Poilievre Says RCMP Equipment Contracts Given to Company With Beijing Ties Should Be ‘Banned and Reversed’

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre rises during question period in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Sept. 28, 2022. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre today said that RCMP equipment contracts awarded by a federal department to a company with ties to the Chinese regime should be “banned and reversed.”

“Let’s put this into perspective: This is a contract for anti-eavesdropping technology to be used by our police force that was awarded to a company whose owner is charged with 21 potential espionage crimes in the United States,” Poilievre told reporters on Parliament Hill.

“It’s almost something you'd expect to be out of a spy novel, but characters in spy novels would never be that incompetent.”

A CBC News report published on Dec. 7 said that in October 2021 the federal government awarded a contract worth nearly $550,000 to Sinclair Technologies, an Ontario-based company controlled by China-based Hytera Communications. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) owns about 10 percent of Hytera Communications through an investment fund.

The contract was to provide and maintain RCMP communications equipment that would help protect the federal police’s land-based radio communications from eavesdropping.

Hytera Communications is currently facing 21 charges in an American espionage case. The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) blacklisted the company last year, saying it poses “an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today told reporters at a press conference in Montreal that he finds it “disconcerting” that a federal department would award the contract to a company with questionable ties.

“We’re going to be following up on this, finding out, first of all, what needs to be done to ensure that our communications technology is secure,” Trudeau said on Dec. 7.

“We will have some real questions for the independent public service that signed these contracts.”

Poilievre said the prime minister “has to take the responsibility for his own government” and “explain why he has put in place a system that allowed this contract to go ahead.”

‘Government-Owned Enterprises’

A parliamentary committee was told in February 2021 that the federal government should cancel another contract it had given to a CCP-linked company called VFS Global, which is a visa application company.

Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law told the House of Commons citizenship and immigration committee on Feb. 17, that the federal government “should take prompt measures to ensure that people who are facing political suppression, their information will not fall into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party and result in secondary harms to them.”

Federal government procurement has faced criticism for other security lapses pertaining to Chinese technology in recent years.

In 2020, a $6.8 million contract was given to Chinese X-ray machine company Nuctech to outfit Canadian diplomatic missions abroad. The company was awarded the contract despite knowledge of its links to the Chinese military and ruling Communist Party and a lower bid by a Canadian company. The deal was scrapped after it became public.

Poilievre today said the Canadian government should always be wary of “government-owned enterprises.”

“We as a country should not allow government-owned enterprises that are known for espionage to sell technology that is related to our telecommunications in this country,” he said.

Other MPs have also commented on the contracts awarded to Sinclair Technologies,

“This is what happens when you have the same dept [Public Services and Procurement Canada] that procures washing machines,” said Independent MP Kevin Vuong in a Dec. 7 Twitter post.

“The security & integrity of the RCMP’s land-based comms system is worth more than the $60K that PSPC tried to save by buying China-controlled tech.”

Conservative deputy whip Chris Warkentin told Parliament Hill reporters that it’s “incomprehensible” that the government awarded the contract to Sinclair Technologies.

“This violates every reasonable thought that any person would have when it comes to national security,” Warkentin said.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino responded to criticism from Conservatives over the contract in the House today, saying the government has put in place “rigorous processes to screen for national security concerns when it comes to awarding contracts” and is “looking very, very carefully over the way our independent public servants screened this particular contract.”

The Epoch Times reached out to Public Services and Procurement Canada for comment on the contracts but did not hear back immediately.

Isaac Teo contributed to this report.