Armed officers, patrol dogs, drones coming to Alberta border in wake of Trump tariff threat

Amid a threat from incoming U.S. President Donald Trump to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian and Mexican imports immediately after taking office next month, Alberta is taking its border security into its own hands.

Trump has said the tariffs would remain in place until the countries put an end to illegal immigration and drug trafficking at their borders.

Smith has said Trump is right to be concerned, and has called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to act accordingly.

But, Alberta isn’t waiting for the feds to take the lead, announcing Thursday a plan to secure the province’s 300-kilometre border with Montana.

“We cannot take concerns about border security lightly,” Smith said. “By establishing this new team of sheriffs at our southern border, we are actively working to address security concerns and stop the criminals whose activities are destroying lives on both sides of the border.”

The new Interdiction Patrol Team (IPT), under the Alberta Sheriffs, will crack down on drug smuggling, gun trafficking, and other illegal activities, according to the province.

The team will be made up of 51 uniformed officers equipped with carbine rifles, 10 support staff, including dispatchers and analysts, four drug patrol dogs, 10 cold weather surveillance drones equipped to operate in high winds with dedicated pilots, and four narcotics analyzers to test for illicit drugs.

Alberta is also creating a two-kilometre deep “critical border zone,” which it has deemed critical infrastructure, that will allow sheriffs to arrest people found trying to cross the border illegally or attempting to traffic illegal drugs or weapons, without needing a warrant.

The province explains this area will be created by making changes to the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act.

However, the province says this won’t apply to people travelling legally along Alberta highways and roads.

Smith says the province has been working on this plan for 18 months, emphasizing the mandate letter to Minister of Public Safety Mike Ellis in July 2023 which directed him to “[create] specialized sheriff-led anti-fentanyl and illegal gun trafficking teams including at the Canada-U.S. border.”

The province says it is investing $29 million into the IPT, which plans to be operational early in the new year.

‘Constant refusal to work with others’

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi called the province’s plan “confusing.”

“For a premier who is forever telling Ottawa to stay in its lane, to spend Alberta taxpayer money on border control using Alberta sheriffs makes no sense and is out of step with the work being done by other provinces and the federal government,” Nenshi said in a statement.

“Our premier continues to weaken our country’s negotiating position and threatens our economy with her constant refusal to work with others. The threat of tariffs that, if implemented, will hurt Alberta jobs, investment to our province and our provincial economy, is very real and requires a serious, thought-out response. This isn’t it.”

If the new border security team leads to an Alberta carveout on any tariffs, it’s money well spent, says political scientist Duane Bratt. But he doubts it’ll work.

“I think that is fantasyland that Trump is going to look at (this and say), ‘Well we have 10 provinces. Where is the threat coming from? We’re going to hit Ontario, we’re going to hit Quebec, we’re going to hit B.C., and oh nothing from Alberta? Oh, you’re fine,’” said the Mount Royal University political scientist.

Alberta oil

But Smith said border security is only one part of her plan.

She recently travelled to Las Vegas and appeared on Fox News, all to try to convince Americans that tariffs are bad and Alberta oil is good.

“We know that the Americans are going to continue on a growth path and they need to have reliable partners of heavy oil,” Smith said. “The other partners are places like Iran, Iraq, Venezuela. I think we can make a very good case for why we should be their preferred export partner.”

Smith said her border plan came up in a recent meeting with the prime minister and fellow premiers. She says other provinces are also considering beefing up patrol around their shared borders with the U.S. — but Alberta is leading the way.

–With files from Sean Amato in Edmonton