Anadasangaree admits promised “1,000 CBSA officers” are actually “personnel”

While initially claiming that the 1,000 new CBSA hires would be “officers,” Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree let it slip that they wouldn’t actually all be front-line officers.

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Over six months after the Liberals promised to “secure” the U.S.-Canada border by hiring 1,000 new Canada Border Services Agency “officers” and 1,000 Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers, the Liberal Public Safety Minister quietly admitted that not all of the promised additions will even be officers.

While initially claiming during a Friday press conference that the 1,000 new CBSA hires would be “officers,” Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree let it slip that they wouldn’t actually all be front-line officers.

When asked how many of the new officers will be dedicated to the Niagara crossing regions, Anandasangaree said, “I think our primary objective is to make sure that the 1,000 officers, the 1,000 personnel—they’re not all officers, to my understanding—will have the training, have the capabilities to be able to be deployed across Canada.”

He said it’s “hard for us to say” in the moment what type of investments would be coming, but he promised to “support” whatever border crossings are in need “in every way we can.”

Just last week, Anandasangaree admitted during a House of Commons’ Public Safety Committee meeting that the promised new “officers” had not yet been hired.

During the same committee, Erin O’Gorman, the president of the CBSA, said that 80 per cent of the new “CBSA officers” were expected to be armed while 20 per cent would be trained as “operational employees.”

To announce the recommitment, the Prime Minister’s Office sent out an email on Friday morning repeating the claim that the new CBSA employees would be officers. Prime Minister Mark Carney has since started using the term “personnel” instead.

The announcement pledged the additional personnel to “help crack down on the movement of stolen goods, illegal guns, and drugs, enforce import measures, and investigate unfair trade practices.” The measures are expected to cost approximately $620 million over five years.

The Liberals also announced an increase to the CBSA’s recruit stipend, raising it from $125 to $525 per week, to “help attract and retain” new members and improve benefits for existing officers.

Conservative public safety critic Frank Caputo blasted the announcement, saying there’s a big difference between hiring administrators or support members and having front-line officers as presented initially during the Liberals’ election campaign.

He noted that the announcement was just about funding, and the CBSA personnel have yet to be hired.

“This means that they hadn’t even had funding for them. Remember, elbows up, we’re going to keep you as safe as possible? This border is going to be more secure than ever? All of that was a facade,” Caputo said. “So today we’re told they’re going to fund it. Now you might be asking, how do you fund it without a budget? I really don’t know. So who knows? Maybe we’re waiting till November to actually fund it.”

After facing much criticism from the Official Opposition for not releasing a budget, the Liberal government pledged to release its federal budget for this year by November 4.

“This is just another example of the Liberals not following through with their promises, allowing the border to remain porous and failing in this regard,” Caputo said. “Shame on them.”