Global Affairs: Growing International Shipment of Canadian-Made Fentanyl

The Department of Foreign Affairs has released a briefing note stating that criminals are increasingly shipping fentanyl produced in Canada to foreign markets.In the briefing document, the Canada Border Service Agency reported a rise in fentanyl precursor chemical seizures in Canada. It said that this, together with “seizures of clandestine laboratories in Canada,” proves that fentanyl is being made in Canada.

According to the document, China has been the main supplier of illegal fentanyl and chemical precursors transported to Canada and North America since 2015. More fentanyl precursors are being exported to other nations since China tightened its regulations on fentanyl and its analogs in May 2019.

The Chinese government “sees the opioid crisis as a ‘North American problem,'” according to the letter. According to the report, China stressed the significance of “cleaning up one’s own house first” at a March 2024 conference held in Vienna on the fringes of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

The federal government claims that fentanyl is 100 times more strong than morphine and 20 to 40 times more toxic than heroin, making accidental overdose extremely likely. It is frequently combined with other substances, including as cocaine and heroin, and placed in fake tablets that mimic prescription opioids.

According to Canadian mobster Lawrence Bishnoi, India is acting as a proxy in his realm.

One of India’s most dreaded gangsters, Lawrence Bishnoi, is accused of being responsible for the high-profile murder of a Punjabi rapper, the repeated death threats made against a Bollywood celebrity, and the assassination of a politician in Mumbai earlier this month. 

Indian officials have called the charges “preposterous,” accusing Canada of harboring violent members of a group that advocates for the establishment of Khalistan, a separate Sikh homeland, and asserting that the ruling Liberals are attempting to gain support from the nation’s sizable Sikh population.

Gaining recognition

The gangster’s influence now spans not only North America but also “Europe and the Gulf states, and other areas with significant Punjabi diaspora communities,” while Bishnoi’s group may have begun their criminal journey with minor intimidation in student politics on a Punjabi university campus, according to Delhi-based journalist Deepak Bhadana, who has spent the last few years looking into Bishnoi’s activities for the television station News9. 

Born outside of a criminal family

Singh, the author of the newly released book Who Killed Moosewala?, said that Bishnoi’s ascent to the top of India’s criminal ranks is a “aberration” because he was not born into a family of criminals. Punjab’s harrowing tale of violence.

India and its diaspora networks were devastated by the shooting death of Punjabi artist Sidhu Moose Wala in May 2022. The primary suspects are Bishnoi and his younger brother Anmol, as well as Goldy Brar, one of his closest friends, who Indian authorities think assists in running the gang from his base in Canada. Bishnoi has denied any participation in the murder.

Bishnoi was born into a moderately affluent Punjabi landowning family. His father was a police officer, and his mother gave him a British name, sent him to the local convent school when he was a child and hoped her son would become a lawyer. 

Singh claimed that Bishnoi embraced the criminal lifestyle after getting embroiled in extortion and violence while attending a Chandigarh university. 

The steep decline in inflation to 1.6% necessitates a half-point rate decrease.

September saw a significant slowdown in the annual rate of inflation, which dropped below the Bank of Canada’s objective of 2%. The supermarket store’s price increases were constant at 2.4% annually. The price of fresh or frozen beef increased 9.2% last month, while the price of edible fats and oils was up 7.8% and the price of eggs increased 5.0 percent yearly, despite annual decreases for fish, nuts, and seeds.

According to StatCan, September saw a 4.4% decrease in airline prices and a 14.3% monthly decrease, which is typical of seasonal trends leading into the fall.

According to StatCan, the general consumer price index has increased by 12.7% over the last three years, while rent has increased by 21% and grocery prices by 20.7%.

In recent months, the Bank of Canada has been reducing its benchmark interest rate as concerns about inflation falling too far below its two percent objective have taken center stage.

The steep decline occurs before the Bank of Canada’s next interest rate announcement on October 23. Forecasters are considering whether a harsher, 50-basis-point decrease, as opposed to the usual 25-basis-point step, could be in the cards, even though economists typically expect another interest rate cut.