After record-breaking drug busts across Canada, Ottawa finally commits billions to border security but only after U.S. tariff threats
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U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats have finally dragged Canada into dealing with its drug trafficking problem. It’s about time.
On Jan. 14, 29-year-old truck driver Komalpreet Sidhu of Winnipeg was caught heading north at the Boissevain border crossing with 406.2 kilograms of methamphetamine. The Canada Border Services Agency was responsible for the seizure, which would have produced four million drug doses with a street value of more than $50.7 million.
Despite being part of the largest drug bust in Prairie history, Sidhu was the only person arrested and faced just two charges. At his bail hearing, federal Crown attorney Matt Sinclair rightly argued against his release, given the public attention on the case and the possibility that Sidhu could flee Manitoba.
“It takes years to earn the level of trust that he gained to smuggle in 406 kilograms of methamphetamine into Canada,” Sinclair said. That’s enough methamphetamine to give every person in Manitoba three doses of meth.
Sidhu was granted bail with conditions just the same.
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Drug trafficking isn’t just a Manitoba problem. Last month, police in Saskatchewan caught two Calgary residents driving to Regina with eight kilograms of fentanyl. On Feb. 19, 26-year-old Swati Narula and 28-year-old Kunwardeep Singh will have their bail hearing, with each facing two criminal counts.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, one kilogram of fentanyl could kill 500,000 people, meaning the eight-kilogram seizure was enough to kill four million—equivalent to a nuclear bomb wiping out Toronto. The only consolation is that fentanyl killed “only” 107,543 Americans in 2023, making deaths in the millions a statistical impossibility.
In October, police in British Columbia uncovered one of the largest drug operations in Canadian history. Investigators seized $485 million worth of illicit drugs at a “superlab” in Falkland, including 390 kilograms of methamphetamine, 54 kilograms of fentanyl, 35 kilograms of cocaine, 15 kilograms of MDMA and 89 firearms.
“To put into context, [the fentanyl seized] could have taken the life of every Canadian citizen twice over,” RCMP Insp. Jillian Wellard told the CBC.
Gaganpreet Singh Randhawa, 32, faces seven charges in connection with the lab bust. He was first arrested for drug trafficking in Burnaby in 2016. A judge banned him from possessing firearms for 10 years and sentenced him to 90 days in jail, served intermittently on weekends.
Just days before the superlab bust, the RCMP announced the seizure of 30,000 kilograms of chemicals in Enderby, B.C. The substances were believed to be destined for one or more meth “superlabs.”
One or more? How many does Canada have?
Rather than addressing the crisis on its own, Canada only acted after facing tariff pressure from Trump. The federal government has now committed $1.3 billion to border security and another $200 million to tracking transnational organized crime—moves that raise the question: why did it take U.S. threats to spark action?
Meanwhile, the B.C. government provides a “safe supply” of drugs and, thanks to Ottawa’s empowerment, has decriminalized all drug possession until at least Jan. 31, 2026. Unfortunately, a study by Vancouver’s Infectious Disease Centre found that 24 per cent of opioids given to safe supply recipients ended up on the black market.
If Trump doesn’t trust a prime minister who legalized cannabis, it’s hard to blame him. Canada seems ready to combat drugs only to the minimal extent required to satisfy a U.S. president.
Only time will tell whether that will be enough to satisfy Trump—or to properly address the issue.
Lee Harding is a Research Fellow for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
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