Surrey council directed city staff on Monday to ask the provincial government to bring forward legislation to 乌鸦传媒渃ombat乌鸦传媒� 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 乌鸦传媒渃urrently an absence of robust province-wide regulations to address the problem乌鸦传媒� and called for a 乌鸦传媒渓egislative framework乌鸦传媒� to deal with it.

In April council tweaked the city乌鸦传媒檚 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乌鸦传媒檚 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 乌鸦传媒減ersonally chased a guy down the street stealing a catalytic converter乌鸦传媒� from his neighbour. 乌鸦传媒淚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乌鸦传媒檓 wondering if we have done something or we can do something within our own bylaws to assist, just expedite things.乌鸦传媒�

Acting city manager Rob Costanzo replied that city bylaws were amended earlier in the year to 乌鸦传媒渁ddress the situation.

乌鸦传媒淭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,乌鸦传媒� Costanzo said. 乌鸦传媒淪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乌鸦传媒檚 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.乌鸦传媒�

Coun. Linda Annis said she乌鸦传媒檚 hearing from 乌鸦传媒渟everal reputable recyclers乌鸦传媒� who are 乌鸦传媒渞unning into difficulties乌鸦传媒� with Surrey乌鸦传媒檚 bylaw as currently written 乌鸦传媒渂ecause they乌鸦传媒檙e getting massive truckloads of scrap that may have a catalytic converter or two in the mix and they乌鸦传媒檙e losing a lot of business because those trucks are being re-diverted to other jurisdictions.

乌鸦传媒淚 know there乌鸦传媒檚 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.乌鸦传媒�