OTTAWA — The terms of reference for appointing Canada’s first Fentanyl Czar will be finalized by the end of the week, Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said Thursday, who also committed the government to “absolutely” filling the role by the time the country reaches the end of its 30-day reprieve period from U.S. tariffs.
“We intend to be way more proactive than that,” McGuinty told reporters during his first official media availability in Ottawa since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump reached a deal Monday, pushing back the possibility of a trade war until early March.
“We’re moving forward now.”
Appointing a so-called Fentanyl Czar was one of the promises Trudeau made following a second phone call with Trump, who over the weekend signed an order to impose 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, with only a 10 per cent levy on Canadian energy resources.
A North American trade war was ultimately averted after Trump spoke separately with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Trudeau, each of whom announced specific measures they would undertake to address his border security concerns.
Canadian officials have consistently said less than one per cent of the migrants and fentanyl entering the U.S. comes from Canada.
Trudeau promised that, in addition to implementing the first stages of a six-year $1.3-billion border plan, it would list cartels as terrorist entities, launch a Canada-U.S. “joint strike force” to target organized crime and fentanyl, as well as appoint a Fentanyl Czar.
McGuinty has characterized the role as a liaison between the Canadian and U.S. governments to better combat the flow of fentanyl, as well as work across different department from Health Canada to Global Affairs Canada to improve collaboration.
“The Fentanyl Czar will be to help us integrate what is a whole of society challenge,” he said. “Fentanyl is a foreign affairs issue, it’s a law enforcement issue, it’s an intelligence issue, it’s a public health issue, it’s a tracing issue, in terms of the ingredients that end up being used in the production of fentanyl.”
The minister said fentanyl is a complicated issue. While he said Canada is taking the U.S.’s concerns seriously, he has also pointed out the deadly drug has unleashed a crisis in Canada, adding he is not afraid of reminding Americans that Canada has challenges with the volume of drugs flowing from the U.S.
Trudeau has also promised to have “24/7” eyes on the border, with nearly 10,000 frontline personnel. That figure not only includes the nearly 8,500 Canada Border Services Agency staff, but RCMP officers and other members of provincial and local police forces sent by different provinces to assist.
National Defence Minister Bill Blair’s office has said there are no plans to send the military to the border, but clarified the Canadian Armed Forces has been asked to provide the RCMP with logistics support. A spokesman says the Armed Forces recently transferred 50 drones to the Mounties and has plans to send 20 more.
The RCMP has also leased two Black Hawk helicopters to boost its surveillance along the border.
McGuinty on Thursday criticized the plan released by Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, which says he would “call up Canadian Forces to the troops to the border along military helicopters and surveillance now.”
Earlier in the week, Poilievre pointed to previous comments made by Chief of Defence Staff General Jennie Carignan, who said the military stands ready to support the RCMP and border agency by way of offering equipment such as helicopters, but there is no plan to “militarize” the Canada-U.S. border.
McGuinty told reporters Poilievre’s comments about sending troops amount to him suggesting “that the entire Canadian border should be militarized,” saying the Conservative leader “has some explaining to do.”
“This is an important moment, because we have jobs at stake,” the minister said.
Conservative MP James Bezan, who serves as the party’s critic in Parliament on defence matters, said in a statement that Carignan’s offer to patrol the border using helicopters and surveillance “would involve the deployment of Canadian Forces personnel to support the RCMP and (Canada Border Services Agency) in border security operations.”
“The men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces sign up to protect Canada and that is exactly what they would be doing in supporting efforts to secure out national border,” he said.
“When resources at the border are already stretched thin, additional supports should be welcomed. It is foolish and irresponsible for the Liberal government to reject this offer of help from the Canadian Forces and demonstrates that they aren’t serious in taking the action necessary to stop the smuggling of guns, drugs and people, as well as other criminal activity, at our border.”
National Post
[email protected]
Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what’s really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here.
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here.