Canada and the U.S. must unite to combat drug cartels and transnational money laundering networks.
OTTAWA: I wrote the original version of this column last Friday in an effort to place it in both U.S. and Canadian publications. Since then—on Monday—many of the recommendations outlined in our paper have been endorsed by President Trump. These proposals were not new; they had long been advocated by members of Canada’s intelligence and law enforcement communities, both past and present, yet they had been ignored for decades. As you read this column, consider it a historical account of how these long-standing concerns finally gained traction.
While en route to Asia to complete an investigation for our forthcoming book and documentary, a call occurred between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Donald Trump. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that Canada would receive a thirty-day reprieve from the sanctions—framed as tariffs for public consumption.
Somewhere over Alaska, and a few hours before the call, Zero Hedge published a story in our paper that we had circulated in Canada and the United States. One can’t be sure our PM ever saw it, but no matter what, common sense solutions should always win. But what is certain is that collective effort—whether through writing, advocacy, or policymaking—can drive change. This is merely the beginning. Canada now faces the urgent task of ensuring that, in 23 days, the prime minister’s commitments translate into action because the underlying issue remains unresolved.
Now the column.
The United States and Canada are facing an escalating crisis that threatens not just public health and street security but both nations’ economic and national stability. The vast financial networks of drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs)—often operating in tandem with Asian triads—are laundering billions while flooding our streets with fentanyl.
Donald Trump is frustrated because administration officials have briefed him, asserting that Canada can and should be doing far more to address its role in the crisis. U.S. and Canadian law enforcement agencies have warned about the problem for nearly three decades. Yet Canada has chosen inaction; according to many Canadian law enforcement and intelligence professionals, failure to secure our borders created a vacuum that allowed organized crime to entrench itself in Canada.
For too long, Canada has been the weak link in this fight. A permissive regulatory environment, coupled with under-resourced enforcement, has made the country a haven for money launderers sustaining the fentanyl supply chain. The time has come for decisive, coordinated action.
Today, we are calling on political leaders in Canada and the United States to forge a new North American security partnership that will dismantle these criminal networks and protect our citizens. In the United States, fentanyl and opioids claim over 100,000 lives annually, including non-autopsied cases. Canada, once a step behind in this crisis, has seen an explosion in opioid-related deaths and now claims close to 7,000 lives every year.
The Opioid crisis is not a partisan issue on either side of the border, and hence, combatting it is a North American security imperative. Cartels and transnational crime syndicates are exploiting gaps in Canada’s financial systems, porous regulatory oversight, and weaknesses in cross-border intelligence sharing. The so-called “Vancouver Model” of transnational money laundering—where illicit funds are funnelled through Canadian casinos, real estate, and underground and mainstream banking networks—has become a global case study in how criminal networks evade detection and prosecution.
In 2024 the U.S., TD Bank was prosecuted by the Department of Justice and fined over $3.5 Billion in a Civil Forfeiture case that has since resulted in both the CEO and Chairman stepping down. We were recently advised that this is the tip of the iceberg; a large U.S. bank is also under investigation for laundering the proceeds of crime, so Americans are cleaning up their own backyard. Still, they, too, need to do more, and these networks often use banks on both sides of the border.
This war demands a coordinated response—not just from law enforcement but also from our political leaders, who have the power to implement real, structural change. The Prime Minister needs to present a bold plan and here it is.
What we propose here is a U.S. and Canada high-level joint task force with a clear mandate to target and dismantle transnational money laundering operations linked to fentanyl and the illicit trade in both countries. The effort must go beyond traditional law enforcement and incorporate financial regulators, intelligence agencies, and policy architects from both nations. If successful, it will build on our already strong 5 Eyes partnership. Canada can effectively manage it to ensure our sovereignty and integrity of our institutions and here is a glimpse of what it might entail.
U.S./Canada Drug and Money Laundering Task Force
1. Sanctions and Asset Seizures: The immediate implementation of targeted financial sanctions on cartels and triad operatives laundering money through North American financial systems. Wait and See
2. Cross-Border Intelligence Operations: A formalized intelligence-sharing structure between U.S. and Canadian enforcement agencies to track illicit financial flows and disrupt cartel supply chains. Agreed
3. Canada appoints a Border Czar, as Premier Danielle Smith floated in a press conference last week. It could be the Deputy Minister of Public Safety, Trish Geddes. Having met and talked with her, she truly understands the battleground. Agreed to
4. Targeting Chinese Underground Banking Networks: A crackdown on shadow banking systems that move billions in illicit drug money globally, explicitly focusing on Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and as well as U.S. financial and especially New York
5. Strengthening Anti-Money Laundering Regulations in Canada: Canada must close the regulatory loopholes that have allowed it to become a hub for global money laundering, including by implementing stricter oversight of casinos, luxury real estate, and cryptocurrency transactions. Wait and see
6. Designating Cartels as Terrorist Organizations: President Trump made this declaration, and if Canada made the same declaration formally labelling major drug cartels as terrorist entities, both governments could unlock powerful legal tools for dismantling their financial networks. Agreed to
The task force is not just about law enforcement. It is a plan about safeguarding North America’s economic stability, our financial systems’ integrity, and our streets’ security.
This crisis will not resolve itself. Without decisive intervention, the opioid epidemic will continue to claim more lives and the cartels, and Triads inked to malign state operations will grow stronger. Criminal syndicates and foreign actors thrive where governance is weak. If we fail to act now, we will cede our streets, our financial institutions, and our national security to criminal empires that operate with impunity.
The question before political leaders in Canada and the U.S. is this: Will you stand together to build a secure North America, or will you allow criminal syndicates to dictate our future? The new president has been clear about his aims, but we won’t even admit we have a problem in Canada. However, if as the U.S. administration claims, tariffs all be it they look more like sanctions, this is about to change.
This is the moment to forge a new era of U.S.-Canada cooperation—one that prioritizes our people’s safety, security, and economic well-being. This is our first step toward a North American security framework that recognizes the interconnected threats we face and moves decisively to combat them.
The time for speeches and political posturing is over. The time for action is now. Canada can avoid the tariffs President Trump is about to levy if we demonstrate our willingness to be a partner in solving a crisis that he promised Americans he would end.
Thanks, Mr. President, for the wake-up call.
* Dean Baxendale is Publisher, CEO of the China Democracy Fund and co-author of the upcoming book, Canada Under Siege. Garry Clement is former RCMP Superintendent of Proceeds of Crime.