The federal government has banned Huawei from working on Canada’s fifth-generation networks over security concerns — a decision critics say was long overdue.
The move puts Canada in line with key intelligence allies like the United States, which have expressed concerns about the national security implications of giving the Chinese tech giant access to key infrastructure.
The government is also banning ZTE, another Chinese state-backed telecommunications firm. A government policy statement posted online says companies will have until June 28, 2024, to remove or terminate 5G equipment from Huawei and ZTE.
They’ll also have to remove or terminate any existing 4G equipment provided by the companies by Dec. 31, 2027. The policy statement says the government expects companies to stop purchasing new 4G or 5G equipment from the companies by September of this year.
“This is the right decision and we are pleased to announce it today because it will secure our network for generations to come,” Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne told a news conference Thursday.
WATCH | Canada bans Huawei from access to 5G network:
Canada bans Huawei from access to 5G network
10 hours ago
Duration 1:09
Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says banning the Chinese telecom company will help keep Canadians safe.
Responding to a question about the risk of retaliation from the Chinese government, Champagne didn’t indicate that was a factor in the government’s decision.
“Let me be clear, this is about Canada, this is about our national security, this is about our telecom infrastructure,” he said.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the decision marks “a new era in safeguarding our telecommunications industry.” He said the decision came after a “thorough government examination [of] 5G and wireless technologies.”
“Canada is a country where people can innovate and start new businesses and leverage new technologies in 5G and beyond, but we also need to safeguard against the risks which can be exploited within those networks,” he said.
Mendicino said new legislation is coming to protect 5G networks. The legislation will “establish a framework to better protect the systems vital to our national security and give the government a new tool to respond to emerging cyber threats,” Mendicino said.
In the 21st century, cybersecurity is national security. And it’s our government’s responsibility to protect Canadians from growing cyber threats.<br><br>Today, we announced our intention to prohibit Huawei and ZTE from Canada’s telecommunications system.
The minister said the legislation also will help protect infrastructure in the finance, energy and transport sectors.
China condemned the move against one of its national champions as a form of “political manipulation” carried out in co-ordination with the U.S., which was aimed at “suppressing” Chinese companies in violation of free market principles.
“China will comprehensively and seriously evaluate this incident and take all necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,” the Chinese Embassy in Canada said in a statement posted on its website.
China commonly employs such language in commercial disputes, which often does not lead to a firm response from Beijing.
The Canadian government’s decision has been a long time coming. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government launched a review of the companies that would be permitted to service 5G networks during its first mandate.
Then-public safety minister Ralph Goodale promised to release a decision on Huawei before the 2019 federal election.
WATCH | Canada bans Huawei from telecom networks after years of delay
Canada bans Huawei from telecom networks after years of delay
8 hours ago
Duration 7:44
“This has never been about a race,” says Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne when pressed on why it took the Canadian government years to reach a decision to ban Huawei from telecommunication networks. “This is about Canada. This is about our national security.”
Opposition parties blast government, say decision comes too late
But opposition parties say the government waited far too long to make up its mind.
In a media statement, Conservative public safety critic Raquel Dancho and Gerard Deltell, the party’s critic for innovation, science and industry, said the government should have banned Huawei sooner.
“Conservatives repeatedly called on the Trudeau government to do the right thing and listen to security experts and the calls from our allies — but they refused,” they said in a statement.
They also raised concerns about the cost companies will have to bear to remove existing equipment.
“In the years of delay, Canadian telecommunications companies purchased hundreds of millions of dollars of Huawei equipment which will now need to be removed from their networks at enormous expense,” they said.
In a tweet, Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong also faulted the government.
“It shouldn’t have taken more than three years for the Trudeau government to ban Huawei,” Chong said.
“David Vigneault, director of CSIS (the Canadian Security Intelligence Service), publicly warned the government about the threat from Huawei in early December 2018.”
1/ It shouldn’t have taken more than 3 years for the Trudeau government to ban Huawei.<br><br>David Vigneault, director of CSIS, publicly warned the government about the threat from Huawei in early December 2018. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/cdnpoli?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#cdnpoli</a><a href=”https://t.co/cUhCPm6ufw”>https://t.co/cUhCPm6ufw</a>
NDP critic for innovation, science and industry Brian Masse also criticized the government’s timing.
“It has taken the Liberal government three years to make this decision while the other Five Eyes countries made their positions known much sooner,” he said in a media statement.
“This delay only worked to raise serious questions at home and among our allies about the Liberal government’s national security commitments and hampered the domestic telecommunications market.”
Masse also said the government put Canadians’ security and privacy at risk by delaying the decision.
The development of 5G networks promises to give people speedier online connections and provide the greater data capacity required to allow more people, and things, to connect online.
While the federal government’s review of its 5G policy has taken a broad look at which companies can service the new, faster online networks, most of the attention has focused on whether Huawei would be allowed in — and the possible national security implications of giving it access.
Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino hold a press conference to announce that Huawei Technologies will be banned from Canada’s 5G networks in Ottawa on Thursday, May 19, 2022. (David Kawai/The Canadian Press)
The government went largely silent on the review’s progress after China imprisoned Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor nearly three years ago — an apparent act of retaliation for the RCMP’s arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition warrant.
The two Canadians returned home last fall, hours after Meng reached a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. government.
Critics have warned that Huawei’s participation in Canada’s 5G networks could give the company an inside look at how, when and where Canadians use internet-connected devices — and that the Chinese government could force the company to hand over that personal information.
China’s National Intelligence Law says Chinese organizations and citizens must support, assist and co-operate with state intelligence work.
Huawei insists it is a fiercely independent company that does not engage in espionage for anyone, including Beijing.
Huawei executive not surprised by ban
In an interview with CBC’s Power & Politics, Alykhan Velshi, vice-president of corporate affairs for Huawei in Canada, said he’s not surprised by the decision but is still disappointed.
The government hasn’t provided evidence that Huawei is a national security threat, he said. He also questioned what the government will do about scheduled software upgrades for Huawei equipment already installed — something the company is talking to the government about right now, he added.
“I find it hard to believe the government is going to want to suspend those discussions,” he told host Vassy Kapelos.
WATCH | ‘This is a political decision’: Huawei VP on Canadian ban
‘This is a political decision’: Huawei VP on Canadian ban
8 hours ago
Duration 8:38
“This is a political decision,” said Huawei VP Alykhan Velshi of the Canadian government’s intention to ban Huawei from telecommunication networks. “It’s for the government to provide evidence that Huawei is a national security threat as they claim. They have not done so.”
“Our position is we’re going to continue supporting Huawei equipment in the network, and that will require a level of ongoing co-operation at the technical level between Huawei and the federal government — not just in the days and weeks ahead but, frankly, in the years ahead for as long as this equipment is part of Canada’s telecommunications network.”
Velshi said the company has about 1,500 employees in Canada and that most of them work in research and development. They’re not affected by the decision, he said.
He added that the company’s consumer products, such as phones and watches, aren’t affected by this decision. He said the company has focused on R&D and consumer products since 2018 in anticipation of the ban announced today.
“The reality is that Huawei will form part of Canada’s telecommunications sector for the foreseeable future,” he said
How might this affect the Canada-China relationship?
Various European nations and Canada’s allies in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing group — including the U.S., U.K. and Australia — have made aggressive moves against Huawei, either by barring it from their networks or by restricting their use of Huawei equipment.
Late last year, China’s foreign ministry warned that Beijing’s relations with Canada stood “at a crossroads.”
Earlier in December, China’s ambassador to Canada signalled that keeping Huawei out would send a “very wrong signal.”
The government largely went silent on the 5G review’s progress after China imprisoned Michael Kovrig, right, and Michael Spavor, left, nearly three years ago. (Colin Hall/CBC, Chris Helgren/Reuters)
Huawei already supplies some Canadian telecommunications firms with 4G equipment.
As Global News has reported, telecommunication companies spent hundreds of millions of dollars on Huawei equipment while the federal government’s review of 5G was ongoing — although that number has waned over the years.
The government also risks a lawsuit under the terms of a foreign investor protection agreement signed by the government of Stephen Harper with China.
Under that agreement, Huawei Canada — as an existing investor with assets — could bring a claim against Canada.
MONTREAL – Former Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators defenceman Chris Wideman announced he’s retiring after six NHL seasons on Tuesday.
Wideman spent his last three seasons under contract with the Canadiens, but did not play during the 2023-24 campaign due to a back injury.
The 34-year-old said in a letter released by the Canadiens that he made several attempts at rehabilitation and sought a variety of treatments before deciding to hang up his skates. He finishes his career with 20 goals and 58 assists in 291 games.
Wideman, a five-foot-10, 180-pound blueliner, started his NHL career with the Senators in 2015-16. He played parts of four seasons in the nation’s capital before he was traded in 2018-19 to the Edmonton Oilers, playing five games in Alberta before moving on to the Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Anaheim Ducks organizations.
During the 2020-21 season, he played in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League and was named the league’s defenceman of the year.
Wideman returned to the NHL the following season and produced a career-best 27 points (four goals, 23 assists) in 64 games with the Canadiens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
WINNIPEG – The federal New Democrats have kept a longtime stronghold in the Elmwood-Transcona riding in Winnipeg.
The NDP’s Leila Dance won a close battle over Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds, and says the community has spoken in favour of priorities such as health care and the cost of living.
Elmwood-Transcona has elected a New Democrat in every election except one since the riding was formed in 1988.
The seat became open after three-term member of Parliament Daniel Blaikie resigned in March to take a job with the Manitoba government.
A political analyst the NDP is likely relieved to have kept the seat in what has been one of their strongest urban areas.
Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba, says NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh worked hard to keep the seat in a tight race.
“He made a number of visits to Winnipeg, so if they had lost this riding it would have been disastrous for the NDP,” Adams said.
The strong Conservative showing should put wind in that party’s sails, Adams added, as their percentage of the popular vote in Elmwood-Transcona jumped sharply from the 2021 election.
“Even though the Conservatives lost this (byelection), they should walk away from it feeling pretty good.”
Dance told reporters Monday night she wants to focus on issues such as the cost of living while working in Ottawa.
“We used to be able to buy a cart of groceries for a hundred dollars and now it’s two small bags. That is something that will affect everyone in this riding,” Dance said.
Liberal candidate Ian MacIntyre placed a distant third,
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
EDMONTON – Calgary city council is set to face the fallout Tuesday of losing Alberta government funding for its Green Line light rail transit project, as Mayor Jyoti Gondek says it’s clear the province isn’t willing to budge on its rerouting demands.
Council is set to hear recommendations on how it could pay for the cost of abandoning the project and will mull over how it might transfer responsibility to the province.
While the city has already spent $1.4 billion on land acquisition, utility work and new rail vehicles, the full cost of killing the project in its current form is expected to become more clear.
“(The province) has the ability to impose, really, anything they want on us. And by imposing the wind-down of this project, they have saddled us with costs that I don’t believe we should have to bear,” Gondek said in an interview.
Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen penned a letter to Gondek in early September saying the province would pull its $1.53 billion in funding from the $6.2-billion project if the city doesn’t rejig the line’s route and extend it farther south.
Among other changes, Dreeshen wants expensive downtown tunnelling off the table.
Gondek said such proposals have been studied and rejected, and subsequent meetings with Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party government haven’t moved the two parties to a compromise.
Dreeshen declined again Monday to say whether the province would backstop liabilities for delayed or cancelled contracts, but reiterated that he is working to get alternative proposals from an independent engineering firm.
“We will continue to collaborate with the City of Calgary and our federal partners to ensure an orderly transition from an expensive and high-risk project with extensive tunnelling to a new and longer above-ground alignment that will benefit many more Calgarians,” he said in a statement.
Council approved an updated, shortened line in July, with an added $700 million in costs to municipal coffers.
The premier has called the Green Line “the incredible shrinking project” and said it needs a complete rethink to be more cost-effective.
Speaking on her radio call-in show Saturday, Smith said she wants more direct political oversight of mega projects.
“I’d be looking to be quite a bit more involved than we were in the past,” the premier said.
Gondek said the only way forward is for the provincial government to oversee whatever project proposals it comes back with.
“In the world of the UCP government, it’s power and control. And they will leverage it to get what they want,” said Gondek.
The mayor said the city can’t afford to wait for more reports to begin another approval process. It’s too late for tweaks.
“If (the provincial government) wanted to delay things to figure out a solution, the time for that was July,” she said.
She added that the funding agreement for the Green Line with the federal and provincial governments expires March 31.
The dispute has become highly politicized, as former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, who left city hall in 2021, became leader of the Opposition NDP in June.
Dreeshen has labelled the Green Line project the “Nenshi nightmare.” He has said the former mayor is responsible for mismanaging the project from the start and that it was never properly engineered.
Nenshi, in turn, has blamed Dreeshen for turning the project into a political football and putting jobs at risk.
The Calgary Construction Association has said the UCP’s decision undermines confidence in the reliability of government funding for major infrastructure developments across the province.
It has urged the province to reconsider.
Meanwhile, supporters of the Green Line held a rally in Calgary Monday, calling on political leaders to find a solution to see it built.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
