The incoming Donald Trump administration and Republicans in Congress still see Canada as a friend and ally, but will continue to press Ottawa on addressing border security and defence spending, a prominent conservative advisor says.
Georganne Burke, who has worked in both U.S. and Canadian politics and supported Trump’s return to the White House, says those two issues in particular will be major sticking points in the Canada-U.S. relationship unless the Liberal government shows it’s willing to act in the ways Trump wants.
“The government has to get serious and understand that (Trump and Republicans) are not asking for anything crazy,” she told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block. “They’re simply saying, ‘Can you guys do what’s needed on the border and can you meet your defence requirements?’
“If I were advising our current government, I would say, ‘Take those things seriously, because if you don’t, there will be a price to pay in terms of your relationship with the U.S.’”
Trump’s newly named U.S. “border czar” Tom Homan said in an interview last week with 7News in Watertown, N.Y. — a community close to the Ontario border — that there’s an “extreme national security vulnerability” along the Canada-U.S. border that will need to be addressed.
Canada has also long been pressed to meet NATO’s benchmark of spending at least two per cent of GDP on defence, a target Ottawa says won’t be met until 2032. That plan has been put in doubt by the parliamentary budget officer.
Trump has said he wouldn’t come to the aid of NATO members that don’t meet the target if attacked by a foreign adversary like Russia.
Burke said Republicans she speaks to in the U.S. — including members of Congress, senators and leaders in the Republican National Committee — have “a lot of affection” for Canada but view the Liberal government as “lax” on border and defence policy in the same vein as how they have characterized the Biden administration and Democrats.
Addressing crime and “lawlessness” in major cities — a top issue raised by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who Burke is close to — is another issue she said Trump also wants alignment on from Canada.
“He intends to end that in the United States, and he would like to see it ended here in Canada as well,” she said.
There have also been concerns among Canadian industry leaders about Trump’s threats of a blanket 10 per cent tariff on all foreign imports, which economists say could hurt cross-border trade and drive up prices for consumers.
But Burke said Trump plans to use threats of tariffs “strategically” in order to press Canada for action at the border and on defence.
“Those are areas where Trump believes in using tariffs a little bit for punishment,” she said. “So he would say, (for example)… ‘If we’re going to have to carry the load for you on defence, it’s going to cost you money to do this.
“There’s a logic to it, if you think about it.”
Burke added Canada should consider the potential impacts on its trade relationship when “all (Trump is) actually asking for the government to do is fulfill its responsibilities as a neighbour.”
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has repeatedly expressed confidence that tit-for-tat tariffs on steel and aluminum under the first Trump administration proved such moves were harmful and won’t be repeated.
The government has also said it is ready to both address a potential influx of migrants fleeing the U.S. for Canada if Trump carries out mass deportations, as well as enforcement to stop potential security risks from entering the U.S. and removing people who enter Canada illegally.
Both Homan and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who Trump picked as his next homeland security secretary, will likely have an eye on Canadian border security given their northern U.S. roots, Burke said.
She further defended Trump’s more controversial cabinet picks, including Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general, Fox News host Pete Hegseth as defence secretary, and noted vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary.
“I think that the people he’s chosen, he’s chosen strategically for a reason,” she said. “They have the kind of experience that he wants, and sometimes not the experience that (others) would expect to see.”
Although she called Kennedy “a quirky guy,” she added, “Trump kind of likes quirky people, in case anyone hasn’t noticed.”