For Immediate Release:
July 22, 2011
SIMCOE – Tracking sex offenders will make Ontario families and children safer.
GPS technology would allow law enforcement officials to track what street a sexual predator is on. Police would be able to monitor sex offenders and, if needed, stop them from entering an area where there could be children.
Ontario’s Official Opposition is advocating registered sex offenders to wear GPS tracking devices. While 14,000 registered sex offenders are currently living in Ontario communities, police have no way of tracking the movements of these predators.
“It is important to know if a convicted sex offender is approaching a playground or school,” said Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett.
Three provinces, the federal government and more than 40 States use forms of GPS technology to monitor offenders.
On a similar note, the Opposition calls for a registry of homes used as meth labs or for marijuana grow operations.
Meth labs and grow ops can pose a danger to the health and safety of homebuyers and their families. For example, physical damage to a home caused by excessive moisture can lead to harmful chemical contamination, mould, structural alterations and electrical rewiring that can be a hazard. Often, cosmetic renovations disguise former use before the home is sold to an unsuspecting buyer.
Realtors are required to disclose if a home has been as a grow op or meth lab, but realtors may not have this information.
“The McGuinty government has refused to address these problems,” said Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett. “Technology allows us to address both issues.”
The Ontario Real Estate Association, the Independent Mortgage Brokers Association of Ontario, the Ontario Association of Home Inspectors, the Title Insurance Industry of Canada and the Insurance Bureau of Canada support a registry for properties used to manufacture an illicit drug.
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For more information, please contact MPP Toby Barrett at: (416) 325-8404,
(519) 428-0446 or 1-800-903-8629