No, you don't hear much of him, although while he was police chief of Toronto, it was said that he was in the pocket of the union, that he was totally in the pocket of the union and wasn't much in management.
I see that every day as the shadow minister for Innovation, Science and Industry. I see that my counterpart minister actually said something contrary to this when asked why this government approved the takeover of Canada's only lithium mine, a critical mineral, without a detailed national security review. Under the green strategy that this government approved in 2019, they approved the takeover of that mine by a Chinese state company, but 100% of the production of that Manitoba mine goes directly to China. So much for the critical mineral strategy of this minister of industry.
When I asked him about it, he said, “Well, it wasn't me. That was the other guy”, who happens to be working at Rogers now with a big fat paycheque.
He said that before, so I asked him why the government had allowed China to acquire a company out of Vancouver called Norsat, which also owns a company in Toronto called Sinclair Technologies, which are both critical telecommunications companies. In 2017 the previous minister of industry in the Government of Canada allowed that to be taken over by a company called Hytera. I know where Hytera is based. I know you guys know, but I'll just say it for those watching: It is based in Beijing. It's a state-owned company.
Canada allowed a critical telecommunications manufacturer in Canada—two of them, in fact, with one in British Columbia and one in Toronto—to be acquired by company called Hytera, a Chinese state-owned company, and do you know what? That previous minister never asked for a detailed national security review.
That is puzzling, because 2017 is the year that the supposed Government of China legislature in Beijing passed their national security law. Do you know what that national security law says? It says that if you are an individual who works in China or is a resident of China, or you are a company headquartered in China, it is your duty to steal all of the technology and secrets from other countries and other companies. It is your duty as a citizen. In fact, you are breaking Chinese law if you don't do that.
In 2017, when that law passed, we then allowed them, without a national security agreement, to buy two telecommunications companies. What's the effect of that?
The minister, in his accountability, said, “Not me. That was the guy before me.” The guy before him happens to have been in the same cabinet with this minister when this minister was the foreign minister; perhaps, as foreign minister during that time, he could have actually raised his hand at the cabinet table and said, “Wait a minute. Maybe we should do a national security review.”
This is about ministerial accountability and the lack thereof in this government. I know everybody watching and listening is enraptured by this story of the incompetence of this government in doing national security reviews and being accountable for its decisions. Decisions have consequences, intended and unintended. The consequence of this was that this company won two contracts in Canada by low bids. By low bids, they won a Government of Canada contract.
Let me tell you which contracts they were—well, let me stop there before I tell you. I'm going to keep the contracts a mystery for now, but I am going to tell you that in January 2022 Hytera, the Chinese state-owned enterprise that had been allowed to buy these Canadian companies without a national security review, was charged with 21 counts of espionage in the United States of America. That great conservative, that paragon of conservative values in the United States, President Joe Biden—
I'm being corrected. I'm sorry. I misspoke: He is a paragon of socialism. The Democratic president in the United States, apparently a left-wing fellow himself, actually banned Hytera from doing business in the United States.
This comes on the heels of their also banning Huawei, which is still doing research projects in Canadian universities. Perhaps the Minister of Industry and the Minister of Finance could come together to this committee on this budget presentation and explain why Huawei, contrary to what the minister says publicly, is still doing research in Canadian universities. It's incredible. We had testimony in the science and technology committee just two weeks ago on the number of projects that Huawei is involved in, but in the spirit of ministerial accountability, the Minister of Industry—who is responsible for giving Canadian taxpayer money to universities for research—says, “Oh, that's not my problem. I can't control everything the universities do.” However, he does control the money that goes into those research grants.
In the 1993 election, Jean Chrétien famously said, “It's easy, that helicopter deal. I will just put zero through the contract.” Well, it's very easy for Minister Champagne. He represents the same riding as Jean Chrétien did, Shawinigan. Jean Chrétien was the little guy from Shawinigan, and this is the effervescent guy from Shawinigan. All he can do is say, “Zero contracts go to Huawei in Canadian universities”, just like his predecessor in that riding said about the helicopters. Then he ended up buying the same helicopters afterwards, and breaking the contract cost $1 billion, but I won't go there.
Now, I know everybody is waiting to find out the contracts that Hytera won. I'll tell you that after they were banned in the United States, Hytera won two contracts in Canada. One was with the RCMP. It was not with just Procurement Services Canada or with Immigration Canada or with Environment Canada; they won it with the RCMP, one of our primary security agencies. When the minister comes here next week, I'm sure she should be able to answer why a company charged with 21 counts of espionage in the United States and banned from doing business in the United States was granted the ability to install telecommunications equipment for the RCMP across the country.
We did have a special meeting, and I have to say I put forward a motion in the industry committee and asked the Minister of Public Safety, who does not report to the industry committee, to come to the industry committee and explain this. Do you know what happened? The Minister of Public Safety actually came to the industry committee. He actually showed up for questioning in the industry committee.
I think he should invite our Minister of Finance in our effort for finding Freeland. Maybe he could be an ally in getting the minister to come here, in finding Freeland.