LILLEY: Canada needs a real leader but we're stuck with Trudeau
Trudeau has no plan to deal with the Trump tariff threats forcing premiers to step forward and do his job.
Article content
Why is there no federal plan for securing our border in order to avoid the Trump tariffs?
Sure, we were all caught off guard on Monday when Donald Trump announced via a social media post that he would impose 25% tariffs on Canada if we didn’t stop the flow of people and drugs into the United States.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
LILLEY: Canada needs a real leader but we're stuck with Trudeau Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Tying the tariffs to the border is new, the size of the threatened tariffs is new, but the problem of our border becoming an irritant to the Americans is not new.
Even the Biden administration has been pointing to the sharp increase in illegal entrants and asylum claimants coming from Canada for months now. Canadian and American media outlets have documented the people smuggling across our border for more than a year.
If the Biden administration is concerned about the issue, why wouldn’t you think the incoming Trump administration would be concerned and be ready with a plan?
The simple answer is because the Trudeau government is all about campaigning, making announcements and seeking votes, but they are not good at, or interested in, the work of governing. So, now we have this threat to fix the problem on our side of the border or face tariffs and the only thing our political leadership should be thinking about is how to avoid the tariffs.
We know the American concerns are legitimate.
An 82% increase in the number of people intercepted crossing the border – a staggering 198,929 over the last year. Yes, that is much smaller than Mexico, but the problem on the Canadian border is increasing for the Americans while the Mexican numbers are going down.
On the issue of people on terror watch lists being apprehended trying to cross the border, Canada is the bigger problem.
Over the last three years, 1,155 people on various terror watch lists were stopped while trying to cross into the United States from Canada as compared to 199 over the time period from Mexico. Last year, Canada accounted for 87% of all terror watch list interactions with 358 coming across the Canada-U.S. border compared to 52 from Mexico.
Where is the leadership from our Prime Minister and his government?
tap here to see other videos from our team.
The Globe and Mail, citing unnamed Liberal sources, said the government will have more to say in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the real leadership is coming from Canada’s premiers, who aren’t just talking, they are taking action.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault has ordered the province’s provincial police force, the SQ, to begin more patrols near the border. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her government will work with their counterparts in Montana to use drone technology as well as sending sheriffs to the border for patrols.
Meanwhile, Doug Ford held a meeting with members of the Ontario Provincial Police, the Canadian Border Services Agency and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to ask what needed to be done. It was also Ford that forced Trudeau to meet with the premiers to discuss the tariff threat and to hear what the federal plan is.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
The bad news is, there is no plan.
Discussions with people from several provincial governments who were on the call all describe the same thing – while Trudeau tried to say soothing words, he had no plan to discuss with the premiers.
One participant described Trudeau’s demeanour on the call as arrogant.
He absolutely refused to contemplate stepping back from his emissions cap on the oil and gas sector, which will reduce production and revenues. Canada exports 18 million barrels of oil per day to the U.S., so a 25% tariff would be devastating but so too will Trudeau’s emissions cap.
In times like this Canada needs a leader, one who puts Canada first, one who puts his own personal political considerations after the public interest. We saw once again this week that with Justin Trudeau, we simply don’t have that.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.