Regg Cohn | Doug Ford and Justin Trudeau are talking to the wrong audience about Donald Trump

Focus on where we have a shared interest in irregular cross border arrivals:

…Rather than focusing solely on the northward flow of migrants into Canada, however, the federal government should be thinking hard about how to stop the southward flow into America which is much higher. After all, that’s what has grabbed the attention of the incoming U.S. border czar, Tom Homan, who happens to be from upstate New York, near the Ontario border.

He called the Canada-U.S. border an “extreme national security vulnerability,” predicting “tough conversations” with Ottawa. “There has to be an understanding from Canada that they can’t be a gateway to terrorists coming into the United States.”

While Canadians obsess about the notorious Roxham Road path into Canada, it turns out that borders are in the eye of the beholder — and very much a two-way street.

Ford and Trudeau are right to turn their minds to Trump. But the test of their tactics isn’t how persuasive-sounding they seem when speaking to Canadians, but how effective they are in winning over the Americans in difficult negotiations ahead.

So far, both are following their re-election playbooks. But both will be judged by Canadian voters on how they play their hands with the Americans, not how they sound on the domestic campaign trail.

Source: Opinion | Doug Ford and Justin Trudeau are talking to the wrong audience about Donald Trump