A senior U.S. official says some major Canadian cities rival San Francisco in the seriousness of their drug crisis, citing a fentanyl-related incident he witnessed in Edmonton as evidence that Canada has let its drug problem get “out of control.”
White House National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett made the comments during a Feb. 3 interview with CNBC, hours before President Donald Trump agreed to a 30-day pause in tariffs on Canada. The delay came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged to beef up border security to stem the flow of fentanyl.
The tariffs, which Trump promised to impose on Canada and Mexico over border security concerns, were set to take effect the next day.
During the interview, Hassett said tariff threats are a U.S. strategy to pressure its two neighbours to solve the drug crisis and that Canada had misunderstood the threat as a “trade war” instead of a call to address the fentanyl problem.
“These are some of our best trading partners and our best friends to solve this incredible problem that has been spinning out of control … and they have not really been addressing it.” Hassett said.
“I can tell you, I spent a lot of time in Canada. I was up in Alberta and walking on the rivers and fishing last summer. And I could tell you that there are places in big cities in Canada that look like San Francisco, because the drug war is being lost by this government in Canada.”
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Hassett cited an experience visiting Edmonton last summer when, as he stepped out of his hotel, he witnessed an ambulance responding to a person who had overdosed on fentanyl.
“And then, as I’m walking to my restaurant, two people get into a fight with the cops over drugs, right there, just in downtown Edmonton. And this is just my one day when I’m staying there.”
“Canada is like San Francisco, and it’s spreading to the U.S., and it needs to stop,“ he said. ”That’s what the Canadian people want, and it’s what the American people want.”
San Francisco saw one of its deadliest years for drug overdoses in 2023, with 810 deaths from unintentional drug overdose, of which at least 653 were due to fentanyl. Edmonton, meanwhile, recorded 657 overdose deaths linked to non-pharmaceutical opioids, like fentanyl and heroine, in 2023, although government data doesn’t specify how many were caused by fentanyl.
When Trump was elected president last November, he pledged to impose 25 percent tariffs on all goods coming from Canada and Mexico unless those countries addressed the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into the United States across their borders.
In an effort to avoid the tariffs, Ottawa last December unannounced a $1.3 billion strategy to secure the border against drugs and illegal migration, with an emphasis on stopping fentanyl and its precursor chemicals. Some Canadian provinces, including Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, also launched their own border plans to address Trump’s security concerns.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who announced a $29 million border plan last December to combat drug smuggling, gun trafficking, and illegal migration; said in a Feb. 5 social media post she has instructed her province to “take immediate steps to significantly increase police and prosecutorial resources to go after the Fentanyl labs, kingpins and dealers that are responsible for killing 49,000 Canadians since 2016.”
A number of Canadian premiers are seeing the 30-day reprieve as a chance to demonstrate Canada’s commitment to border security.
After his Feb. 3 call with Trump, Trudeau promised to implement the federal border plan, along with other measures such as appointing a “fentanyl czar,” listing cartels as terrorists, and launching a Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl, and money laundering. The prime minister also pledged $200 million to a new intelligence directive on organized crime and fentanyl.
