Conservatives urge Liberal government to reject Huawei

THE Conservatives on Monday launched an all-out attack against Huawei.

Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative critic for public safety and emergency preparedness, and Glen Motz, Conservative associate critic, in a letter to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, called on the Liberal government to take a position on Huawei and its possible participation in the construction of the Canadian 5G network while noting: “Many of our allies are already on the list of countries that have banned Huawei from their 5G networks, and the list keeps growing.”

They added: “As a G7 country, Canada’s decision and its potential impact on our relationship with our international friends, and the information we share with them, will be considerable. Canada cannot delay any further.
 
“The U.S. national security adviser has urged Canada not to use Huawei 5G technology as it would put in jeopardy intelligence sharing with the United States and expose Canadians to being profiled by the Chinese government.
 
“Australia has blocked Huawei from providing equipment for its 5G network and it has advised India to ban Huawei as well from supplying parts for a rollout of a high-speed telecommunications network.
 
“We have also seen Denmark expel two Huawei staff and the European Union is considering proposals that would effectively amount to de-facto ban on Huawei equipment for next-generation mobile networks. Japan’s government has also effectively banned China’s Huawei from official contracts and New Zealand’s top intelligence agency has banned Huawei from supplying equipment for the country’s first 5G mobile network in November 2018. As we said Minister, the list of countries banning Huawei is growing at a staggering rate.”

The Conservatives said: “Canadians expect answers on why this decision has been, and continues to be, delayed. As we stated earlier, Canada is a G7 country and its government must govern itself accordingly.”