Feds have responsibility to control Canada's borders, says former deputy PM on Safe Third Country Agreement
CTV
One of the people responsible for the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States says reducing the number of migrants coming into Canada at irregular crossings isn't just a question of renegotiating or scrapping the deal, but rather the focus should be on the federal government being able to better control the border.
One of the people responsible for the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States says reducing the number of migrants coming into Canada at irregular crossings isn’t just a question of renegotiating or scrapping the deal, but rather the focus should be on the federal government being able to better control the border.
The irregular border crossing at Roxham Road along the Quebec-New York border has seen a surge in migrants in the last year, and Quebec Premier François Legault has been calling on the federal government to find a solution, while his province struggles to handle the massive increase in people crossing.
Legault’s plea caused a war of words between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre this week, when Poilievre waded into the debate, saying “if we are a real country, we have borders. And if this is a real prime minister, he is responsible for those borders.”
Trudeau later responded saying that “if Pierre Poilievre wants to build a wall at Roxham Road, someone could do that. The problem is we have 6,000 kilometres worth of undefended shared border with the United States, and… people will choose to cross elsewhere.”
John Manley — a former deputy prime minister who served under Jean Chretien and one of the signatories of the Safe Third Country Agreement in 2002 — told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos, in an interview airing Sunday, he doesn’t think the crux of the problem is whether or not the deal should be modernized or renegotiated.
“I think there's a separate issue there, which is Canada's ability to control its own borders,” Manley said. “I know it's simplistic to say to just block Roxham Road, and the government's right to say, ‘well we do that and they'll just come in somewhere else’. Possibly true.”
“But fundamental to the nation's sovereignty is the ability to control our borders,” he added.
