Canada has unarmed guards along its 4,000-mile (6,435-kilometer) border with the United States, but Canada's will now be armed, as their U.S. counterparts are.

The government plans to arm and train its 4,500 border agents over the next 10 years. Harper said some will be armed starting in September 2007 and about 150 will receive guns by the end of March 2008.

The Canadian side of the U.S.-Canada border is monitored by the Canada Border Services Agency. They have been demanding guns to help them deal with cross-border criminal activity.

Officers abandoned their posts in British Columbia earlier this year when they were told that two murder suspects from California were headed their way, in an embarrassment to the former Liberal government. The men were apprehended by armed U.S. law enforcement officers.

Canada's Conservative party defeated the Liberals in elections last January and promised that they expected to arm border guards soon.

Harper also reiterated Wednesday that $101 million Canadian ($81 million U.S.) will be spent to hire 400 additional officers. They will be used, among other things, to double up on Canada-U.S. border crossings that only have a single officer on duty.

"Arming CBSA officers and eliminating situations where these officers work alone will allow them to do their job better and more effectively," Harper said in a statement.