The panic that gripped Canadian politicians for several weeks, regarding Donald Trump’s threatened 25% tariffs on Canadian goods coming across the US border, was interesting. The mainstream media’s nonstop analysis and criticism of it was predictable. The anxious mood of ordinary Canadians was calculated. The tension in the air was palpable.

And then, that all collapsed like a bad dream with our amateur Prime Minister abjectly submitting to the demands of the master dealmaker, and then crowing, as if he had singlehandedly saved Canada from imminent collapse. He agreed to increase security along the Canadian-US border. He agreed to appoint a “fentanyl czar” and crack down on the drug trade. He agreed to classify the numerous cartels operating in Canada as terrorist organizations. And he returned home, knowing that he will have to report back to Donald in 30 days to find out whether his efforts have been enough.

The threat of tariffs was not a pleasant thought for Canadians, much less the idea of a tit-for-tat trade war that could only have ended unpleasantly for Canada and would have raised the price of goods on both sides of the border to new and painful heights. But it did focus the mind of politicians who saw their cozy little cocoon beginning to unravel.

Let’s look at what the US president accomplished without firing a shot or taxing a single item:

• He got our sleepwalking Prime Minister to actually take some action to try to secure our mutual border . . . and to act as if he really cared.
• He got Canadian Premiers to begin seriously talking once again about removing interprovincial trade barriers (yes, the same Premiers who tyrannically blocked Canadian citizens from crossing provincial borders during the Covid fiasco). The Hon. Brian Peckford, former Premier of Newfoundland, says that interprovincial trade barriers have been talked about for 30 years without resolution; now Minister of Transport and Interprovincial Trade, Anita Anand, claims the problem can be solved in 30 days. A bold prediction; we’ll see how that plays out. If that’s true, why wasn’t it done last month? Or last year? Or the year before? Because they didn’t have Donald Trump breathing down their necks.
• He got Canadian citizens and business people talking about “Buy Canadian.” Even if the chatter and dialogue was laced with angry, anti-American rhetoric, the novel concept that Canada should be less reliant on foreign trade and more focused on growing our own food, making our own shoes and producing our own oil and gas products has now become table-talk. That discussion and that opportunity for more self-sufficiency is welcome and long overdue.
• He has forced the discussion of some of Canada’s deepest and least-understood social problems involving drugs (particularly fentanyl), crime cartels, foreign influence and unaffordable housing. Prior to the threat of tariffs and Trump’s reference to drugs and terrorists flooding into the US from Canada, most Canadians were blissfully unaware that there was any problem with southbound traffic at our long and largely undefended border. All of a sudden, evidence and documentation of huge networks of highly sophisticated fentanyl operations in Vancouver have appeared that are no longer being ignored.

Journalist, Sam Cooper, published a book in 2022 called Wilful Blindness. In it, he explains the complicated network of fentanyl supply and money-laundering that involves transport of huge volumes of fentanyl precursors from China to Vancouver, where it is manufactured and capped in dozens of criminal labs. Contrary to popular opinion, large amounts of the deadly drug are distributed—not only in Canada but also in the US—and the cash is laundered through Canadian casinos and invested in Canadian real estate, especially in Vancouver and Toronto. Part and parcel of all this criminal activity is the foreign interference in politics and law enforcement that the current Liberal government wants so badly to avoid investigating.

A second shocking revelation for most is the actual number of people illegally crossing into the US from Canada. Most of us were aware of the millions of illegal migrants coming into the US across their Southern border, and many of us were outraged by the Canadian Government’s lackadaisical welcoming of illegal migrants at our own Roxham Road. But terrorists entering the US from Canada? Yes, and in unbelievable numbers. According to Brian Lilley, over the past 3 years, 1,155 people identified on a terror watchlist were arrested, attempting to cross into the US, with 358 in 2024 alone. Compared to 199 over those 3 years at the Mexican-US border. In addition, 19,000 illegals were arrested at our border crossing into the US who had no previous terrorist connections.

Trade wars? Our PM was all bluff and bluster and so were most Premiers, especially Ontario’s Doug Ford. BC’s Eby wanted to punish with wine tariffs any states that had voted for Trump. But Trump won. He pulled off a diplomatic coup that will be good for both countries if our leaders buckle down and get serious about controlling our borders, stopping the drug trade and eliminating foreign influence, especially from China. But Trump will not be satisfied with window-dressing and neither should we. The $1.3 billion Trudeau pledged for increased border security is about what Canadian taxpayers shell out every week in interest on our federal debt. And BC is where David Eby and our PM decided to legalize all drugs and to reduce the police presence in the port. We in the Christian Heritage Party call for a serious crackdown on drugs, much better enforcement at our borders, a full and transparent investigation of foreign influence in Canadian politics and mandatory balanced budgets to get control of our economy. We don’t need a trade war with the US. We need a made-in-Canada government.