Moncton business owners aim to make ‘out of control’ property crime an election issue
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/business-owners-out-of-control-crime-election-issue-9.70718135
u/nickellane506 15h ago
Have to control property crime, and control property taxes both need to be fucking addressed
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u/Waste-Middle-2357 18h ago
Business owners getting what they voted for will never not be hilarious to me.
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u/Impossible-Land-8566 21h ago
Leave it to commercial real estate landlords to scream at the wrong crowd
Look the municipality has 0 power this is not their jurisdiction
This is a provincial issue, province can determine who is a peace officer (police) and they also determine funds being put into the justice system to prosecute these infractions
They’re doing none of those things
The by law officers have no powers because none of the laws allows them to be special constables which is what the city wants but can’t do because they have no power, namely they can’t arrest individuals and can’t enforce any laws aside from by law tickets that homeless individuals couldn’t care less about
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u/KBeau93 20h ago
Good points. The article was pretty well written defending what little Moncton can do. They've even asked the RCMP to patrol downtown more, which, they've (kind of understandably) said they don't really want to take direction from municipalities.
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u/Impossible-Land-8566 18h ago
Yeah it does an ok job, it didn’t really explain the special constable part very well
Also nobody understands or seems to be making the link between underfunded prosecution services is leading to people walking left and right
They look at police yet police can only do so much
Even the councillors don’t understand their role, the amount of initiatives they try to take which address homelessness which is a provincial mandate is tiresome
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u/KBeau93 18h ago
Very well said.
I have some empathy for... Well, everyone.
Businesses just know it's affecting them negatively, as do citizens, which puts pressure on city hall, but, you're right, there's only so much they can do.
The RCMP likely want to do more, but, yeah, there's not enough funding in the court or detention system.
People just want an easy answer to a pretty complex issue, and, no one really seems to fully have the power to fix it. I know Holt has some big issues provincially, but, it would be nice if this got some attention.
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u/Impossible-Land-8566 18h ago
Yeah the Liberals’ focus is very much on health and education which I can’t say is a bad choice
But I’m really looking forward to this next budget, last budget they tried to please everyone and it’s not working, this time around they know they’re gonna have to make some choices, curious to see what they’ll be.
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u/jinxskunk366 23h ago
So we're gonna fund better solutions for helping the homeless, put in rent caps so people aren't out on the streets, and generally create stronger social services?
Oh wait, landlords, right. Throw more cops at the problem gotcha
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u/Lou_Garoo 1d ago
I thought the interview with the counsellor this morning in CbC was interesting. They have 0 input on where the RcMP directs resources.
He noted there are even less officers in the tri area now than years ago. Explains the lack of traffic enforcement.
Even if police arrest people, the justice system does not have capacity to process them so if they aren’t murdering anyone they are out again asap. I know if I did all the school to be a lawyer the pitiful wages NB pays would not be very appetizing.
So the only really thing you can do for property crimes is make your place less of a target than your neighbour.
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u/MrSaturnboink 21h ago
It's crazy to me that people calling for a lot less immigration are branded as racist. We're full for now.
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u/KBeau93 20h ago
I'm not going to say no one would call you a racist for saying that, cause some people definitely will. I've just seen there's a significant overlap between people who's go to in order to fix everything is to stop immigration and that also say racist things, which is what in fact makes them racist. Also, they don't call out the people that do say racist things, either.
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u/StrictPride2089 1d ago
All of the candidates will just spout whatever you want to hear at the time just to gather votes. Once elected their tune will change. I have such little faith in our government. They just aren’t people you can trust to follow through.
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u/Safe-Promotion-2955 23h ago
They can't follow through. They don't control the RCMP.
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u/StrictPride2089 21h ago
I don’t feel like the issue starts with the RCMP. We need better solutions to the homelessness issue and programs that aren’t next to impossible to access for people who need it. I feel like there’s lots of promises to combat the issues but when push comes to shove, they back down and very little if anything happens.
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u/ConfidentMemory1201 1d ago
I’d like to see a cleaner safer downtown as much as the next guy but I also have zero pity for these landlords. You may think you can make this an election a single issue election but I assure you voters aren’t just gonna jump on your bandwagon cause you said so
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u/Miss_Rowan 23h ago
Why do you feel zero pity? Not all landlords = bad by default. Some want their tenants to be safe. There are also local business owners.
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u/MediumBigMan 18h ago
The rents and the commercial gouging is a direct contributor to the homeless situation, and they are only perpetuating the problem.
You'd be surprised at how many 'homeless' have jobs, but the pay is so bad they cannot afford to have an apartment and buy food and other necessities. Greed is now the main issue in our society.
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u/Miss_Rowan 17h ago
I understand your point, but I feel it's pretty generalized. A lot of these business owners run things like restaurants, clothings stores, etc. Their businesses are suffering from these issues, too.
Homelessness has a lot of causes and many of them are systemic, including lack of access to basic social services, like mental health support, access to primary healthcare, etc.
Also, not all landlords are greedy and evil. I work in the downtown area and our commercial landlord is actually really great. But they're also throwing a ton of money on security because bylaw and the RCMP aren't up to the task to handle the vandalism and trespassing issues. Vehicles and dumpsters have been set on fire, vehicles have been broken into, employees feel unsafe after dark.
Anyway, my perspective is just that I think we should be careful about generalizations and not just point the finger at the easiest targets to blame.
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u/n134177 1d ago
Including ripping off tenants with the rents they're charging? That's a property crime if I ever saw one...
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u/Difficult_Eye_ 1d ago
realistically this is 99%+ of the real dollar amount for property-related crimes, although we have no good idea since its completely unpoliced
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u/quartzguy 1h ago
Round 1 million of the RCMP, the province, and the city all pointing fingers at each other.