Cars queue to cross into the U.S. from Canada, at the border between the two countries, in Surrey, B.C. on Feb. 3.Chris Helgren/Reuters
Public Safety Minister David McGuinty says the person chosen to be fentanyl czar, a new position that Canada is creating after a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump, will need to play a commanding role in a national campaign to stamp out illegal production and distribution of the deadly opioid.
The way Mr. McGuinty described it Tuesday, Ottawa is piling a lot of responsibility on whoever takes the job.
They will need to integrate the fentanyl-fighting efforts of federal and provincial law enforcement, of attorneys-general across the country and of the work in labs at the federal department of health to track and trace precursor chemicals used to make the opioid. Then there is work that the department of global affairs is doing to talk to China, a source of input chemicals for fentanyl, as well as Mexico, another source of production, Mr. McGuinty said at a press conference in Emerson, Man., near the Canada-U.S. border.
“The fentanyl czar role will be involved in helping to pull all of this together so we can get over any hurdles and execute on a plan that involves minimizing, if not eliminating, fentanyl from Canadian soil.”
Asked who might be appointed fentanyl czar, Mr. McGuinty replied: “That’s to be decided. I will have more to say about that by the end of the week.”
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Mr. Trump on Monday agreed to delay 25-per-cent tariffs on Canadian imports, and 10-per-cent levies on oil, after Canada offered several new measures to address the President’s concerns about fighting an overdose crisis in the United States exacerbated by illegal fentanyl smuggled into American territory.
The President said in a social-media post on Monday that the pause would remain in place for 30 days “to see whether or not a final Economic deal with Canada can be structured,” though none of the measures promised by Ottawa were related to economic matters. In addition to the czar position, Canada offered to invest $200-million in fighting organized crime and drugs, and to follow through on a previously announced plan to spend $1.3-billion on enhanced border security.
Mr. McGuinty noted that less than 1 per cent of fentanyl entering the United States comes from Canada. According to U.S. government figures, border guards intercepted 19.5 kilograms of fentanyl along the Canadian border last year, or 0.2 per cent of what was intercepted in the U.S.
A senior government source said Ottawa is still mulling who to appoint and whether it would be a public servant or someone from outside government. The source, who The Globe is not identifying because they were not authorized to discuss these matters publicly, said retired general Wayne Eyre, the former chief of the defence staff, is a potential choice but that no decisions have been made.
Mr. McGuinty acknowledged Canada does not typically bestow the title “czar” on high-level officials. “The question of the language around this was not something that we had discussed” with the White House, he said.
Canada has also agreed to designate drug cartels as terrorist organizations, a measure the minister said would give the government and law-enforcement authorities additional powers to “follow the money.” He said it would give Ottawa powers to “follow the assets and disrupt the activities of cartels.”
Jessica Davis, president and principal consultant of advisory firm Insight Threat Intelligence, said she is not sure designating cartels as terrorist groups will improve Canada’s ability to track their funds. “Drug cartels tend to be fairly sophisticated actors, so they’re not exactly going to have accounts that say, you know, this is Gulf Cartel money that would be easily flagged to financial institutions,” she said.
Part of Mr. McGuinty’s message Tuesday appeared aimed at demonstrating to the White House that Canada takes seriously American concerns over fentanyl and that the tariff delay should be permanent.
“We’re going to be really wrestling this fentanyl scourge to the ground. It’s a tragedy for so many families. Where will we be in 29 days? That’s up to the President,” Mr. McGuinty said, referring to the remaining time in Mr. Trump’s 30-day pause.
“At some points of time, in Canada, based on per capita population, there are more Canadians dying from fentanyl than there are Americans dying from fentanyl – a point that we made very clear for the White House.”
On Tuesday, the government released the national intelligence directive that Mr. Trudeau signed Monday as part of his agreement with the Americans on fighting fentanyl and drug cartels.
He asked the government to enable the Communications Security Establishment, Canada’s intelligence-gathering and cybersecurity agency, to draw on federal funding for border measures to conduct cyber operations against transnational organized crime. In December, Ottawa announced $1.3-billion over six years in new border security money.
“I expect the Minister of National Defence to ensure this funding is used by CSE to bolster, and then maintain, the capacity to provide actionable intelligence to federal partners on foreign transnational criminal actors involved in trafficking of fentanyl, other illicit drugs, and their precursors to North America,” Mr. Trudeau said in the directive. “I also direct that this funding be used to bolster the cyber operations aspect of its mandate to disrupt these illicit supply chains.”
The number of organized crime groups in Canada manufacturing illicit drugs such as fentanyl has nearly doubled in the past year, from 51 in 2023 to 99 in 2024, with those groups increasingly looking to export their wares, according to a report published in January by the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada.
Mr. McGuinty said inviting members of the media to broadcast a border-security exercise, which showed him and other Canadian government officials, such as Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, was not a show-and-tell for Mr. Trump.
“That would be the wrong interpretation of today,” he said. “I think the interpretation of today is that Canadians should know that we have a very strong border and we’re making it stronger.”
One day after President Donald Trump paused his 25 per cent tariff threat, Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford says Canada has its own border security issues with the U.S. Plus, Federal Public Safety Minister David McGuinty toured border operations in Manitoba, and discussed the federal government’s plan for a "fentanyl czar."
The Canadian Press