Honourable senators, I have a question for the government leader. On May 1, 2019, then Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said the Trudeau government would make a decision on Huawei’s role in the building of the 5G infrastructure in Canada before the 2019 federal election. Just a few months later, on July 30, 2019, he did a flip-flop and said the decision will be made after the 2019 election.

Leader, it has been more than a year — not as long as this chamber has been waiting for the federal budget and fiscal update we have been asking for, but still more than a year — actually, multiple years since the government has said they would make a decision on this issue. We have our Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which is very important to Canada. They have all made a decision.

Leader, when will your government join our allies and announce that Huawei is barred from participating in the 5G infrastructure in Canada?

This is one of the topics discussed in the opposition motion debate yesterday. There was quite a robust debate in the House. As you say, we’re consulting our allies. We have many allies around the world. One of those allies is South Korea, with whom we have the only free trade agreement in Asia — a gateway to the rest of Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

In considering what will happen with Huawei, I’m wondering if the government has looked at Samsung, for instance, who also has capabilities. We have these security concerns and our allies have already made the decision. Would you look carefully at these options and let the chamber know?