Canada denounces U.S. border plan
White House proposes to send soldiers to keep migrants from spreading COVID-19
WASHINGTON — The federal Liberal government used some of the sternest language diplomacy allows Thursday as it condemned a White House proposal to send soldiers to the Canada-U.S. border, ostensibly to keep illegal migrants from spreading COVID-19.
Canada has argued “forcefully” against the idea, said Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who was reluctant to characterize the status of the proposal — first reported by Global News — beyond saying a U.S. decision “has not yet been acted upon or fully taken.”
But Freeland, who is normally pointed in refusing to conduct private negotiations in public, made clear that the idea is not finding favour in Ottawa.
“Canada is strongly opposed to this U.S. proposal, and we have made that opposition very, very clear to our American counterparts,” she told a media briefing in the national capital.
Indeed, it may never come to pass, she suggested: countries around the world, including Canada, have been responding with uncharacteristic speed and urgency to an escalating global emergency — a process that involves discussing any and all measures, no matter how drastic, even if they don’t come to fruition.
“We understand the concerns about the coronavirus. We share those concerns very much,” Freeland said.
“What we have said is, ‘We really do not believe at all that there would be a public-health justification for you to take this action. Of course it’s up to you to decide for yourselves.’ And we’ve said we really don’t think this is the right way to treat a trusted friend and military ally.”
Asked about the proposal Thursday, President Donald Trump didn’t seem to know much about it. But he claimed, inexplicably, that the U.S. already has soldiers at the northern border, then veered off on a tangent about “illegal trade” coming in from Canada.
“We have very strong deployments on the southern border, and we had some troops in Canada, but I’ll find out about that — I guess it’s equal justice to a certain extent,” Trump said, without explanation.
“In Canada, we do have troops along the border. We have a lot of things coming in from Canada — we have trade, some illegal trade that we don’t like. We have very strong sanctions on some. We have very strong tariffs on dumping steel.
“We don’t like steel coming through our border that’s been dumped in Canada so they can avoid the tariffs.”
Canada reached a deal with the U.S. in 2019 that lifted Trump’s punishing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
This morning, the government will present forecasts for how the disease might spread in B.C. based on current case numbers and computer modelling of transmission probabilities.
Dix said the estimates will include both worst-case scenarios as well as more temperate forecasts of the likely spread of the disease. Regardless of what trajectory the coronavirus pandemic assumes in B.C., Dix warned, however, that significant challenges lie ahead for British Columbians.
“This will be a difficult time, as difficult as we’ve ever seen as a province,” he said.
The provincial death toll from COVID-19 remained Thursday at 14, with 11 of those who’ve died having been residents of a long-term care facility in the Lower
Mainland.
Outbreaks of COVID-19 have been reported at nine long-term care facilities, none of which are in the Okanagan or the larger region served by Interior Health.
The Okanagan has a significantly higher percentage of seniors than other communities in Canada. In Kelowna, according to the 2016 census, 22% of the population is 65 or over.
Comparable figures for other Valley municipalities are 25% in Vernon, 29% in Penticton, 32% in Peachland and 41% in Osoyoos.
Nationally, 17% of Canadians are over 65.
The new order for health-care employees to work at only one facility during the current pandemic includes long-term care homes, assisted-living complexes, and all extended and acute care facilities. There are dozens of such facilities in the Okanagan.
Canada and the U.S. have the longest unmilitarized border in the world, and it is very much in both of our interests for it to remain that way.