Canadian government announces new border security plan amid Donald Trump tariff threats

CTV National News: $1.3-billion border plan Canada unveiled its approach to boosting its border security amid looming tariff threats from the U.S. Mike Le Couteur reports.

The federal government has laid out a five-pillared approach to boosting border security, though it doesn’t include specifics about where and how the $1.3-billion funding package earmarked in the fall economic statement will be allocated.

The announcement comes after U.S. president-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian imports unless Canada halts the flow of illegal drugs and migrants over the shared border.

“It's an important step to show Canadians and our American partners that we share their concern around border security and border integrity,” said Finance and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc — who is temporarily also maintaining the public safety portfolio until Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffles his cabinet — when asked whether he believes the new measures will be enough to satisfy Trump.

“We have taken note of president(-elect) Trump's comments,” LeBlanc also said, adding he’s had “encouraging” conversations with Trump’s incoming team, and he’s “optimistic.”

He would not say, however, whether he’s received assurances from the incoming administration that Canada can escape the tariffs, regardless of what the federal government puts on the table.

LeBlanc announced the new border measures alongside Immigration Minister Marc Miller, International Trade Minister Mary Ng, and Mental Health and Addictions Minister Ya'ara Saks on Tuesday.

In Monday's fall economic statement, the federal government earmarked a $1.3-billion border-security package over six years, with money rolling out to several agencies and organizations, including the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the RCMP, without revealing the specifics of the plan.

LeBlanc, meanwhile, has insisted plans to bolster the border have been underway for months, and are not an attempt to appease Trump to avoid the tariffs.

The five pillars of the new plan include: detecting and disrupting the fentanyl trade, new tools for law enforcement, enhancing operational coordination, increasing information sharing, and minimizing unnecessary border volumes.

Within those, the federal government is proposing measures such as new AI and imaging tools to help detect illegal drugs and deploying new canine teams.

Plans for a new aerial task force — comprised of helicopters, drones and surveillance towers — are also outlined, pledging 24/7 surveillance between ports of entry, plus expanding the intelligence collection capacity of certain agencies and measures to target money laundering.

The federal government also plans to streamline information sharing between Canada and the United States, as well as between different levels of government with law enforcement.

LeBlanc also said there will be additional human resources at the border, with the goal of recruiting about 100-150 people — between the RCMP and CBSA — fairly soon.

The union representing front-line customs and immigration officers at the CBSA, meanwhile, has been raising concerns about understaffing, saying it would need between 2,000 and 3,000 additional officers in order to effectively do their job.

LeBlanc has dismissed that, saying earlier this month that senior executives who run the CBSA have a different position.

Canada’s premiers have also weighed in on the issue.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford — who chairs the Council of the Federation of Canada’s premiers — has said provincial and territorial leaders are united in their belief that securing the border and boosting defence spending are the two ways to “make a deal with the U.S.”

“It was very clear that all premiers believe we should hit our two per cent (of GDP on defence spending) when it comes to NATO. So, we're all in agreement,” Ford said earlier this month. “Every one of us is in agreement that we have to tighten up the borders.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, however, has laid out a series of border-security measures, including $29 million to create a team of specially trained sheriffs tasked with patrolling the Alberta-U.S. border.

Quebec Premier François Legault, whose province’s border sees the highest number of illegal crossings across the country, spoke with Trump in Paris earlier this month, during the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Legault later said Trump told him "very clearly that we can avoid those tariffs if we do what needs to be done with the borders."

The National Police Federation welcomed the news of additional funding in a statement Tuesday, despite that the exact details of the plan are yet unknown.

“The National Police Federation has long advocated for increased funding for the RCMP’s federal policing program, which includes border security, and we welcome today’s promise for such investment,” NPF President and CEO Brian Sauvé wrote in the statement.

Federal Conservatives, meanwhile, say the Liberals should have presented a border plan sooner, adding that with Trump set to head back to the Oval Office in just 40 days, the government “has still not presented a Canada First plan to save Canadian jobs and secure our border.”

While the House of Commons adjourned for the holidays on Tuesday, Conservatives are pushing for a parliamentary committee to hold hearings during that break, seeking testimony from certain ministers, border and law enforcement, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., and other officials.

But Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, when asked during a press conference on Tuesday how much he would spend on the border — whether more or less than the $1.3 billion the Liberals are allocating — wouldn’t say.

“We should not judge a program based on how expensive we can make it,” Poilievre said. “We should judge it by what it can do: how many helicopters, how many drones, how many boots on the ground?”

“That's the question I will be asking when I'm prime minister,” he added. “And how do we deliver it for the lowest possible price to taxpayers?”

Poilievre did not elaborate on specifically which human and equipment resources he would commit to the border.

With files from CTV News' Judy Trinh, Rachel Aiello and Stephanie Ha