Manitoba will pay RCMP overtime as part of effort to increase security at U.S. border after tariff threat

Posted on December 12, 2024 by Peggy

Manitoba will pay overtime for RCMP officers to patrol at the U.S. border, along with deploying conservation officers to help police, as part of a plan to bolster security in response to president-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threat.

“We’re going to crack down on drug trafficking … [and] we are going to ensure that we have resources to help secure the border here in Manitoba,” Premier Wab Kinew said at a Thursday news conference.

Last month, Trump said he will impose a 25 per cent tariff on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico after he takes office in January, unless those countries stem the flow of drugs and migrants across their borders.

In a surprise announcement last week, Kinew said the province will send conservation officers to the international border in an attempt to defuse that threat.

At a news conference on Thursday, Kinew revealed more details of that plan, including overtime coverage for RCMP patrols. Under a federal agreement, Manitoba covers 70 per cent of RCMP costs, and the federal government covers the remaining 30.

Kinew also said there will be increased presence from Manitoba’s Motor Carrier Enforcement agency, which is usually responsible for roadside inspections of transport trucks, at roads and highways leading to the U.S. border.

Technology like drones will also be used to help patrol the border, he said.

Kinew spoke a day after he and other premiers took part in a virtual meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss the Canadian response to the demands by the incoming U.S. administration.

Following that meeting, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said his province could cut off energy supplies to the U.S. if Trump makes good on the tariff threat.

Kinew wouldn’t directly say whether Manitoba would threaten to withhold its hydroelectricity exports.

When asked about support for retaliatory tariffs, Kinew said Manitoba must be ready to defend sectors such as agriculture, energy and manufacturing.

“As the Canadian government and other provinces are beginning to think about what a Canadian response would be, we are preparing our list and starting to think through what those options should look like,” he said.

He wouldn’t say what’s on that list, but said it will be ready for Jan. 20, when Trump takes office.

“We need to take president-elect Trump’s words on potential tariffs seriously, and of course that means we have to begin our response here,” Kinew said.

But interim Progressive Conservative Leader Wayne Ewasko said the premier and the NDP government have yet to show Manitobans “any meaningful strategy” to address the tariff threat.

The Opposition has also repeatedly asked Kinew for an all-party committee to address the response to a new Trump administration, Ewasko said in a statement.

But the premier has so far been “more focused on talking points than taking action,” he said.