Ontario Premier Doug Ford has indicated Windsor police could be getting a helicopter to help address border security.
He made mention of a helicopter during a news conference Wednesday after a meeting with federal first ministers to discuss border security and hefty tariffs being proposed by incoming U.S. President Donald Trump.
The premier indicated the federal government would be putting more CBSA and RCMP officers along the border, along with more drones and other resources.
Ford told that news conference that the federal government also asked the province to help, which he agreed to temporarily, but he emphasized that the border is not the province's responsibility.
He told a news conference Wednesday that the Canada Border Services Agency does not have a boat to patrol the waters in the Windsor area; it's the Windsor police that does that.
"We're going to support them, possibly with a helicopter," he says. "I've directed my solicitor general to look at a cost to patrol everywhere from Windsor down to Niagara and get Niagara and Hamilton a helicopter as well."
The Windsor Police Marine Unit patrols Windsor's harbours, beaches, and marinas for criminal activity while enforcing provincial and federal statutes, as the service is responsible for policing Windsor's boundaries of the Detroit River.
Ford also told a news conference Thursday about starting the procurement of a helicopter for the southwestern border.
"It's one of the largest border crossings, including Niagara, to make sure they have a helicopter," he says. "So between Hamilton and Niagara, we'll get a helicopter. For Windsor and the police down there, they're going to need a helicopter as well."
But Bellaire says Windsor has two of the busiest border points in Canada and will soon have a third one, the Gordie Howe International Bridge.
"You know what? Maybe we need four helicopters. I don't know yet, but someone needs to do something. If Windsor police don't have the tools to take on the role and assist the border with security, then another agency needs to take what they have and come and address issues at the border. The border is not a new issue," he says.
Bellaire says we'll have to see what the plan is.
"I'm sure somebody has a plan; the Windsor police are not in charge of the national strategy for border integrity," he says. "It turns out we're going to be involved in it simply because we're at the doorstep of our closest neighbour and ally."
Bellaire says he doesn't have all the facts and hasn't been in conversation with anyone about a helicopter.
"We are involved in a lot of the conversations with border security because Windsor police take on a lot of the border issues in the city of Windsor. The CBSA has their mandate, and in the absence of the CBSA, Windsor police really take on the lion's share of all criminal activity at the border outside of what the CBSA does," he says.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods if Canada does not take action on illegal immigration and drug trafficking at its border.