Mayor, province point fingers after Trump adviser singles out Edmonton’s drug crisis

February 4, 2025 Canuck

U.S. President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser pointed to Alberta’s capital as an example of a drug crisis that the U.S. government says is the impetus for sweeping tariffs on Canada.

After talks on Monday, the prospect of 25 per cent tariffs on virtually all Canadian goods is on pause for a month.

But before that announcement, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said during an appearance on CNBC that Canada “misunderstood” Trump’s executive order on tariffs, and “this is not a trade war, this is a drug war.”

Hassett said some big cities in Canada “kind of look like San Francisco” in terms of the scale of drug problems. And he recounted how he spent time in downtown Edmonton last summer, where he said he saw an ambulance responding to someone overdosing on fentanyl outside his hotel, as well as people who “got into a fight with cops over drugs.”

“That was just one day of my visit. The fact is, Canada has a drug crisis, and it’s spilling into the U.S. It needs to stop. That’s what both the Canadian and American people want,” Hassett said.

WATCH | How much fentanyl is really going to the U.S. from Canada:

How much fentanyl is really going to the U.S. from Canada

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U.S. President Donald Trump says ‘massive’ amounts of fentanyl cross into the U.S. from Canada, but in fact, less than one per cent of the synthetic opioid seized at American borders is at the northern border.

Figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) show the agency seized 19.5 kilograms of fentanyl at the northern border last year, compared to 9,570 kilograms at the southwestern one.

Ward pihêsiwin Coun. Tim Cartmell, who is running for mayor in this year’s municipal election, said Tuesday that he’s concerned about the public message about the city.

“I think it’s pretty alarming when somebody in the United States goes on a national network and uses Edmonton as the example of the disorder and the scourge of fentanyl use in Canada.”

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said that Edmonton is experiencing a drug poisoning crisis, and the city is disproportionately impacted because of its role as a service hub for the region and northern Canada, as well as a higher concentration of correctional facilities.

Provincial statistics show that from January to October of last year, 441 people in Edmonton died due to opioid poisoning. The numbers for the final months of 2024 have yet to be released.

Sohi said no matter where they happen, overdose deaths are avoidable, and the provincial and federal government haven’t done enough to respond.

“This is a crisis created by the lack of investment from these two orders of government along with the easily available fentanyl that is being smuggled into our communities,” he said.

“I’m glad there is an increased emphasis now on the supply of fentanyl that I have been asking for action on for three years.”

Alberta Seniors, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon said the province has put significant resources and funding toward tackling homelessness and addiction in Edmonton.

Nixon said the government is also pushing the city to tackle the situation differently.

“It’s why we moved forward in partnership with the Edmonton Police Service to dismantle encampments, to be able to increase our shelter capacity to a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week system,” he said.

“It’s why we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into affordable housing projects.”

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Canada News

Mayor, province point fingers after Trump adviser singles out Edmonton’s drug crisis

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