Canada will beef up its border security in time for the inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Tuesday as he appeared at a House of Commons committee.
LeBlanc couldn't provide specifics on the number of extra "boots on the ground," but said the government is finalizing a plan based on advice received from the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency, and that he is now working with Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to fund it.
"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)," he said, referencing Trump's inauguration date.
Last week, Trump threatened Canada with 25 per cent tariffs on all imports if Canada didn't do more to stem the passage of migrants and illegal drugs across the border. If enacted the move could critically damage Canada's economy, with more than 70 per cent of Canadian exports bound for the United States.
On Friday, LeBlanc and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Florida to dine with Trump and some of his cabinet nominees at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida where they informally discussed trade and border security among other topics.
Trudeau met with opposition leaders in his office on Parliament Hill on Tuesday to brief them on the situation as it stands now. An official in Trudeau's office said during the meeting Trudeau stressed the importance of not negotiating against Canada in public, and asked party leaders to state repeatedly and publicly that tariffs will raise the cost of living on both sides of the border.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who attended the meeting, said at an afternoon news conference that unity is key among premiers and federal party leaders, because successfully beating back the tariffs is "not going to happen by accident."
"All of us should be putting country before party," she said.
Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet said the meeting was cordial, discussions rational and constructive, and said having more of those meetings would be helpful in having a consistent approach on U.S. policy — amid a looming Canadian election.
"If that tone that was used in that type of meeting could show up in Parliament, people would have more confidence in us and take us more seriously," Blanchet told reporters, in French.
In English he said he was willing to wait for the government's finalized plan for the border before commenting on it, adding he's trying not to turn the issue into a partisan fight.
"The parts of (the plan) are exactly what we asked for a long time ago. We asked for more people at the border and ports of entry," Blanchet said.
"This is what they seem to be doing with closer collaboration with U.S. authorities. We don't have the details, we don't have the numbers. But we know about the intention, which by itself is the beginning of a good thing."
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre emerged from the meeting appearing to heed Trudeau's call to stress the impact the tariffs could have on the U.S. economy.
"It should be obvious and easy to make these arguments to the Americans, because they would be doing enormous damage to their own economy," Poilievre told reporters.
But he was also highly critical of Trudeau for enacting policies that Poilievre said put Canada into the position it is in now. He 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.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said Trudeau told the party leaders that it would be helpful if they "didn't amplify the kind of messaging and language that the Trump administration is using to attack Canada."
"When you sit around a table, there's the sense that we're all here with a shared view and goals that we share as Canadians," May told reporters.
"That said, there were differences in responses as we went around afterwards how much we were willing to say 'yes, we will do whatever we can as opposition party leaders to avoid giving the Trump administration any sound bites that sound like Canadians agree with Trump.'"
In a post on Truth Social Nov. 30, Trump called his meeting with Trudeau productive particularly about the drug crisis, but made no mention of whether it had moved the needle for him on tariffs. On Tuesday he posted an illustration of him standing on a mountain with a Canadian flag and the caption "Oh Canada" without any further explanation.
Earlier Tuesday at the public safety committee, RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme said 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.
He 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."
Speaking to reporters outside the committee, Duheme said protecting the border is a shared responsibility between both countries and there are problems going both ways.
"You heard fentanyl, you heard firearms are coming up from the south. So it's a shared responsibility," he said.
The flow of illegal firearms is a topic LeBlanc 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 that would take some time to enact.
"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.
Speaking to reporters following the leaders meeting with Trudeau, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said it's a change he would support.
"Let's protect our borders, keep us safe, and also help in the fight against these tariffs," Singh said.
