Sam Cooper

Under the looming threat of U.S. tariffs—framed by officials as a response to deadly fentanyl trafficking linked to Chinese precursors rather than a conventional trade dispute—Canada has moved swiftly to appease the White House.

This afternoon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), announced the appointment of a “Fentanyl Czar” alongside a $1.3 billion border security plan. The initiative includes new helicopters, advanced surveillance technology, additional personnel, and closer coordination with U.S. agencies to stem the flow of fentanyl.

“I just had a good call with President Trump,” Trudeau wrote. “Nearly 10,000 frontline personnel are and will be working on protecting the border.”

Trudeau also outlined plans to designate cartels as terrorist organizations, implement 24/7 surveillance, and launch a Canada–U.S. Joint Strike Force targeting organized crime and money laundering. He signed a new $200 million intelligence directive on fentanyl, asserting that these measures helped secure a 30-day pause on proposed tariffs against Canadian goods.

The announcement follows President Donald Trump’s imposition of sweeping new trade penalties: a 25% tariff on exports from Mexico and Canada and a 10% duty on Chinese goods. While those levies took effect two days ago, Trump has now granted Mexico a one-month reprieve—on the condition that President Claudia Sheinbaum deploy 10,000 soldiers to the northern border to crack down on fentanyl trafficking and illegal migration.

In exchange, senior U.S. officials—including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick—will negotiate with their Mexican counterparts on a long-term solution before tariffs are reinstated.

Trump emphasized that Mexico’s forces were “specifically designated to stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal migrants,” stressing that cross-border cooperation was essential in tackling what U.S. authorities call a national drug crisis.

Markets initially tumbled over fears of an escalating tariff war among the world’s largest economies but rebounded on news of the temporary reprieve for Mexico and Canada. Now, both governments face a critical deadline.

More to come.

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

The Trudeau government had been warned 163 separate times over a six-year period that foreign interference was happening

The final report from the Foreign Interference Commission has concluded that operatives from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) may have had a hand in helping to elect a handful of MPs in both the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections.  

The head of the commission, Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, urged in her January 28 final report that Canada “remain vigilant because the threat of foreign interference is real,” but stopped short of saying CCP interference was influential enough to tilt the outcomes of the elections.

“Foreign interference is like crime,” wrote Hogue in her Final Report. “It is always present. Its methods evolve. While the government has ways to address it, it is likely impossible to eradicate it,” and instead needs to be “discouraged and its effects must be mitigated.” 

“Given this reality, the question is whether foreign interference rose to a degree that impacted the integrity of the 2019 or 2021 general elections,” Hogue said, with the report concluding that she could not “exclude the possibility” that “the outcome in some individual ridings could have been affected by foreign interference.” 

Ridings that were named as targets by agents of the CCP were ones with a large population of Asians, such as the British Columbia ridings of Vancouver East and Steveston-Richmond East and the Don Valley North riding in Ontario. 

In light of multiple accusations of foreign meddling in Canadian elections, the federal Foreign Interference Commission was convened last year to “examine and assess the interference by China, Russia, and other foreign states or non-state actors, including any potential impacts, to confirm the integrity of, and any impacts on, the 43rd and 44th general elections (2019 and 2021 elections) at the national and electoral district levels.”   

The commission was struck after Trudeau’s special rapporteur, former Governor General David Johnston, failed in an investigation into CCP allegations after much delay. That inquiry was not done in public and was headed by Johnston, who is a “family friend” of Trudeau.  

Johnston quit as “special rapporteur” after a public outcry following his conclusion that there should not be a public inquiry into the matter. Conservative MPs demanded Johnston be replaced over his ties to both China and the Trudeau family.  

Government was ‘slow’ to act

Houge also noted that while foreign states attempting to “interfere in our democratic institutions,” including in “electoral processes,” is “nothing new,” “[w]hat is new, however, is the means deployed by these states, the apparent scale of the issue and the public discourse on the topic.”

Houge confirmed that the interference impacted “the broader electoral ecosystem,” and as a consequence “regrettably” led to a waning of “public confidence” in Canadian democracy.

Houge concluded that the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was “slow” to “fully recognize the threat posed by foreign interference to Canadian democratic processes and institutions.” 

Of note is that the Trudeau government had been warned 163 separate times over a six-year period that foreign interference was happening.  

The report did note that evidence did not “show any MPs plotting with foreign states against Canada’s interests,” but that Canada must nevertheless be “vigilant” because the “threat of foreign interference is real.” 

“Even if the impact has been limited so far, it is damaging to our democracy,” she added.