Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Tuesday that Ottawa “shares” Donald Trump’s concerns about the flow of illegal immigrants and illegal drugs across the world’s largest unprotected border, and promised that Canada would send more personnel and equipment to border security before the president-elect’s inauguration in January. January. 20.
“There will be additional resources, both human and equipment. We have said that constantly,” LeBlanc told a House of Commons committee on Tuesday morning.
“We will be making announcements regarding procurement and staffing before that date. We are finalizing that as a government based on the advice we have received, good advice from the RCMP and from the Border Services Agency.”
“I understand it’s exciting and Canadians want to understand it, (but) the good news is it’s coming,” LeBlanc added.
Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all goods entering the United States from Canada and Mexico until he was satisfied with those countries’ efforts to address his border security concerns.
While these tariffs would be devastating to the Canadian economy, they would also significantly raise the cost of goods for American citizens. Canada and the United States are each other’s largest trading partners, according to the federal government, with nearly $3.6 billion in goods crossing the border daily in 2023.
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Tariffs would also jeopardize American energy security. According to the United States, Canada’s crude oil exports reached a record high of 4.3 million barrels per day, exceeding the 49 mark.y Parallel last July.
But the president-elect has signaled to the world that he is willing to risk economic pain — both at home and abroad — unless countries heed his demands.
LeBlanc was one of a small Canadian delegation that visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday evening, along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his chief of staff, Katie Telford.
The Public Safety Minister told reporters before the committee that the meeting was social, but included a conversation about trade and border security that he believed was “very productive.”
Much Canadian media coverage has been devoted to Trump’s quip that if Canada were so dependent on American trade, the country should become the 51st largest country in the world.street state. But LeBlanc said Trump was simply “harassing” the Canadian delegation.
“The president was making jokes… This was not, of course, a serious comment on this issue in any way,” LeBlanc said.
Gerald Butts, Trudeau’s former principal secretary who was deeply involved in Canada’s response to Trump’s first term between 2016 and 2019, said Trump has repeatedly made similar comments to Trudeau before.
“Trump used this 51street The all-time state line with Trudeau in his first term. “He’s doing this to shake the Canadian cages,” Potts wrote on the social media platform BlueSky.
“When someone wants you to freak out, don’t.”
Trudeau and the federal Liberals have been under pressure domestically to provide a detailed plan on how they plan to address the president-elect’s immediate concerns — and avoid devastating tariffs — but also on how Canada will handle a second term with an aggressive Trump administration.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre suggested Trudeau was responsible for “breaching” the border. Poilievre — who is likely to become prime minister in next year’s general election and will be tasked with dealing with the Trump administration — suggested Canada put a cap on asylum applications, as well as increased enforcement to tackle drug trafficking.
“The truth is that Trudeau has lost control of the deficit, immigration and our borders,” Poilievre said.
The total number of asylum claims considered by the federal government rose from 16,050 in 2015 — the last year the Conservatives were in power under Prime Minister Stephen Harper — to 143,360 in 2023, the last full year for which data is available.
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