On a late Saturday afternoon, two days before U.S. president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs on Canadian goods over migrants and fentanyl, the RCMP alerted U.S. Border Patrol about a group of people crossing illegally from Quebec into an area near Chateaugay,

Canada’s premiers are urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step up border security and defense spending to assuage US President-elect Donald Trump’s concerns, with the leader of the largest province calling the federal government “slow to react” and “stuck on its back foot.

Canada is already examining possible retaliatory tariffs on certain items from the United States should President-elect Donald Trump follow through on his threat to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products,