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Canada will ‘do the work’ to ease Trump officials’ border worries: minister
Global News
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he has confidence in the agencies tasked with protecting Canada's borders as rhetoric from the incoming Trump administration heats up.
Canada’s public safety minister says he’s confident in the work of agencies tasked with detaining and removing people in the country illegally and preventing security threats crossing into the U.S., but will boost enforcement resources if necessary.
Dominic LeBlanc says that work by the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) should prove to the incoming Donald Trump administration — whose newly appointed “border czar” has called the Canada-U.S. border a “huge national security issue” — that Ottawa shares their concerns about border security.
“I’m very confident in the work that they can do with their American counterparts, and we’ll reassure the American administration that we’re prepared to do the work that’s necessary,” LeBlanc told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block.
The government has been pressed by opposition parties and provinces on its plan to add additional resources at the U.S.-Canada border in anticipation of a potential increase in people seeking to enter Canada from the U.S., where Trump has vowed mass deportations and crackdowns on asylum claims.
LeBlanc said the government is ready to provide whatever is needed, but noted all agencies have been preparing for a future Trump administration for some time.
“We recognize the increased public attention around some of the proposals of the incoming administration,” he said. “So that’s why they’ve been preparing literally for months in terms of scenario planning. And I’m confident that they’re ready to do the work that Canadians expect them to do.”
The concerns have also sparked scrutiny of Canada’s immigration screening and enforcement measures for removing people whose temporary visas have expired or who pose a security threat.
RCMP and intelligence agencies have so far thwarted two alleged terrorist plots this year involving people who entered Canada on either student visas or refugee claims — one of whom was allegedly planning an attack in New York City.