I’d like to welcome you back to my weekly report on parliamentary business. The column took a few months off over winter, but watch for it in your local paper every week from now on.

If you have followed my column over the past few years you might know that I once had my car stolen from outside of my MP office. A joy rider took my car for a day and then returned it a block away with a smashed window. (The thief also took my jean jacket and my CD collection.) Therefore, I was personally very pleased when Prime Minister Harper announced a new strategy to target auto theft.

The Prime Minister announced new legislation that will make it a crime to:

• Alter, destroy or remove a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).
• Knowingly, sell, give, transfer, transport, send or deliver goods that have been acquired criminally.
• Possess property known to be obtained through crime for the purpose of trafficking.

In addition, the new legislation grants the Canada Border Services Agency the authority to identify and prevent stolen property from leaving the country.

These new provisions in the law are specifically targeted to stop gangs that export stolen automobiles from Canada. The law may not stop every car theft, but it will stop some of the car theft gangs, and that is something that all honest Canadians should be proud to support.