TORONTO - Gangsters are setting up shop in the GTA suburbs and beyond as the provincial government focuses its anti-crime initiatives in Toronto, NDP MPP Peter Kormos says.
“When you have these concentrated efforts in Toronto, you push the guns, gangs and drugs activity beyond Toronto,” Kormos said Tuesday. “You push it down the 401 either way, you push it down the QEW, you push it north up the 427 into the Barrie area.
“Just look at the proliferation of grow ops in all of those regions that I just spoke of, the proliferation of criminal gang activity.”
The Ontario government announced $10 million for the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS) over two years.
Kormos said he supports more resources for TAVIS but believes that one-time, “relatively” small funding doesn’t get the job done.
Other communities need protection from gang-related crime and guns too, he said.
“This kind of so-called funding does nothing to increase overall police presence, never mind just here in Toronto but across the province,” he said. “This is Toronto-focused money. None of it is going to create new police officers. It’s going to fund programs.”
Kormos said court resources are also an issue as gang cases, many with large numbers of defendants and charges, work their way through an overburdened system.
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