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Global News
5 days ago
- Global News
Ontario construction business, communications tower latest targets of copper theft
The Ontario Provincial Police say a local construction business and a communications tower are the latest sites to be targeted for copper thefts. Police said there was a 'significant theft of copper wire' from a construction yard in Temiskaming Shores, just north of Sudbury. Officers responded to the yard on July 11 but police said the theft happened sometime between July 6 and 11. Police found a substantial quantity of copper wire was removed from heavy machinery that was stored at the back of the construction yard, including multiple rock crushers and conveyors. The value of the stolen materials is estimated to be more than $40,000, police said. However, police noted the total loss is expected to be higher once repair costs and machinery downtime are factored in. Story continues below advertisement Meanwhile, police are also looking into two separate incidents of copper theft from a communications tower in Corbeil, just outside of North Bay, early on July 14 and on July 16. Police said the tower is situated within a fenced compound secured with padlocks and chains. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'Upon inspection, the enclosure was found unsecured, and the locking mechanisms were missing,' police allege. Police said the tower stands between two buildings that has cables running up from both structures and that the cables 'appear to have been cut using a power tool.' 'It is believed that the tower was then climbed and the opposite ends of the cables were also severed,' police allege. Anyone with information on either incident, including suspicious sightings or activity, is asked to contact police. In relation to the communications tower copper theft incident, police said there is a possible cash reward of up to $2,000 for information. 2:02 Rising copper wire theft frustrate Alberta utility providers, homebuilders and police Copper theft on the rise in Canada Earlier this month, four Ontario men were charged after 33 hydro poles cut down for their copper in a rural area of Ontario. Story continues below advertisement Police in Durham Region issued a warning in May about copper thefts happening from air conditioners and heat pump units in Oshawa. Police said they had received 22 reported incidents since the beginning of the year. Telecommunications companies such as Bell Canada and Telus said they have noted an increase in copper thefts. Bell Canada said copper thefts has grown at an 'astronomical rate' over the past few years in Canada and that a large portion of the thefts are happening in east end of the country. Telus reported a 58 per cent increase in 2024 from 2023 in the amount of copper thefts in Alberta. In Edmonton specifically there was a 238 per cent increase in copper thefts. Bell Canada says copper theft has grown at an astronomical rate over the past few years in Canada, with a large portion of the thefts occurring in the east end of the country.
CTV News
6 days ago
- CTV News
Copper wire thefts disrupt cell service near North Bay
The copper wire thefts took place overnight July 14 and July 16, and are affecting a communications tower located on Centennial Crescent in Corbeil. Two copper wire thefts are disrupting cellular service in the area of East Ferris Township, Ontario Provincial Police said Thursday. The copper wire thefts took place overnight July 14 and July 16, and are affecting a communications tower located on Centennial Crescent in Corbeil. 'The tower is situated within a fenced compound secured with a padlock and chains,' the OPP said in a news release Thursday. 'Upon inspection, the enclosure was found unsecured, and the locking mechanisms were missing. The tower, which stands between two buildings, has cables running up from both structures. The cables appear to have been cut using a power tool. It is believed that the tower was then climbed and the opposite ends of the cables were also severed.' 911 calls may not go through As a result, cell service could be affected in some areas, meaning 911 and other calls may not go through. 'If you're unable to connect, consider moving to an area where a signal may be available,' police said. 'The OPP will maintain an increased presence in the community to support residents. We continue to work with local emergency response partners.' On social media, Bell Canada said they are 'working to repair the damage and restore service levels.' The most recent update said Bell was aiming to have service restored by the end of the day. 'Copper theft continues to be a growing issue,' Bell said. 'These incidents are causing numerous customer outages, including access to critical emergency services like 911. We ask anyone who witnesses suspicious activity in the vicinity of telecom infrastructure to contact local law enforcement.' Anyone with information regarding the copper wire thefts is asked to contact the North Bay OPP at 1-888-310-1122. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online, where you may be eligible to receive a cash reward of up to $2,000.
Toronto Sun
10-07-2025
- Business
- Toronto Sun
LILLEY: CRTC's misguided internet ruling needs hard reboot from Carney Liberals
Companies like Bell Canada were told to open internet services to competitors, which has killed investment Get the latest from Brian Lilley straight to your inbox Bell Canada signage is pictured in Ottawa on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. Photo by Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS If we want investment and jobs in Canada, we need smart decisions, not dumb ones. Too often, though, the federal government or federal regulators favour dumb decisions over smart ones and drive investment and jobs out of the country. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account In November 2023, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, Canada's broadcast and telecom regulator, ruled that companies like Bell Canada needed to open their internet services to competitors. Look, we all want cheaper internet rates, cheaper mobile phone plans and what we are charged in Canada is outrageous. Yet, what the CRTC did was bring in a decision that cost thousands of jobs, billions in investments and pushed Bell to expand into the United States. At the time of the November 2023 decision, Bell was in the middle of expanding their fibre internet product across the areas they serve. Doing so required billions of dollars in investments and resulted in thousands of jobs being lost for those doing the work. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. With their idiotic decision in late 2023, the CRTC told Bell they had to open their network to competitors as soon as it was installed at discounted rates. This meant that Bell's competitors could choose to not invest a dime, but come in and offer the same product at a reduced cost right away. Read More If you are Bell or Cogeco, which has appealed the decision, why would you spend money to expand your network to the top tier that customers now demand? Your competitors could just come in and sell your own product at a reduced cost with zero investment. A few months after the CRTC decision, Bell announced 4,800 layoffs, most of them related to the decision not to expand their network. They also pulled back billions of dollars of investments into expanding their fibre internet. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In late 2024, they announced they would spend $5 billion to acquire a U.S. internet services company called Ziply that operates in the Pacific northwest. There is no question that without the CRTC decision, Bell would have invested that money in Canada. Due to the decision, though, the investment went stateside, as will many future investments by Bell and others. Why would anyone put money into investing in Canada when doing so would immediately benefit competitors? In fact, that was the position Telus took before the CRTC made its decision in fall 2023. 'Mandated wholesale access discourages investment in new technologies and trades innovation and dynamic competition for underinvestment and stasis in innovation. This will leave Canadians behind as technology moves forward, but investment does not,' the company said in a submission to the CRTC in April 2023. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. After the CRTC affirmed its decision in June 2024, Rogers came out against it, even though they could benefit in some markets. 'The CRTC's misguided decision runs counter to the federal government's own agenda to drive real competition, encourage network investment and expand connectivity to rural and remote regions of Canada. At a time when Canada needs investment to grow the economy, the commission is doubling down on a failed policy that won't create competition and will reduce capital investment,' the company said. In markets like Windsor, Rogers could use this decision by the CRTC to resell the investment made by their competitor Cogeco and weaken them to the point of collapse. Still, Rogers called out this CRTC decision as wrong. We all want cheaper internet prices and there are ways to get there, but the CRTC's plan is not a route anyone should be following. Prime Minister Mark Carney's cabinet has a chance to overturn this CRTC decision next week. If they are serious about ensuring future investment in Canada, they will rebuke the regulator. If they are not, they will let this horrible decision stand. Toronto Blue Jays Olympics Ontario Basketball Entertainment
Toronto Sun
09-07-2025
- Business
- Toronto Sun
Bell Canada names Windsor as 'hotspot' city for copper thefts
Bell Canada says Windsor has become a 'hotspot' for thefts of its copper wiring. Overhead hydro, phone and cable lines are shown in Windsor on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. Photo by Dan Janisse / Windsor Star Copper wire crooks are cashing in, and Windsor's paying the price — with Bell Canada saying it's been targeted here with more thefts so far this year than in all of 2024. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Windsor has become one of Ontario's 'hotspots' for the crime, the telecommunications giant claims, alongside Hamilton and Cambridge, as thieves target Bell's phone and cable lines to strip and sell the valuable metal. What makes any particular city such a hotspot, a company spokesman told the Star, is having a ready market for such a stolen commodity. 'Somebody, generally locally, is purchasing it, and there's generally a local crew that's willing to do the theft,' said Dana Lohnes, Bell's director of field operations. 'Those are the two commonalities that we see across all the areas where this type of activity flares up.' Year-to-date, he said, 'the city has already exceeded the number of (Bell Canada) thefts that they would experience in 2024, and far more than they would have experienced in 2023. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'The volumes aren't huge, but the trend is definitely concerning.' Bell Canada says it's being kept busy in Windsor due to copper wire thefts. A service van with the telecommunications company is shown in downtown Windsor on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. Photo by Dan Janisse / Windsor Star But a spokesperson for the Windsor Police Service told the Star on Tuesday the department 'can not confirm' Bell Canada's claim that Windsor is a 'hotspot' for this type of theft. 'To provide an accurate statement, we would require supporting data and confirmation from other police services and agencies across Ontario,' Const. Bianca Jackson said in an email. Windsor police said the department has received 41 theft reports so far this year — just three shy of the total number reported over the same period in 2024. Last year saw city police investigate 81 reported copper thefts. 'We can confirm that we continue to actively investigate incidents of this nature in Windsor, and we remain committed to working with our partners to address these crimes,' Jackson said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. According to Lohnes, Bell Canada has logged 15 incidents targeting its copper wiring in Windsor so far in 2025. A sign on the Bell Canada building on Goyeau Street in Windsor is shown on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. Photo by Dan Janisse / Windsor Star 'I don't think there's anything specific to Windsor,' said Lohnes. 'What is here in common with the other communities that we would call 'hotspots' is there's a market.' Asked what areas are being hit, Lohnes said the copper theft incidents have been fairly 'sporadic' across Windsor. Bell Canada copper thefts are up 23 per cent from a year ago, with the company reporting more than 2,270 incidents nationwide since 2022. Ontario, New Brunswick and Quebec are the hardest-hit, with 63 per cent of all copper thefts occurring in Ontario. Copper theft … directly threatens the safety and well-being of Canadians This is not a victimless crime, the company said. Thieves who target the lines for copper are disrupting phone and internet access. Copper thefts now account for 88 per cent of all physical security incidents on its network, with over 500 cases reported in the first half of 2025. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Copper theft is a serious crime that directly threatens the safety and well-being of Canadians,' Bell's chief technology officer Mark McDonald said in a statement. 'These thefts are not just about stolen copper; the perpetrators often damage other infrastructure such as fibre cable, and the crime can potentially put lives at risk when people can't call 911 as a result of the damage.' To combat the rise in copper thefts, Bell Canada is boosting security by equipping sites with tamper-detection alarms, increased surveillance around targeted locations, and taking action against offenders. Major Canadian telecoms like Bell and Telus Corp. have been replacing copper in recent years with fibre, but the transition is still underway. Damage to copper lines can also harm fibre cables because they are often bundled together. The issue has come before the Senate Transportation and Communications Committee and Bell wants the Canadian government to amend the Criminal Code to increase penalties. The telecom said it is also accelerating its transition to all-fibre, which now covers 60 per cent of its network. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Read More Meanwhile, in a Canadian Press report on Tuesday, four people have been charged by the Ontario Provincial Police after allegedly cutting down more than 30 hydro poles in order to steal copper wire. The vandalism and copper theft was committed during the first week of May in the northern Ontario community of Coleman Township near the town of Cobalt. The OPP pegged the value of the theft at about $100,000. Four people, ranging in age from 34 to 51, are each facing multiple charges, including theft over $5,000 and trafficking in stolen goods over $5,000. The world's third-most-consumed metal, copper is used in a wide range of industries, from building construction to electronic products. One of its biggest markets in recent years has been electric vehicles. — With a file from The Canadian Press mholmeshill@ Olympics Basketball Uncategorized Toronto & GTA Toronto & GTA
Global News
09-07-2025
- Global News
Copper theft on the rise in Canada with Ontario, Quebec, N.B. the most victimized
Bell Canada says copper theft has grown at an astronomical rate over the past few years in Canada, with a large portion of the thefts occurring in the east end of the country. The firm says it has counted 2,270 copper thefts nationwide, with more than 500 cases reported over the first six months of the year. Ontario has by far seen the largest number of issues as 66 per cent of the thefts have occurred in the region, with Cambridge, Hamilton and Windsor being major hotspots for this type of crime, according to Bell. Earlier this week, Ontario Provincial Police announced that they had arrested four men after 33 hydro poles were chopped down in Coleman Township, about 200 km northeast of Sudbury, Ont. The thieves allegedly cut the poles down over the course of six days in early May, making off with $100,000 worth of copper wire. Story continues below advertisement A number of other police services have been issued warnings over the past year about copper thefts, including London, Dufferin County and Durham Region, where thieves have been stealing copper from air conditioning units. 1:30 More Telus service outages cause outrage amongst Edmonton customers While Bell says Ontario is the biggest area of concern, it says there have been a large number of occurrences in Quebec and New Brunswick as well Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'New Brunswick has emerged as one of the nation's hotspots for copper thefts, with more than 80 incidents this year alone,' a release from Bell said. 'The Fredericton–Oromocto corridor is particularly affected, with nearly 80 per cent of the province's thefts occurring in this area.' Quebec has accounted for 12 per cent of the cases, which places it as second in Canada. Bell says the thefts in that province often occur in the Saguenay region. Story continues below advertisement Bell is not the only company that has cried foul as one of its major competitors, Telus, has also tried to raise the alarm over the issue. Last year, Telus reported a 58-per cent increase from 2023 in the amount of copper thefts affecting its operations across Alberta. In Edmonton, the company said it has seen a 238-per cent increase in the thefts. 'It's not just something happening here in Edmonton, or Alberta or Canada,' said Brian Lakey, the vice-president of reliability of Telus' Service Reliability Centre of Excellence. He also serves as the co-chair of the Canadian Telecom Resiliency Work Group. 'The reason it's happening is because copper is a valuable commodity. This is something that's happening globally.' An incident in Calgary saw an entire neighbourhood lose its landline telephone service after thieves had stolen wiring. While it might seem like a victimless crime, the issue in Calgary pointed to why everyone needs to be concerned, as people lost access to communication with doctors and others while the phones were down. 'Copper theft is a serious crime that directly threatens the safety and well-being of Canadians,' Bell Canada EVP Mark McDonald stated. 'These thefts are not just about stolen copper; the perpetrators often damage other infrastructure such as fibre cable and the crime can potentially put lives at risk when people can't call 911 as a result of the damage.' Story continues below advertisement Guide One Insurance says that copper thefts are becoming more common as 100 per cent recyclable and recyclers pay, on average, 90 per cent of the new copper price for scrap copper. Back in April of 2020, copper futures stood at a low of $2.19 per pound while that number has skyrocketed to $5.12 as of Wednesday. That number will certainly continue to climb if U.S. President Donald Trump's threat of massive tariffs on copper holds true. In December, law enforcement officials told a Senate committee it was tough to combat copper thefts as they are generally a crime of opportunity and the infrastructure usually lacks basic security and its identifiers can be easily erased. They noted that the copper can be melted down, eliminating any traces to the crime it might be connected to. –with files from Global News and The Canadian Press
