Windsor police helicopter? Premier tells solicitor general: make it so

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It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Windsor police! 

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If Premier Doug Ford’s latest pie-in-the-sky idea actually takes flight, Windsor police will be patrolling high above the border city with a shiny new helicopter. 

After floating the idea with reporters Wednesday following a national border security meeting with the prime minister, Ford doubled down on Thursday, stating he’s asked the solicitor general to focus on procurement. 

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Ford said it’s a good idea because Canada Border Services Agency doesn’t have a boat, though patrolling the waters between Michigan and Ontario actually isn’t their job. 

“I’ll give you an example, a small police service down in Windsor,” Ford told reporters after the meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and fellow premiers.

“What a great group of people down there. CBSA does not have a boat to patrol the water on one of the largest border crossings in Canada. It’s the Windsor police that are going to be doing that.

“We’re going to support them, possibly with a helicopter.” 

Provincial and territorial premiers met virtually with Trudeau this week to discuss plans for addressing Donald Trump’s border concerns and tariff threats. 

The incoming U.S. president has threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on goods coming from Canada and Mexico unless the two countries stop what he has called “an invasion of drugs.” 

The Canadian government is considering new spending of up to a billion dollars on border protection to deal with Trump’s concerns. 

In response to a question about what Canada’s plans might include, Ford said Wednesday that, among other initiatives the provinces are considering to assist Ottawa, Windsor police might get a helicopter. 

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Following a meeting the next day with Ontario mayors focused on homelessness encampments, Ford said he has asked the solicitor general to “go out and start focusing on procurement for our southwestern border.”  

“Between Hamilton, Niagara, we’ll get a helicopter, and for Windsor and the police down there, they’re going to need a helicopter as well,” he said. 

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens, who was at the Thursday media conference in Toronto, said a helicopter would be an important investment in border security. 

“Premier, I appreciate what you’re talking about with air support, because it’s a large space, and you need that type of investment, that type of technology in the air to help support the border side,” he said.  

Windsor police Chief Jason Bellaire was not aware of Ford’s comments. But given how much Windsor police deal with border issues, he quipped that maybe it’s not a bad idea. 

“Windsor, we’re 100 per cent urban,” he said. “We have two, and now we’re going to have the third-busiest border point in Canada.” 

Outside of what CBSA does, Bellaire said Windsor police take on “the lion’s share of all criminal activity” at local border points. 

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“The Windsor Police Service is not in charge of the national strategy for border protectivity, but it turns out we’re going to be involved in it simply because we are at the doorstep of our closest neighbour and ally,” he said. 

ford
Windsor ‘going to need a helicopter as well.’ Premier Doug Ford, shown during a July 29, 2024, police helicopter announcement in Mississauga, suggested this week the ‘small police service down in Windsor’ could use a helicopter to help with border issues. Photo by Frank Gunn /The Canadian Press

Dilkens said he believes CBSA has enough staff to handle cross-border vehicles, but Windsor police regularly face border issues with its marine unit. 

“The Windsor Police Service provides marine services, which means boats on the water helping to protect the borders of Canada,” he said. “The cost of that falls directly to the taxpayers of the City of Windsor to help provide that service.” 

There’s a good reason you don’t see CBSA boats zipping along the Detroit River.  

“In Canada, border security and integrity is a shared mandate between the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP),” senior CBSA spokesperson Rebecca Purdy said in an email. “The CBSA is responsible for enforcing the law at designated ports of entry in Canada and the RCMP is responsible for enforcing Canadian legislation between ports of entry, including on the water.” 

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The RCMP Windsor detachment does have boats. No helicopters, though. 

RCMP spokesman Const. Ian Smith said the federal police force is responsible for “anything between a port of entry.”  

In this region, that means vehicle and train tunnels, the Ambassador Bridge (with Gordie Howe International Bridge added next fall), the shores of Lake Huron, the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, and the coast of Lake Erie.  

“Our mandate hasn’t changed since Trump’s decision,” Smith, stationed in Windsor, told the Star. “We’re ready, like we always are, to react to anything.”

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If Windsor does get a helicopter, it won’t be the first new copper chopper Ontario’s premier has promised this year. 

Ford announced in July that the province will spend $134 million on five police choppers for Ottawa and the Greater Toronto Area. Durham, Halton, and Peel police will each receive a helicopter, while Ontario Provincial Police will land two. 

The province said in a media release at the time that those five helicopters will be used to fight auto theft, carjackings, impaired driving, and street racing. 

— With files from Taylor Campbell 

 [email protected]

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