When U.S. president-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all goods imported from Canada and Mexico last month, Alberta (and pretty much everyone else in the country) took notice.
Trump said unless Canada did more to stop the flow of illegal migrants and fentanyl into the U.S., he would impose trade restrictions that pretty much all economists have since agreed would hurt both countries.
On Thursday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith decided to take matters into her own hands.
Smith announced that her government has dipped into provincial coffers to create what is being dubbed the Interdiction Patrol Team.
At a cost of $29-million, the province will fund what is ostensibly a provincial border patrol made up of dozens of sheriffs, support staff, canines and cold-weather drones. While sheriffs won’t be patrolling right on the border itself, the province plans to create a two kilometre wide “red zone” just north of the international boundary, where vehicles and people will receive extra scrutiny.
Mike Ellis, Alberta’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services says the new team will establish roadside stops targeting commercial vehicles – heading to and from the province’s six land border crossings – for additional inspections.
Smith said her government will also work with federal law enforcement to protect Alberta’s slice of the international border - a 298-km stretch that runs along the state of Montana.
“We’ll deny safe haven to criminals looking to operate in both countries, and if we succeed and maintain proper border security, I expect we’ll have a very strong relationship with the United States as we always have,” she said.
Alberta’s plan will be met with a great deal of scrutiny in the coming weeks and months, especially since provincial and federal responses are unlikely to mesh perfectly, possibly derailing any “Team Canada” approach.
Next door, B.C. Premier David Eby says he will not follow Alberta’s lead, even though he has similar concerns about lax border security.
“British Columbia will do our part, because we’re Canadians, and that’s what Canadians do, but we will not take over federal responsibilities at the border,” he said Thursday. “That’s their job. They’ve got to pay for it.”
Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has threatened to cut off electricity exports to the U.S.
“We power 1.5 million homes, and if they put on tariffs it’s going to be unaffordable for Americans to buy electricity, just like if we put tariffs on the 4.3 million barrels of oil that Alberta’s shipping down to the U.S,” he said.
Smith, like her counterparts in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, said there was no chance they would follow Ontario’s lead.
“Under no circumstances will Alberta agree to cut off oil and gas exports,” Ms. Smith said.
And then later on Thursday, a government source told The Globe that the Canadian government was considering imposing an export tax on high-demand exports to the U.S. such as oil, uranium and potash to try and put pressure on Trump.
That tough talk was met with fierce opposition from Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe.
“If they are under consideration, that would be a complete betrayal by the Trudeau government of the team approach they have been advocating and a complete betrayal of Canadians,” he said.
Smith said it could cause a national unity crisis.
The federal government is expected to announce its border plans on Monday, but it seems there remains a great deal of work left to be done to get all of Team Canada on board.
This is the weekly Alberta newsletter written by Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.