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Michael Higgins: Finally, the Liberals start tackling the scourge of fentanyl

Action is sorely needed, not to please Trump, but to protect Canadians

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U.S. President Donald Trump seems to delight in chaos and disruption. Is the threatened tariff war over border security? Drug smuggling? NATO spending? A precursor to trade negotiations? All, or none, of the above?

Yet, as with virtually every crisis, there is also opportunity. In this case, an opportunity for Canada to examine some of these issues and see if we can do better. Not to please Trump, but to ensure that the government is doing what it should to protect its citizens and the country.

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The federal government, for instance, is now acting with some haste to tackle the fentanyl crisis, but this deadly drug epidemic has been a blight on Canada for some time and we have been too complacent in dealing with it.

Only last December, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada issued a report about the deadly explosion of fentanyl.

Among the report’s highlights: fentanyl is fuelling an overdose epidemic in North America, claiming 80,000 lives a year;? and between January and June 2024, fentanyl was involved in 79 per cent of “all accidental apparent opioid toxicity deaths in Canada.”

Prior to 2020 — a mere five years ago — the drug was being imported from China. But much of it is now made and marketed in Canada, Mexico and the United States, with organized crime gangs running operations in Canada, primarily in British Columbia, according to the report. Fentanyl is also smuggled into Canada alongside cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico.

An increasing worry is that gangs are using Canada as a base to export to other countries outside North America, the report says.

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David McGuinty, the minister of public safety, likes to emphasize that less than one per cent of all fentanyl in the U.S. is coming from Canada. Clearly, that is intended for a U.S. audience, because the menace of fentanyl in Canada is substantial and growing. It is linked to a rising overdose epidemic and an increase in organized crime.

“We’ve got to wrestle the scourge and the tragedy of fentanyl to the ground,” McGuinty told CTV News on Tuesday.

The scale of the problem is frightening. Last year, the RCMP raided 47 fentanyl laboratories — including the largest single bust in the country, a “superlab” in Falkland, B.C., with enough supplies to produce 95.5-million lethal fentanyl doses.

Those 95.5-million doses “could have taken the lives of every Canadian, at least twice over,” said RCMP Assistant Commissioner David Teboul. “Not only has this enforcement action potentially saved over 95-million lives, it has also served to deny this transnational organized crime group an estimated $485 million in profit.”

But he also noted that the drug was being produced for distribution in Canada and “abroad.” The scale of the problem is not just a Canadian one.

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We have no real idea just how prevalent this epidemic is. Just days ago, on Jan. 28, officers conducting a traffic stop on a vehicle near Swift Current, Sask., found eight kilograms of fentanyl under the spare tire.

“Keep in mind that only a few grains of fentanyl is enough to potentially cause a fatal overdose,” said Supt. Grant St. Germaine.

Perhaps Trump’s bluster and threats have forced the federal government to indulge in a little introspection and to refocus its priorities.

In response to Trump’s threats, the Trudeau Liberals announced the creation of a “fentanyl czar” who will work with police agencies, provinces and municipalities to co-ordinate a national response to the production and distribution of fentanyl.

Mexican drug cartels are to be listed as terrorist organizations. Funding of $200 million is being set aside for an “intelligence directive” targeting organized crime.

Likewise, as part of a $1.3-billion border security plan announced in December, the federal government said the Canada Border Services Agency will train and deploy new dog teams to intercept illegal drugs; there will be a dedicated task force to target money laundering by drug gangs; and new “artificial intelligence and imaging tools” will be used by law enforcement to stop the flow of drugs over the border.

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There can be no doubt that these are urgently needed measures.

Trump’s threats have also reignited a conversation about barriers to interprovincial trade, which have long been an irritant in this country.

And last month, Defence Minister Bill Blair suggested that Canada might achieve its commitment of spending two per cent of GDP on defence within two years, which would be a remarkable turnaround for a Liberal government that had previously resisted putting a firm timeline on the target.

All governments get tired and stale, lose focus and energy, and get so self-confident that they forget that there is always a need to concentrate on the foundations — defence, border security and protecting citizens from the scourge of fentanyl and rampaging drug gangs being just some of them.

If the Trudeau government is being forced to get back to basics, that is not necessarily a bad thing.

National Post

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  1. Edmonton Police Service Inspector Angela Kemp details how ALERT located and dismantled a fentanyl superlab outside of Valleyview, Alta., during a press conference in Edmonton on Friday Nov. 8, 2024.
    Anthony Furey: Canada needs to deal with its fentanyl problem
  2. Fentanyl that was seized is displayed at the RCMP headquarters in Surrey, B.C., on Oct. 31, 2024. Canada has become a hot spot for fentanyl
    Adam Zivo: Trump has reason to fear Canada's fentanyl traffickers

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