Surrey council directed city staff on Monday to ask the provincial government to bring forward legislation to 含羞草研究社渃ombat含羞草研究社� catalytic converter theft throughout B.C.
Mayor Brenda Locke brought the motion forward on Sept. 11 and council voted in support of it on Oct. 16.
The mayor noted there is 含羞草研究社渃urrently an absence of robust province-wide regulations to address the problem含羞草研究社� and called for a 含羞草研究社渓egislative framework含羞草研究社� to deal with it.
In April council tweaked the city含羞草研究社檚 Scrap Metal Dealer Regulation Bylaw, Business License Bylaw and Surrey Municipal Ticket Information Utilization Bylaw and Surrey Bylaw Notice Enforcement Bylaw in an effort to curb local thefts. Among actions taken were to raise the maximum fines under the scrap metal bylaw to $50,000 from $10,000.
Surrey含羞草研究社檚 plan was conceived in January, when catalytic converter theft was significantly on the rise and made up almost 45 per cent of thefts from autos in this city.
Coun. Doug Elford told council he 含羞草研究社減ersonally chased a guy down the street stealing a catalytic converter含羞草研究社� from his neighbour. 含羞草研究社淚t can be done easily on bikes, very quick and very painful to the victims so I fully support this motion, but knowing how the Province works it may sort of drag this out and I含羞草研究社檓 wondering if we have done something or we can do something within our own bylaws to assist, just expedite things.含羞草研究社�
Acting city manager Rob Costanzo replied that city bylaws were amended earlier in the year to 含羞草研究社渁ddress the situation.
含羞草研究社淭he issue beyond our municipal borders would require the municipalities to enact similar bylaws which could be very difficult given the vast number of municipalities beyond Surrey,含羞草研究社� Costanzo said. 含羞草研究社淪o the concern is you can steal a catalytic converter in Surrey and sell it in Langley, for example, so the purpose of this motion would be for the Province to enact its own legislation to ensure it含羞草研究社檚 aligned with our bylaw that would allow us to more readily move forward and ensure that we can prevent this sort of issue from arising across B.C., not just solely in Surrey.含羞草研究社�
Coun. Linda Annis said she含羞草研究社檚 hearing from 含羞草研究社渟everal reputable recyclers含羞草研究社� who are 含羞草研究社渞unning into difficulties含羞草研究社� with Surrey含羞草研究社檚 bylaw as currently written 含羞草研究社渂ecause they含羞草研究社檙e getting massive truckloads of scrap that may have a catalytic converter or two in the mix and they含羞草研究社檙e losing a lot of business because those trucks are being re-diverted to other jurisdictions.
含羞草研究社淚 know there含羞草研究社檚 several major recyclers here in Surrey that are quite concerned about that so the sooner we can encourage the provincial government to get this fixed the better it would be.含羞草研究社�
