Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc says Canada is committed to increasing the number of RCMP officers patrolling the U.S. border between ports of entry, though he said specific details are still to come.
Appearing at the public safety committee Tuesday, LeBlanc couldn’t provide exact specifics on the number of extra “boots on the ground,” but said those details will be announced in the coming weeks.
“We haven’t made, as a government, those final decisions,” LeBlanc told the committee, in response to questions from Conservative MP Raquel Dancho.
“There will be additional resources. Human and equipment. We will be making announcements in terms of procurement and personnel before (Jan. 20).”
That is the inauguration day of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, who last week threatened Canada with 25 per cent tariffs if Canada didn’t do more to stem the passage of people and illegal drugs across the border.
Trudeau met with opposition leaders in his office on Parliament Hill on Tuesday morning to brief them on the government’s plan for the Canada-U.S. border.
Trudeau’s office said he initiated the meeting, which lasted about an hour.
Trudeau met with premiers virtually in an emergency first ministers' meeting Nov. 27, two days after Trump’s threat, and flew with LeBlanc to Florida on Nov. 29, where they dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre emerged from the meeting to say that he will make the argument with everyone he can that Trump’s suggested tariffs will make life more expensive for Americans.
Poilievre said his demands are for Trudeau to fix the “disorder” at the border and the immigration system, as well as reverse economic damages he says were caused by the carbon price and an emissions cap on oil and gas production.
RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme also appeared before the committee, which is reviewing departmental spending requests — though much of the questioning related to border security.
Duheme told the committee the RCMP did not have intelligence about where people might try to cross the U.S. border, which would inform where to deploy additional officers and how many.
Dancho pressed Duheme in relation to Trump’s tariff threats, rather than reacting to surges coming into Canada at particular spots on the border.
“They’re saying right now this is happening. The people and drugs coming from Canada to the U.S. is their concern,” Dancho said, adding that Trump’s tariffs would send Canada into an economic recession.
Duheme said the challenging part is it’s only a crime once people or drugs actually cross into the U.S.
“There’s collaboration (with U.S. Customs and Border Protection). But I think it’s really important to identify those hot areas based on the position that the U.S. will take.”
LeBlanc said Monday the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency are providing a list of items that could enhance their existing capabilities at the border, such as drones or helicopters equipped with infrared sensors and night vision.
Speaking to reporters outside the committee, Duheme said protecting the border is a shared responsibility between both countries.
“The vested interests we have in the border (are) the same as the Americans,” Duheme said.
“You heard fentanyl, you heard firearms are coming up from the south. So it’s a shared responsibility.”
The flow of illegal firearms is a topic LeBlanc said he and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised with Trump at their dinner Friday night.
“The prime minister did say, when they were talking about their concerns around fentanyl and precursor chemicals and drugs, that we have for a long time worried about illegal firearms smuggled into Canada,” LeBlanc told the committee.
“We made that point to (Trump) that that was something we wanted to do in partnership with them.”
LeBlanc also told reporters on Monday that his department is mulling over expanding the CBSA’s mandate to include border patrol between ports of entry. Right now, that responsibility falls on the RCMP.
But LeBlanc said such a move would require a legislative change.
“We’re always looking at good ideas and we’re not dismissing this one, but it’s not a priority for us in terms of arriving at the conclusion we want,” LeBlanc said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 3, 2024.