Four Canadian ministers on Tuesday unveiled a border security plan they had privately presented to US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration, with an emphasis on surveillance, intelligence and technology.
Canadian ministers had an “encouraging” meeting with Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, Canadian Minister of Finance, Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc told reporters.
“I went through with Mr Homan the information that we’re sharing with you today... I’m encouraged by that conversation and by conversations I’ve had with the incoming [US] secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick,” LeBlanc said.
Photo: Bloomberg
LeBlanc and his colleagues announced a plan to beef up the US-Canada border with helicopters, drones, surveillance towers and sniffer dogs, as well as a “joint strike force” to target transnational organized crime.
The embattled minority government of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it would invest C$1.3 billion (US$908 million) toward border security over six years.
The plan focuses on fentanyl, irregular migration and organized crime.
Canada has been under pressure to beef up its border with the US since Trump threatened Canada and Mexico with sweeping 25 percent tariffs if they did not stem the movement of migrants and drugs into the US.
US authorities apprehended more than 23,000 people near the US-Canada border in the 12 months ending in October, more than double the previous 12-month period, but a tiny fraction of the 1.5 million people apprehended near the US-Mexico border during that time.
Canadian police said they have installed more cameras and sensors over the most-traversed section of the border over the past four years.
However, they acknowledge there is little they can do to stop southbound crossers.
Experts said the flurry of attention to the US-Canada border is as much about perception as reality.
A more effective mode of interdiction might be to stop people from coming to Canada in the first place, they said.
Canada is already attempting that — granting fewer visas and turning away visa-holders.
Canada also plans to amend its immigration law to allow authorities to “cancel, suspend, or vary immigration documents for reasons deemed in the public interest.”
Trudeau’s government was thrown into chaos on Monday when his finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland quit. Trudeau, trailing in polls, faces calls from within his own caucus to resign.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS