WASHINGTON — Ottawa’s newly appointed “fentanyl czar” told U.S. officials in Ottawa he has no authority to influence Canadian federal police or border agencies, according to an official with knowledge of the relevant meetings. For U.S. enforcement experts, the admission underlined what they describe as the emptiness of Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney’s high-profile pledges to crack down on transnational fentanyl production and trafficking by Chinese and Mexican syndicates — and underscored systemic failures in Canada’s response to cartels exploiting the nation’s ports, borders, and infrastructure.
