Opposition parties have passed a motion put forward by the Conservatives to call on the Libreal government to make a decision in its Huawei 5G security review.
The motion was passed on November 18th by 179 votes to 146, and calls on the federal government to decide within 30 days whether Huawei will be allowed to participate in the rollout of 5G across the country.
This comes as Canada is now the only member of the Five Eyes Alliance to not ban or restrict use of Huawei 5G equipment. Other countries in the alliance are the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
It also calls on the Liberal government to table a plan within 30 days to address China’s intimidation towards Canadians,” as reported by The Canadian Press.
The motion states that the government needs to “develop a robust plan, as Australia has done, to combat China’s growing foreign operations here in Canada and its increasing intimidation of Canadians living in Canada, and table it within 30 days of the adoption of this motion.”
The federal government hasn’t provided a timeline on when it may come to a decision regarding its Huawei 5G security review. The delay came as China arrested two Canadians nearly two years ago, which is widely seen as retaliation for Meng Wanzhou’s arrest on a U.S. extradition warrant.
The U.S. has been urging its allies to ban Huawei equipment from 5G deployment, and has claimed that the Chinese company poses a security risk. Huawei has repeatedly rejected this accusation.
The vice-president of corporate affairs at Huawei, Alykhan Velshi, told The Canadian Press that “during these 12 years in Canada, Huawei has never received a complaint from the Canadian government or any of our customers about a single privacy or security breach involving Huawei equipment in Canada.”
A survey conducted earlier this year by the Angus Reid Institute found that 78 percent of Canadians believe that the federal government should not allow Huawei to participate in the deployment of 5G.
Source: The Canadian Press
