CALGARY — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the province is putting $29 million toward creating a new sheriff patrol unit to shore up security at the Canada-United States border.
The unit is to be supported by about 50 armed sheriffs, 10 cold weather surveillance drones and four drug detection dogs. It is expected to be operational early next year.
"Together with federal law enforcement, we'll ensure that our section of the American border is well protected," Smith said Thursday in Calgary.
"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 will have a very strong relationship with the United States, as we always have."
Alberta Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis said the unit would focus on commercial vehicle inspections along major highways near entry points of the 298-kilometre portion of the border that the province shares with Montana.
He said a two-kilometre deep zone along the border will be deemed critical infrastructure, so sheriffs can arrest without a warrant anyone found attempting to cross illegally or trafficking illegal drugs or weapons.
Bob Andrews, chief of the Alberta Sheriffs, said collaboration with the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency will be key.
"Access to federal and international border intelligence will ensure these teams have an immediate impact on the trafficking of people, drugs and guns between Alberta and the United States," he said.
The announcement comes after incoming U.S. president Donald Trump pledged to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican imports on his first day back in office in January.
Trump has said the tariffs would remain in place until the countries put an end to illegal immigration and drug trafficking at their borders.
Smith has said Trump is right to be concerned, and she has called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to act accordingly. The federal government is expected to announce its border security plan with the fall economic update on Monday.
Ellis said he had already been working on a plan to create a sheriff-led team targeting fentanyl and gun trafficking at the border, and that plan was accelerated.
"We were going to do this regardless of what president-elect Trump said," said Ellis.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford suggested this week that Canada cut off electricity supplies to the U.S., but Smith has consistently dismissed the idea of retaliatory action.
"Under no circumstances will Alberta agree to cut off oil and gas exports," said Smith.
“I don’t support tariffs on Canadian goods and I don’t support tariffs on U.S. goods. Because all it does is make life more expensive for everyday Canadians and everyday Americans.”
She said Alberta is taking a diplomatic approach. She recently returned from a Western Governors’ Association meeting in Las Vegas.
Ottawa has also vowed to beef up border security in the face of Trump's threats, despite a lack of evidence for his claim about illicit fentanyl pouring into the U.S. from Canada.
Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said in a statement that Smith's announcement is confusing.
"For a premier who is forever telling Ottawa to stay in its lane, to spend Alberta taxpayer money on border control using Alberta sheriffs makes no sense and is out of step with the work being done by other provinces and the federal government," he said.
Nenshi reiterated that the premier is weakening the country's negotiating position.
"The threat of tariffs that, if implemented, will hurt Alberta jobs, investment to our province and our provincial economy, is very real and requires a serious, thought-out response. This isn’t it.”
Insp. Angela Kemp of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams said the majority of fentanyl being seized in the province is manufactured in Western Canada. But the chemicals, or precursors, to form the fentanyl are imported from other countries.
"ALERT integrated and specialized enforcement teams have seized over a quarter of a million fentanyl pills. It has seized nearly 90 kilograms of fentanyl powder and has seized a literal ton of fentanyl precursors and buffing agents," she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2024.
The Canadian Press
