Manitoba’s Premier is pledging a new approach to border security in the province, one he said will include conservation officers patrolling at the southern border.
“We are going to be deploying conservation officer resources towards our southern border, as part of an initiative to ensure that Manitoba is doing our part to have a strong border security message,” Premier Wab Kinew said on Friday, while speaking to reporters at an unrelated press conference in Winnipeg.
“Everyone has said we need a stronger approach to border security here, the federal government has announced new resources coming, and we are saying at the provincial level, we are standing up a plan as well.”
According to Kinew, Manitoba conservation officers will soon be deployed to help with surveillance at the Canada-U.S. border, as incoming U.S. President Donald Trump continues his threats to impose 25% tariffs on all imported goods from Canada and Mexico when he takes office, unless the countries do more to stop illegal border crossings, and to prevent illegal drugs and drug traffickers from entering the U.S.
With those threats looming, Kinew said he wants to show our U.S. counterparts that Manitoba is taking border security and its relationship with the United States seriously, as we near Trump’s return to power.
However the NDP plan doesn’t sit well with the opposition Conservatives.
“National security is fundamentally a federal responsibility, yet the Canada Border Services Agency and RCMP in Manitoba have been left critically understaffed by the NDP-Liberal government in Ottawa,” said Riding Mountain MLA Greg Nesbitt, PC Critic for Environment and former natural resources minister in a release on Tuesday. “Instead of downloading these problems onto our hardworking conservation officers, all parties need to come together and develop real solutions that respond to the challenges ahead of us more thoughtfully.”
Manitoba employs around 90 conservation officers to enforce hunting laws, combat poaching, and respond to wildlife conflicts across the province.
The Conservative release also said the Manitoba Wildlife Federation and the conservation officers’ union have echoed these concerns, questioning the feasibility of Kinew’s plan and its potential impact on rural communities.
Kinew also announced earlier this month the province will be opening a permanent office in Washington as they look to strengthen Manitoba’s trade relationship with the U.S.
“So we’re moving in that direction,” Kinew said. “Whether it comes down to cracking down on drug trafficking, or whether it’s about having that trade presence in the United States of America, or whether it is of course about needing to have additional eyes on the southern border.
“Our economic relationship with the U.S., which is so important, is going to rely on us saying, ‘We’re a trusted partner when it comes to jobs, we’re a trusted partner when it comes to cracking down on drugs, and we’re a trusted partner when it comes to the border.”
Kinew said the province plans to provide more details when they are available about their plans for conservation officers to be involved in border security at Manitoba’s southern border.
“We’ll be rolling out a bit more details on this soon, but basically what we have said is using the exsisting chains of command, we want to ensure that some our law enforcement resources here in the province are supporting the broader border security effort,” he said.
“They’re going to be able to step in in a humanitarian situation, but more likely be that additional eyes and ears to report things to the RCMP or to the Canadian Border Services Agency.”
