What Lies?
A few weeks ago, I levelled an allegation. I accused the leadership of the Executive branch of the United States of America of lying about Canada and of using those lies to bully and intimidate Canada.
That’s a pretty strong accusation. As you know, I strongly believe in the importance of evidence and therefore it’s only right that my accusation ought not stand on its own without evidence.
So, today we’ll start to look at the evidence.
Canada is a major player in the illegal Fentanyl trade in the United States.
“Canada has failed to cooperate in curbing the ongoing flood of fentanyl and other illicit drugs, and it has retaliated against the United States for the President’s actions to address this unusual and extraordinary threat to the United States.” – White House Fact Sheet July 31, 2025
If that statement is true, then there ought to be good data to back that up. I could present Canadian evidence, but for the purpose of this debate, I will stick with statistics provided by United States Customs and Border Patrol. I choose this data, because it’s produced by an agency of the government that is levelling the charge.
| Year | Canadian Border | All Borders |
| 2020 | 2.2kg | 2,173kg |
| 2021 | 6.4kg | 5,080kg |
| 2022 | 6.4kg | 6,667kg |
| 2023 | 1.1kg | 12,257kg |
| 2024 | 19.5kg | 9,929kg |
| 2025 | 7.7kg | 5,006kg |
In 2024, the year with the largest rate of seizure, the total quantity seized would fit in a single suitcase. In that year, fentanyl seized at the Canadian represented 0.19% of U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizures.
Over the last 6 years, 43.3kg of fentanyl were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the Canadian border, roughly two suitcases worth over a 6 year period. In the same time period, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol seized a total at all borders of 41,112kg. Barely 1/1000th of seizures over that time period occurred at the Canadian border.
It’s all but impossible to argue from these numbers that Canada has ever been a significant supplier to the streets of the United States. Despite this, Canada in 2025, still agreed to invest $1.3billion in increased surveillance to reduce smuggling. Canada also agreed to appoint a Fentanyl Czar to coordinate efforts with the United State Customs and Border Protection agency to reduce smuggling.
I could talk about how that’s an investment of $700 million for every suitcase worth of fentanyl seized at the border by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, but it is true that the investment is about more than just fentanyl.
Regardless, the argument that “Canada has failed to cooperate” is simply and categorically wrong.
0 Comments