The head of Canada’s intelligence agency spoke openly about China’s interest in partnering with Canadian universities to gain a military edge during a conference with his Five Eyes counterparts on Tuesday.
“China has been very transparent,” Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Director David Vigneault said.
“Everything that they’re doing in our universities and in new technology, it’s going back into a system very organized to create dual-use applications for the military.”
Vigneault made the comments on stage during a rare public gathering with spy bosses from the U.S., the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.
The representatives of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance are meeting in California’s Silicon Valley at the invitation of FBI Director Christopher Wray to discuss adversaries’ use of technology and threats to innovation and research.
Vigneault said CSIS has been trying to warn Canadian universities about the People’s Republic of China’s motivations and is in the process of setting up a research security centre to provide advice directly to research institutions.
CSIS head says he’s warned universities about China’s interest in their research
Featured VideoCanadian Security Intelligence Service director David Vigneault spoke at a conference with representatives of Canada’s Five Eyes allies.
“We’re not telling people who they should hire or not hire. But we tell them … if you’re working for one of those seven universities in the PRC associated with the People’s Liberation Army, you know it’s probably not a good idea if you’re working in cutting-edge technology in the university,” said Vigneault.
According to the Hoover Institution, which hosted Tuesday’s event, a cluster of institutions in China, often referred to as the “Seven Sons of National Defence,” collaborate with universities around the world to harvest research and divert it to military applications.
Vigneault said CSIS supports Canadian universities being able to attract talent from around the world, including China.
“But you also need to understand that, unfortunately, the rules of engagement, the rules of the games have changed,” he said.
“They’ve been so bold about what they’re doing, how they have been stealing intellectual property, how they have interfered in our democratic processes, how they have been engaging on campuses, of all places to interfere.”
Since 2005, those institutions have published more than 240 joint papers with Chinese military scientists on such topics as quantum cryptography, photonics and space science, said the newspaper.
The head of Canada’s spy agency says President Xi Jinping of China is transparent about wanting to use Canadian research. (Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)
In February the Liberal government announced it would ban all federal research grants for projects linked to “foreign state actors” that pose a threat to Canada’s national security — and urged provinces and universities to follow suit.
Mike Burgess, head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, bluntly told the audience that “all nations spy.”
“All nations seek secrets and all nations seek strategic advantage. But the behaviour we’re talking about here goes well beyond traditional espionage,” he told the conference.
“And the threat is that we have the Chinese government engaged in the most sustained, scaled and sophisticated theft of intellectual property and acquisition of expertise that is unprecedented in human history. And that’s why we’re together.”
‘It’s not enough to cry wolf’
During an exchange moderated by former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, Vigneault also spoke of trying to engage with the Canadian business community on threats.
Recently, leaders in Canada’s business community have been demanding that the intelligence service be given the power to share intelligence with companies being targeted for economic espionage.
The <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/FBI?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#FBI</a> is hosting the leaders of the Five Eyes intelligence partnership – the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand – in a first-ever Emerging Technology and Securing Innovation Security Summit in Palo Alto, the heart of Silicon Valley. <a href=”https://t.co/03TVPmDtB5″>https://t.co/03TVPmDtB5</a> <a href=”https://t.co/crjNW3Qe6X”>pic.twitter.com/crjNW3Qe6X</a>
Earlier this month, the Business Council of Canada, made up of chief executives and entrepreneurs in the country’s major companies, called on Ottawa to update the CSIS Act so that private firms targeted by foreign interference actually know they’re in danger.
“We need to go out of our way to give concrete examples,” Vigneault acknowledged. “Because it’s not enough to cry wolf.”
Business Council of Canada president Goldy Hyder joined the Canadian delegation at the conference. He said Canadian businesses are more than ready to work with government to protect national security.
“In an era of renewed geopolitical rivalry, when a country’s ability to continuously push the boundaries of science and technology is the foundation upon which military, economic, and cultural power now rests, deep and sustained partnerships between the private and public sectors are necessary to protect our citizens and our prosperity,” he said in a post on social media.
A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister LeBlanc recently said the federal government is looking at improving information sharing but wouldn’t commit to a timeline.
The Five Eyes intelligence service leaders are taking questions from reporters later tonight.
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
