By Jim Bronskill
The union representing rank-and-file Mounties is welcoming a federal plan to spend $1.3 billion to bolster border security and ensure the integrity of the immigration system.
In its fall economic update Monday, the Liberal government said it would invest in cutting-edge technology for law enforcement so that only people who are eligible to remain in Canada do so.
The promise followed threats from U.S. president-elect Donald Trump to impose 25 per cent tariffs on goods entering the United States unless Canada beefed up border security.
The money, to be spread over six fiscal years, is earmarked for the RCMP, Public Safety Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency and the cyberspies at the Communications Security Establishment.
RCMP members enforce laws between official points of entry and investigate criminal activities related to the border.
National Police Federation president Brian Sauvé says members have been protecting the border with limited resources, and the new money will allow them to continue delivering on their mandate.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc is expected to join other ministers this afternoon to provide more details on the plan.
Aaron McCrorie, the border services agency’s vice-president of intelligence and enforcement, said in a recent interview that irregular migration and smuggling of drugs such as fentanyl are common concerns for Canada and the United States.
“These aren’t concerns that are unique to the United States. We share those same concerns,” he said. “In that sense, it really speaks to the need for us to work collaboratively.”
McCrorie said the Canadian border agency is working closely with U.S. counterparts including Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security, as well as with agencies in Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
“Criminal enterprises, organized crime, they don’t respect international boundaries. They collaborate, they exploit weaknesses in the system,” McCrorie said.
“And so the best way to confront them is to is to collaborate on our side, fill those gaps, support each other’s efforts.”
He said Canada’s border agency has two targeting officers embedded with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the American agency plans to soon send a targeting officer to Canada.
