Ford pushes for 'more proactive' border action after Trudeau meets with premiers about Trump

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on the federal government to "take a more proactive approach at the border" following a call Wednesday night between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and all 13 premiers to discuss U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's tariff threat.

In a statement after the First Ministers' meeting, Ford said he "stressed that the federal government has been slow to react and is stuck on its backfoot."

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Ford, who chairs Canada's Premiers, went on to say that he hopes the meeting is the "start of a more proactive approach from the federal government" to show that "it takes the security of our border seriously by cracking down on illegal border crossings and stopping the transport of guns and illegal and illicit drugs like fentanyl, or risk the economic chaos of Trump tariffs."

The meeting comes just two days after Trump threatened to slap a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian imports unless Canada addresses his border concerns. The warning has sparked major questions over the economic impact it could have on jobs, inflation and supply chains in both countries.

In a post on Truth Social on Monday night, Trump said the tariff "will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!"

Prior to the meeting, sources told CTV News there would be a push from premiers for Trudeau to change direction on his approach and address Trump's border concerns.

Speaking to reporters after Wednesday's call, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc reiterated "additional measures" will be made at the border but was short on specifics.

"We believe that there is a circumstance where we can make additional investments to reassure Canadians that all of the measures necessary are in place and will continue to be in place," LeBlanc said.

LeBlanc also called the conversation with the premiers "positive" and said there would be a more visible effort to reassure both Canadians and Americans that "the border remains secure and will always be secure."

"What I think is important now, and the premiers spoke to this as well, is showing Canadians visibly and demonstrably the presence of law enforcement at our borders, talking about the good work that the federal policing units of the RCMP, with partners in provinces and municipalities, do," LeBlanc said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who chairs the revived cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations, also participated in Wednesday's call.

When asked directly about Ford's criticism of the federal government's border approach, Freeland said, "I can only speak to the conversation we had."

"We were very united, and we all really agreed that right now, what Canada needs is for us to work together," Freeland said. "We need to be strong. We need to be smart. We need to be united."

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc speak with reporters, Nov. 27, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Following the meeting, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she heard "good signs" on the federal government's border security plan.

"We know that other provinces, ourselves included, are working on ways to get sheriffs and drones to the border so that we can demonstrate with action that we are serious about addressing the issues that we've heard about," Smith said in an interview with CTV News Channel Wednesday night.

Smith also believes Canada can have "constructive trade talks" with the U.S. once it demonstrates that it's serious about Trump's concerns.

"I don't think that we're going to be able to get an exemption if we don't take seriously the real issues that have been put on the table here," Smith said.

Statistics from America's own border agency show it's seizing only a fraction of the illegal drugs at the Canadian border compared to Mexico's.

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According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the agency has seized 43 lbs. of fentanyl at the Canada-U.S. border in the last year, excluding October, compared to 21,148 lbs. at its southern border with Mexico in the same time period.

Meanwhile, in the last year, but excluding October, the CBP said there were 23,721 encounters at the Canada-U.S. border compared to 1.5 million at the U.S. southern border with Mexico. But according to CBP, there has also been an uptick in encounters at the Canada-U.S. border – with 10,021 encounters in 2023 and 2,238 in 2022.

Despite those statistics, Smith says Canada must do more than compare itself to Mexico.

"I think if we try to diminish those or say, 'Yeah but we're not as bad as Mexico. Yeah, but we have a good trade relationship,' I think we'll have missed the point," Smith said.

In a statement from the Prime Minister's Office late Wednesday, Trudeau said he did emphasize to the premiers the difference between illegal migrants travelling from Canada into the U.S., compared to those leaving Mexico.

The statement also said Freeland is calling on all premiers to "make use of all of their contacts, channels, and abilities to relay important information and messages to Americans and people of influence."

No 'consensus' on retaliation

Since Trump issued his tariff threat, there has been divided debate over whether Canada should retaliate.

After Wednesday's meeting, Smith said "there wasn't a consensus on moving in that direction."

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"Let's try addressing the other things. It's way too early to be talking about retaliatory tariffs," Smith told CTV News.

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey shared a similar sentiment prior to the joint call.

"I think that diplomatic channels, albeit urgently, are perhaps the best first line of attack, if you will," Furey said in an interview with CTV News Channel. "I don't think that a tit-for-tat will serve either economy well."

But speaking to reporters before the meeting, Ford reiterated his support for retaliation if the Trump administration moves ahead with the tariff threat.

"We can't sit back if they're going to put tariffs on 25 per cent of the goods crossing the border, we need to go back and put 25 per cent tariffs," Ford said. "But let's hope that never happens. There's no reason for that to happen."

With files from CTV News' Mike Le Couteur and Spencer Van Dyk