Days after president-elect Donald Trump threatened a 25% tariff on Canadian goods bound for the U.S., Ottawa said it would meet his demands to beef up the border.
Driving the news: The federal government said it will boost funding for the Canada Border Services Agency and RCMP to improve border security, a departure from earlier this week when government officials stressed that it was Mexico, not Canada, with the border problem.
- The 9,000-kilometre border is the longest in the world and has few walls or fences. Some points along the crossing are marked by nothing more than stones on residential streets.
Why it matters: In the last three years, the Canada-U.S. border has seen a 600% surge in migrants caught trying to cross into the U.S. The union representing Canada’s 8,500 border agents say that the agency needs at least 2,000 more officers to shore up the border.
Zoom out: Québec has already taken steps to beef up border security in case it sees an influx of migrants from the U.S., including plans for extra surveillance and bringing in more police from other provinces.—LA