It probably should be that simple. Unfortunately, Canada is a surprisingly broken place in many ways.
We have to remember that policing in Canada is heavily unionized, on top of being taxpayer-funded. That means quality of service is just not a concern at all most of the time. There are no repercussions for the police doing a bad job.
There is perhaps even some incentive to let there be some crime: this lets the police call for an even bigger budget the next year. In general, less-serious crimes are basically ignored in many cases, and even serious crimes don't get much attention.
The situation is complicated by the fact that many involved with auto thefts, especially in and around Toronto and other major cities, are foreigners/immigrants/"minorities". There's a tendency for activists and the media to cry "racism" or "police brutality" whenever such people are subjected to any sort of policing, no matter how reasonable and necessary this may be, and no matter how irrelevant race is to the situation. Politicians and the police end up backing off, presumably because they don't want to deal with the faux outrage that might arise if they actually did go after such criminals in any meaningful way.
Criminals with foreign citizenship also often have the ability to flee Canada, which can make arrests very difficult, if not impossible.
It can vary by region, but the criminal courts are often backlogged, too. Even if an arrest is made, and an investigation is performed, and prosecution is deemed feasible, it's not that unusual for cases involving serious crimes to be thrown out due to it simply taking too long to process them.
In the relatively rare situation where a case is actually heard and a conviction is obtained, it isn't uncommon for judges to be extraordinarily lenient when sentencing. This is especially true if so-called "indigenous" or "minorities" are involved.
On top of all of that, it doesn't help that self-defense is perhaps one of the most criminalized activities in Canada. Canadians aren't permitted to arm themselves in any meaningful way, and we aren't permitted to defend ourselves against criminals except under very limited circumstances. If you happen to see your property being damaged or stolen, for example, the only practical option is to sit back and watch the crime happen. Any sort of direct intervention, no matter how reasonable, will likely be worse for you than for the criminal(s).
There are probably other factors that I missed. Something that should be quite simple ends up being tremendously complicated.