedia.ca. Include your first and last name AND city/town. Keep your letters short — and please try to be civil, even when criticizing or disagreeing. We edit for accuracy, length, clarity and legal concerns.

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