Feds under pressure to name ‘fentanyl czar’ in wake of Alberta border-crossing busts

Canadians wait to see who the new fentanyl czar will be as RCMP detail border crossings. Chelan Skulski reports.

The federal government is under pressure to name its ‘fentanyl czar’ as part of Canada’s effort to improve border security.

Federal Public Safety Minister David McGuinty told media earlier this week he is taking the appointment of one “seriously” and said Ottawa will have “terms of reference” for the position by the end of the week.

A senior government source told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday that work is underway to soon appoint someone to coordinate tracking fentanyl and its precursors in the effort to curb trafficking of the deadly drug across the Canada-U.S. border.

The appointment of a fentanyl czar is part of the federal government’s pledge to strengthen border security in an effort to appease U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been threatening to impose tariffs on Canadian goods if America’s northern neighbour and biggest trading partner doesn’t make bigger efforts to halt drug trafficking.

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McGuinty’s assurance came the day before RCMP on Wednesday said they stopped two illegal border crossings into the province this week, detaining nine people and another dying while fleeing from police.

Assistant Commissioner Lisa Moreland told media an American man tried to cross into Canada from the United States on Tuesday at the Coutts border crossing but fled after officers asked him to pull over to be searched.

The man led police on a chase through Lethbridge and Raymond before driving over a spike belt near Milk River, about 20 kilometres from the border, before he left his vehicle on foot and later died after he shot himself, Moreland said.

On Monday, nine people from Colombia and Venezuela were detained by police after they tried to walk across the border near Coutts, she said.

The Alberta cases come three weeks after six people from Jordan, Sudan, Chad and Mauritania were stopped from illegally crossing into Canada near Emerson, Man.

Moreland said the cases show that the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency are capable of handling border issues, adding no fentanyl was seized in either case.

According to CBSA data, its officers detained 164 people in Alberta in 2023, a 44-per-cent decrease from 10 years earlier.

Doug King, a professor of justice studies at Calgary’s Mount Royal University, said he believes Wednesday’s RCMP announcement was likely influenced by politics but encourages the sharing of information and the appointment of the fentanyl chief.

“I think you’d be naive if you don’t connect the dots,” King told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday.

“Would the announcement have been made in such a manner yesterday without the notion of, ‘We have to tighten up the board to avoid tariffs’ and things like that? I think that’s an obvious connection, but I would argue it’s a necessary connection. What we have to do is start to demonstrate that we are going to be seen to be tougher on border security.

“In some ways, what Canada has to do is put together a portfolio to be able to show the Americans this is what we were doing.”

Fentanyl has become a focus point this week after Ottawa negotiated a one-month delay on tariffs threatened by Trump by promising, among other things, the appointment of the ‘fentanyl czar.’

The federal government is pressing ahead with its previously announced $1.3-billion plan to bolster border security, which includes new helicopters, technology and personnel.

Mark Weber, the national president of the Customs and Immigration Union, said Thursday his group has been calling for border security resources “in terms of what comes into Canada for years.”

“It’s kind of sad to see the threat of a tariff and what’s coming from another country really spur us to move on this fentanyl getting into the country, illegal handguns and such,” Weber, whose union represents front-line border workers who deal with customs and immigration, told CTV News on Thursday.

“It’s been a huge issue. For a long time, we’ve been calling for additional resources and staff to fight that.”

Public safety expert Chris Lewis said patrolling the border is “mostly a federal responsibility” but that the agencies chiefly tasked with securing it, the CBSA and the RCMP, “are woefully short of resources – they were before this whole conversation even started.”

He suggested thousands more positions for both agencies are needed for Canada’s border security effort.

“The holes need to be filled,” Weber told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday. “That’s a frightening situation because I don’t see any bodies in any of these announcements.

“Technology is great, but someone needs to intercept people. As we saw in some recent incidents, you need people on the ground to really secure the border. We’re not seeing that yet, and it’s a long way off.”

Earlier Wednesday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she has instructed her government to take immediate steps to increase police and prosecutorial resources to go after fentanyl labs, “kingpins” and dealers.

Her comment came shortly after a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and premiers as discussions continue about avoiding Trump’s tariffs.

Smith, who was the one who suggested the idea of a ‘fentanyl czar’ last week, has already committed $29 million to improve border measures in the province by expanding the Alberta Sheriffs and purchasing drones to patrol southern parts of the province.

In terms of who the person leading the effort to curb fentanyl trafficking at the border should be, Smith suggested a retired general, offering the name of Alberta deputy minister Paul Wynnyk.

Wynnyk, who is set to retire from his role with the province this spring, did not respond to CTV News Edmonton’s request for comment on Thursday.

King said it should be someone who “isn’t a politician, isn’t a bureaucrat, but someone who actually has street cred.”

Lewis said the fentanyl czar should be someone with a policing background.

“It needs to be someone with strong law enforcement, current law enforcement experience who understands relationships,” Lewis told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday.

“(They have) to have a strong operational police background. Not just a police leader, but someone who understands investigations, understands the challenges, will listen to the people and to the partner agencies, and make sure that this is properly coordinated, not some figurehead.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Chelan Skulski and Nicole Lampa, and The Canadian Press