Property crime in Canada is out of control. In fact, two Canadian cities have the highest property crime rates across both Canada and the U.S.
According to a new study by the Fraser Institute, Lethbridge, Alta. and Kelowna, B.C. had the highest property crime rate per 100,000 people out of over 300 municipalities in both countries.
The study examined total property crimes–including burglary, theft, and fraud–as well as violent crimes adjusted for population across 36 Canadian metropolitan areas and 300 U.S. metropolitan areas between 2019 and 2022. It found that in both countries, crime rates are on the rise, though still historically low when compared to some past decades.
The report found that 25 per cent of Canadian metropolitan areas are in the top half of the U.S.-Canada violent crime rankings. Still, for property crimes, Lethbridge and Kelowna ranked the first and second highest per 100,000 people.
Despite making up only 10 per cent of the compared metropolitan areas for both nations, Canada accounted for nearly a quarter of the worst 10 per cent of cities in the property crime rankings. For violent crimes, Canadian cities only accounted for 3 per cent of the worst 10 per cent.
Since 2014, property crimes like theft, fraud and breaking and entering have increased in Canada. By 2022 the property crime rate was 27.5% higher than the U.S. While during the same period, the rate of violent crime such as homicide, robbery and aggravated assault had increased in Canada and by 2022 was 14% higher than in the U.S.
Kelowna, Vancouver and the Abbotsford-Mission area had among the highest property crime rates in all 49 urban areas in the Pacific region, which includes major U.S. cities like Seattle, Portland, San Diego and Los Angeles.
Seattle ranked higher than Vancouver, but Vancouver ranked higher than U.S. cities such as Portland and Los Angeles. In comparison, Vancouver had a 60 per cent higher property crime rate than Los Angeles.
Lethbridge and Calgary ranked higher than Las Vegas for property crime, while Lethbridge also ranked higher than the U.S. cities of Denver, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Los Angeles.
Canada’s Thunder Bay, London and Windsor are in the top-ten for highest property crime rates for all 86 urban areas in the Great Lakes region.
Toronto had a 40 per cent higher rate of per-person property crimes than New York City.
“Ontarians are no doubt aware that the rate of property crimes in the province’s biggest cities is on the rise, but they might not know how bad it’s become relative to American cities to the south,” said Livio Di Matteo, a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and author of the study said in a news release.
According to the study, Toronto, Hamilton, and Windsor, all ranked higher for property crime than New York and Detroit, as well as Flint and Ann Arbour, MI.
In terms of violent crime, Winnipeg was still Canada’s murder capital, yet still ranked 18th out of all the urban areas for per-person violent crime in Canada and the U.S.
Di Matteo said that crime rates being on the rise should be a concern to policy makers and Canadians despite still being historically low.
According to an Abacus Data poll from last October, 58 per cent of Canadians feel the government’s handling of crime and safety is negative. Crime was much more important to the general Conservative voter with 70 per cent saying there was a general negative outlook.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has made “stopping the crime” a key issue of his party’s campaign. He’s pointed to Liberal catch-and-release policies such as Bill C-75 and Bill C-5 which he says have led to the increase in crime.
Bill C-75 reformed the bail system to emphasize courts to grant bail more easily. Bill C-5 repealed mandatory minimum sentences.
Poilievre has vowed to make Canada safer by taking a harder approach to punishing criminals in Canada.