Close X
Thursday, December 12, 2024
ADVT 
National

Thicker Canada-US Border Unlikely Under Trump, Ex-Security Czar Predicts

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 15 Nov, 2016 12:34 PM
    TORONTO — The Canada-U.S. border is unlikely to see any thickening under president-elect Donald Trump despite the Republican's protectionist campaign rhetoric, former American security czar Tom Ridge said Tuesday.
     
    While Trump's views on Mexican migrants and Syrian refugees appeared to be sharply at odds with Canada's approach, Ridge said Canada needs to take a deep breath and wait to see what actually emerges from a Trump administration.
     
    Ridge, appointed as first Homeland Security secretary in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks on the United States, was fiercely critical of the campaigning Trump, denouncing his "bumper-sticker approach" to policy and a bombastic tone that "reflects the traits of a bully."
     
    Now that the campaign is over, Ridge said he hoped Trump would "substantially alter his approach" to borders.
     
    "There's always a difference between the political rhetoric and actually the governing posture that he takes," Ridge told The Canadian Press in an interview.
     
    "There'll be strong and countervailing influences on some of these issues within the legislative branch as well."
     
    Ridge said it's important to watch who Trump appoints to his cabinet before drawing any conclusions about policy directions.
     
    One thing is certain, he said, Trump won't be building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico as he famously pledged to do during the campaign.
     
     
    "Let's not be so arrogant to think that everybody who crosses our border from the south wants to be a citizen," Ridge said. "We're not going to build the wall."
     
    Either way, he said, Trump's pronouncements have tended to be about the border with Mexico, not with Canada. He also suggested the U.S.'s northern border could be a model for Trump.
     
    Any thickening of the northern border in particular would be a "huge mistake" given the critical relationship Canada and the United States have, he said.
     
    "If you want to look at a relationship that has proven to be very sensitive to the needs of both countries, and the culture of both countries, take a look at the Canada-U.S. border."
     
    One piece of advice he would offer the incoming president is to make Canada the destination for his first foreign visit.
     
    "There's a very unique and very special relationship and I would hope at the very outset that he recognizes that with his first foreign trip," Ridge said. "That would be very important for both countries."
     
    Trump might also want to dust off and revive the "smart border accord" he and former deputy prime minister John Manley forged years ago, Ridge said.
     
     
    The former governor who now runs a cybersecurity company was in Toronto for a conference at which he warned of the increasing threat to critical public and private infrastructure posed by hackers from foreign states such as China as well as from organized crime.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    CIBC To Repay $73 Million After Overcharging Clients For 14 Years

    CIBC To Repay $73 Million After Overcharging Clients For 14 Years
    The bank will also pay $3 million to the Ontario Securities Commission toward its mandate of protecting investors, while a further payment of $50,000 will go to cover the costs of the investigation.

    CIBC To Repay $73 Million After Overcharging Clients For 14 Years

    Ontario Premier Calls Inmate's 52-month Segregation 'Extremely Disturbing'

    Ontario Premier Calls Inmate's 52-month Segregation 'Extremely Disturbing'
    Adam Capay was in isolation for 52 months at a Thunder Bay, Ont., jail, held in a Plexiglas cell with the lights on 24 hours a day.

    Ontario Premier Calls Inmate's 52-month Segregation 'Extremely Disturbing'

    Conjugal Visits Increase Public Safety, Help Offenders Reintegrate, Experts Say

    Conjugal Visits Increase Public Safety, Help Offenders Reintegrate, Experts Say
    Lee Chapelle has fond memories of spending afternoons with his wife in the mid-1990s, barbecuing in a small yard while his young children played in the grass and mimicked the cows' moos as the animals grazed in a nearby field.

    Conjugal Visits Increase Public Safety, Help Offenders Reintegrate, Experts Say

    Adults Shamed From Speaking Indigenous Languages Hold Key To Revival, Survival

    Adults Shamed From Speaking Indigenous Languages Hold Key To Revival, Survival
    Now, people who didn't learn their mother tongue from their parents are key to saving and revitalizing the languages, British Columbia researchers say.

    Adults Shamed From Speaking Indigenous Languages Hold Key To Revival, Survival

    Mechanical Problem On PM's Plane 'Rare': RCAF Says

      An RCAF Airbus carrying Justin Trudeau turned around and returned to Ottawa Saturday night about half an hour after taking off.

    Mechanical Problem On PM's Plane 'Rare': RCAF Says

    Baby Jesus Statue To Remain Headless Until May Or June, Says Sudbury, Ont., Priest

    Baby Jesus Statue To Remain Headless Until May Or June, Says Sudbury, Ont., Priest
    A decapitated statue of baby Jesus outside a Catholic church in northern Ontario will remain headless this Christmas, as the church says it will be months before the head can be reattached.

    Baby Jesus Statue To Remain Headless Until May Or June, Says Sudbury, Ont., Priest