Mick the Awakened Saxon

Slightly long tweet, because this innocuous-sounding non-answer signals something WAY worse than you think. Right now, less than 2% of all containers transiting through BC port facilities are imaged. Less than 1% are searched. Outbound shipments are "virtually unmonitored." Simply put, that math is too appealing for organized crime to ignore, and is why BC specifically has been such a hub of organized crime. Worse still, planning to expand port capacity further without an established plan to secure our ports will only exacerbate the problem and likely cause larger, more established organized crime entities that already use BC in their transnational trafficking networks, cartels, international gangs, Ndrangheta, triads, etc., to increase their footprint in BC - and possibly compete for control of it. This is not good. Especially because ports are under federal jurisdiction, meaning the responsibility for policing them falls to Ottawa. As Ottawa has continued to abdicate that responsibility, local police forces have been strained trying to deal with the knock-on effects of expanding organized crime experienced within their communities (violence, drug trafficking, money laundering, etc.), without being able to address the driver of it - criminal activity at our largely unsecured ports. So, we in BC end up bearing the brunt of this insane lack of foresight and understanding from the federal government, in the form of increased crime rates and overworked police departments, because the feds refuse to take responsibility for policing the ports that are under their jurisdiction. Simply put, if Ottawa intends to expand port operations without any plans to secure those ports, our already-strained police departments and criminal justice system will be pushed to the breaking point. Crime rates will rise, clearance rates will drop, and life in BC will get discernibly worse. This is absolutely irresponsible governance.

JUST IN: Former Canadian MP Inky Mark arrested after police seized 439 guns, an antique cannon, & more than C$300,000 in cash from his home. — BBC