From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

By Brian Giesbrecht

Drug cartels, China, and Canada’s negligence are fueling the deadliest epidemic of our time

It took the threat of U.S. tariffs for Canada to wake up to the horrors of the fentanyl epidemic that is destroying young lives and shattering families. Canadians, who panicked over COVID-19 deaths, have hardly noticed that far more healthy Canadians and Americans are now dying from fentanyl overdoses than ever died from COVID.

Yet while Americans confront this deadly epidemic, Canada remains oblivious to how deeply the crisis has infiltrated our borders.

A grim milestone came in 2021 when U.S. opioid overdose deaths exceeded 100,000 in a single year. More than a million Americans have died from opioid overdoses since these highly addictive drugs first entered the market. Today, fentanyl overdose is the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 25.

Behind every kilogram of fentanyl lies half a million potential deaths. Behind every pill—a game of Russian roulette.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid so powerful that one kilogram can kill 500,000 people. Its extreme potency makes it both highly dangerous and easy to smuggle. A single backpack thrown across the border can carry $1 million worth of the drug. It is easy to see why so many opportunists are willing to risk their lives producing and selling it. Overdose statistics fail to capture the bodies found in deserts or those murdered in the vicious drug trade.

Fentanyl is produced for a few cents per pill but sold on the street for many times that, making it both profitable and a cheap high. Incredibly addictive, it is found in virtually all street drugs, giving “the most bang for the buck.” Made by amateurs, these drugs are carelessly laced with lethal doses. And because the pills look identical, users never know whether a dose will get them high—or kill them.

But Canada is not just a bystander in this crisis. A loophole in our border laws—the “de minimis” exemption—has turned Canada into a gateway for fentanyl entering U.S. communities. This exemption allows exporters to ship small packages valued at less than $800 directly to customers with minimal border inspection. Chinese exporters exploit this loophole to ship fentanyl precursors into Canada, where they are processed into pills or moved to Mexico under the supervision of Mexican drug cartels.

The Trump administration has pressed Canada to close this loophole. That it has existed for years, almost unnoticed, should shock us to the core.

The problem of fentanyl production within Canada should not be minimized. The RCMP reports that fentanyl labs are appearing across B.C., often producing methamphetamine alongside fentanyl. These small labs supply both domestic and international markets. The threat is real, and it is growing.

Exactly how many Canadians have died from fentanyl overdoses is unclear. However, with Canada’s population roughly one-ninth of the U.S., it is reasonable to estimate that Canadian deaths are approximately one-ninth of U.S. numbers.

But overdose numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. The number of lives wrecked by this drug is staggering. Parents watch their children—once vibrant and full of promise—disappear before their eyes. Their beauty fades, their minds unravel, and their lives collapse into the desperate cycle of chasing the next fix. Some escape. Many don’t. Until death takes them, that is.

The new Trump administration has promised to confront this carnage. “This is a drug war,” Peter Navarro, assistant to the president and director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, recently told reporters. “The Mexican cartels have expanded up to Canada, making fentanyl there and sending it down to the U.S. The Chinese are using Canada to send in small parcels below the radar. It’s important that Canadians understand we are trying to stop the killing of Americans by these deadly drugs.”

But while the U.S. acts, Canada hesitates. Trump is addressing the problem—Canada is enabling it.

The Trump administration also views Canada’s lax drug laws and casual attitude toward buying and selling even the most dangerous drugs as an exacerbating factor. However, on the fentanyl issue, it is clear Trump is determined to tackle a problem Canada has largely ignored. He should be commended for this, and Canada should start cleaning up its own mess.

Yet fentanyl smuggling from Canada is only part of a larger issue. Behind the drug trade lies an even more insidious enemy: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The importation of fentanyl precursors from China, facilitated by Mexican cartels, has turned Vancouver into a money-laundering hub for the CCP. Investigative reporters like Sam Cooper and Terry Glavin have revealed the depth of this corruption, despite the Hogue Commission’s failure to expose it fully.

Ryan P. Williams, president of the Claremont Institute, warns that “The fentanyl crisis is part of a larger campaign by the CCP to destabilize Western nations. They flood our streets with poison while corrupting our institutions from within. If Canada doesn’t confront this threat, it will lose not only lives—but its sovereignty.”

Our new “fentanyl czar,” appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, should not only address the drug crisis but also expose how deeply a hostile CCP has compromised Canada.

Tackling the fentanyl problem will be enormously difficult—likely impossible— for the Trump administration without cooperation from China, Mexico and even Canada. And forcing that cooperation is likely the first part of Trump’s plan.

Canada’s role may be small, but it must take full responsibility for securing its borders and confronting the fentanyl crisis. Trump has forced us to act. Now, if we are serious about restoring our nation’s integrity, we must break the CCP’s grip on our institutions.

In doing so, we will save Canadian lives.

Brian Giesbrecht is a retired Manitoba judge. He is a Senior Fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. He was recently named the ‘Western Standard Columnist of the Year.’

From LifeSiteNews

By Joe Kovacs

This article was originally published by the WND News Center.

“We gathered every document we could find with Biden’s signature over the course of his presidency,” reads a Heritage Oversight post on X.

“All used the same autopen signature except for the announcement that the former president was dropping out of the race last year.”

President Donald J. Trump on Sunday renewed attention on allegations some of Joe Biden’s executive orders and pardons may not be valid due to his cognitive decline, as Trump posted on Truth Social images of the most recent commanders in chief, with Biden’s official portrait displaying an autopen signature device.

On Friday during his address at the U.S. Justice Department headquarters in Washington, Trump voiced his concerns out loud about Biden’s use of the autopen, saying:

“Crooked Joe Biden got us into a real mess with Russia and everything else he did, frankly, but he didn’t know about it, and he, generally speaking, signed it with autopen. So how would he know? …

“Who’s doing this? When my people come up … [and say], ‘Sir, this is an executive order.’ They explain it to me. And 90% of the time I sign it and 99% of the time, I say, ‘Do it,’ but they come up and I sign it, but you don’t use autopen.”

“No. 1, it’s disrespectful to the office. No. 2, maybe it’s not even valid, because, you know, who’s getting him to sign? He had no idea what the hell he was doing. If he did, all of these bad things wouldn’t be happening.

A Heritage Oversight Project report called into question the validity of Biden’s actions, finding the vast majority of documents signed by Biden used the mechanical device, including the last-minute pardons of Biden family members, Gen. Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the members of the Jan. 6 Committee.

“We gathered every document we could find with Biden’s signature over the course of his presidency,” reads a Heritage Oversight post on X.

“All used the same autopen signature except for the announcement that the former president was dropping out of the race last year.”

The controversy has led Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to urge Attorney General Pam Bondi to probe the matter.

“I am demanding the DOJ investigate whether President Biden’s cognitive decline allowed unelected staff to push through radical policy without his knowing approval,” Bailey said.

Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump, the former co-chair of the Republican National Committee and current Fox News host, told journalist Benny Johnson that Biden’s entire presidency was orchestrated, and that he wasn’t aware of anything he was signing.

“It’s all been fake,” Lara Trump said. “The signatures were fake. The hype around Kamala Harris was fake. Joe Biden being OK, fake. His Oval Office, [Trump counsel] Alina Habba the other day, exposed … remember the set that we used to see him on? It’s fake!”

“It’s just all been orchestrated and planned. And we as Americans honestly are lucky that nothing worse happened to this country over the past four years. Who the hell was in charge? I don’t know. That is terrifying to know they’re just using autopens. Literally, Benny, anyone could have signed anything for Joe Biden.”

“This is why nobody wants to be a part of this party, ’cause it’s all phony, it’s all smoke and mirrors, it’s all fake. And people want authenticity. They can smell phony from a mile away.”