QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Huawei--5G Technology
June 18, 2020
My question is for the government leader. Senator Gold, yesterday you admitted that your government is still “grappling with a decision” of whether to ban Huawei from being part of our 5G network. Of course we now know they’re already part of our 4G network with TELUS network, although we didn’t find that out from your government.
Senator Gold, our Five Eyes allies have made it clear where they stand. What exactly is it that your leader is grappling with? What is so difficult with this decision? Is there an outstanding IOU on this failed bid to get the UN Security Council by your government?
Thank you for your question. I’m going to try to address the question of substance and resist, as I’ve tried to do in my brief time in this role, getting sidetracked by questions that I think do not merit a response.
If the honourable senator has an interest in the answer, I’ll proceed. The intelligence agencies, our community’s security establishment and CSIS, regularly provide our government with information as to the security needs and imperatives to protect our telecommunications network. The government listens carefully to that and bases its decisions upon the best advice and evidence it receives from its experts, and it will make its decision with regard to Huawei in exactly that manner.
Senator Gold, if there’s ever a question that merits an answer, it’s this question. It calls into question right now the security of our country. It calls into question our foreign policy in dealing with a country that has an egregious record on human rights and the rule of law. This government has to understand that the Canadian public are calling for answers.
Senator Gold, you talked about our relationship with the Communist China regime many times in this place as being a complicated one. Now Mr. Trudeau has fully compromised, on the world stage for all to see, our values of freedom, democracy and human rights, and now that the cornerstone of his entire foreign policy — cozying up to tyrants and despots — has backfired in the abject failure of securing the UN Security Council seat, we know that the Prime Minister has kowtowed to the Chinese. We know he has bowed before the Iranians. He refuses to recognize the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, on the list of terrorist organizations.
Will your government finally simplify that relationship and take a new direction, not only with China but with our foreign policy altogether? Will your government finally take Canada back and start being a beacon of freedom and democracy in the rule of law?
Senator Gold, wouldn’t you agree that it’s time that we simplify the way we see our relationship with the Communist Party in China and finally stand up and start taking action, starting with Huawei?
Thank you for the question. Were the world a simple place and we could answer foreign policy issues, which, as I described yesterday, are complicated. We have Canadians who are being held arbitrarily and unfairly, and are at great risk in China. We have supply chains, Canadian businesses, Canadian consumers, Canadian farmers also dependent in so many complex ways on our relationships. We have allies with whom we are working.
Canada will continue to pursue a responsible, progressive foreign policy in the world through the United Nations and other multinational institutions, and will continue to deal with a complex world and relationships in the best interests of Canadians.
