The Canadian government says it is proposing a joint strike force and an “around the clock” aerial surveillance unit for ports of entry as part of its plan to tackle issues at the U.S.-Canada border amid growing pressure from president-elect Donald Trump.
The planned North American joint strike force is one of several announcements that came from the government’s fall economic statement, which saw $1.3 billion announced for added border security measures.
Alongside the task force, which Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said could include dedicated synthetic drug units and support in operational surges, Ottawa also proposed investing in the deployment by the RCMP of a new aerial surveillance task force.
This force would include helicopters, drones and mobile surveillance towers to provide “around the clock” surveillance between ports of entry, though a timeline for them is unclear.
That’s among other measures like expanding the Canada Border Services Agency’s mandate and sharing more information with Americans about sex offenders travelling to the U.S.
The announcement comes amidst growing pressure from U.S. president-elect Donald Trump to crack down on border security and the trafficking of drugs.
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Last month, Trump said he will sign an executive order imposing a 25-per cent tariff on all products arriving in the United States from Canada and Mexico.
The president-elect posted to Truth Social that the duties will be among his actions on his first day back in the White House on Jan. 20 — Inauguration Day.
Trump said the tariff will remain in place until both countries stop drugs, in particular fentanyl, and people from illegally crossing the borders. He said until those issues are solved, Canada and Mexico will “pay a very big price!”
LeBlanc also announced money would be put towards new chemical detection, imaging and artificial intelligence-powered tools and canine teams to “better detect” illegal drugs at ports of entry.
But he added they also plan to look at what’s going out of the country into the U.S., noting funding would be used to expand the Canada Border Services Agency’s (CBSA) mandate to allow for agents to inspect exports in the same way they do imports, to enable “us to crack down on the domestic production and export of illegal drugs like fentanyl.”
Asked if the plan would be enough to stop the tariffs from impacting Canada, LeBlanc said a meeting with the U.S. incoming border czar Tom Holman, where he spoke about the plan, was “encouraging.”
“I’m encouraged by that conversation,” he said. “I’m optimistic, we have a lot of work ahead of us. It’s important that, I think, people understand, and I said this to our American counterparts, the fight against fentanyl is very much a fight that Canadians want to have because of its impact in Canada.”
Earlier this month, LeBlanc had said Ottawa “shares” Donald Trump’s concerns about the flow of irregular migrants and illegal drugs across the world’s largest undefended border.
Freeland resigned from cabinet early Monday — doing so in a scathing letter to the prime minister that cited a difference of opinion on the direction of federal finances — leaving Karina Gould, leader of the government in the House of Commons, to table the Fall Economic Statement in the chamber.
LeBlanc, who has served in cabinet since 2015, was sworn in at Rideau Hall to the role on Monday, becoming minister of finance and intergovernmental affairs.
He will also remain as minister of public safety, which is responsible for both the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canada Border Services Agency.
–with files from Global’s Alex Boutilier and Sean Previl
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