Conservative MPs issued a joint statement calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government to ban China’s Huawei from Canada’s next-generation 5G internet and telephone infrastructure due to national security concerns.
Ed Fast, Tory’s critic for innovation, science and industry, Raquel Dancho, critic for public safety, and Pierre Paul-Hus, critic for public services and procurement, called on the Liberal government to announce the date it will make a final decision on Huawei in the Nov. 23 statement.
“All of Canada’s Five Eyes allies have either banned or severely restricted the use of Huawei in their 5G infrastructure due to concerns that such technology could be used for espionage purposes and undermine our broader security and economic interests,” the statement reads.
“This lack of action by the Trudeau Liberals on this decision is an international embarrassment and has severe consequences for our international standing and our critical relationships with our allies.”
Champagne says he expects the federal government to make the final decision whether to ban Huawei within a couple of weeks after the new parliamentary session resumed on Nov. 22.
The Liberal government previously delayed the decision due to concerns about the safety of the two Canadians—Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor—who were imprisoned in China.
The two men were released in September after over 1,000 days in detention in what was widely seen as Beijing’s retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on U.S. extradition charges—a saga that ended when the United States abandoned its prosecution.
Critics who are concerned about Huawei’s participation in Canada’s 5G network contend that it could give communist China access to a range of digital information, including the habits and whereabouts of Canadians using internet-connected devices.
These concerns stem from the fact that China’s National Intelligence Law demands that Chinese organizations and citizens support, assist and cooperate with state intelligence work with the result that Chinese security agencies could force private companies to provide users’ personal information.
