Manitoba beefs up border security with ‘a lot on the line’: McGuinty

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Canada’s Minister of Public Safety vowed that the federal government will continue to try to find a compromise with U.S. President Donald Trump, as the feds look to prevent the U.S. President from implementing tariffs on Canadian goods.

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“The president has spoken about this, and we’re listening,” federal Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said while speaking at the Pembina-Emerson border crossing near Emerson on Tuesday.

“President Trump has a job to do, and let’s just be clear about this for a second, he ran in an election, he has a platform, he made promises to his people, and in his mind he’s delivering on those promises, so we need to be respectful of that.”

McGuinty joined Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and other officials at the southern Manitoba border crossing on Tuesday for what was billed as a “border security exercise” demonstration, but that turned out to be far more of a photo-op and media conference than a demonstration.

The minister said that now that Trump has backed off on his original plan of implementing 25% tariffs on Canadian goods going into the U.S on Feb. 1, and said he will pause the tariff plan for at least 30 days, the federal government will put its focus on doing what it can to continue to convince Trump and the White House not to impose any tariffs on Canadian goods.

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“There is a lot on the line and there is a lot at stake,” McGuinty said. “We stopped tariffs from being brought onto both of our economies, and that’s a good thing. Canada and the U.S. have built the most successful military and economic partnership that the world has ever seen, and I believe it’s still the most successful.

“Our objective yesterday was to stop the tariffs, our objective today is to stop the tariffs, and our objective tomorrow is to stop the tariffs.”

Trump has repeatedly said that the tariffs would come if the Canadian government did not do more to stop dangerous and often lethal fentanyl from entering into the U.S. from Canada.

That’s despite the fact that statistics from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol show that only about 0.2% of all seizures of fentanyl entering the U.S. are made at the Canadian border, while the vast majority is confiscated at the U.S. border with Mexico.

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Despite those statistics, McGuinty said the feds are committed to stopping the flow of fentanyl between the two countries and want to show Trump that Canada is taking border security seriously.

“While our border is already secure we recognize that there is more to do,” he said. “This is real for us, it’s very real and we are working to make that well known in the United States, in D.C., and at the White House.”

He added a new “fentanyl czar” will be appointed that he said will coordinate efforts between Canada and the U.S. to prevent the drug from crossing both out of and into Canada, as we agreed upon between Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday.

Other moves to appease Trump according to the Minister include new protocols that will see the federal government designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations, which he said would give police more powers to “follow the money” and greater abilities to and disrupt the activities of cartels.

— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

Have thoughts on what’s going on in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada or across the world? Send us a letter to the editor at wpgsun.letters@kleinmedia.ca

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