Public Safety Committee on May 15th, 2019

[Michel Picard, Liberal, Montarville, QC]

Given the participation of Cascades—which is also a supplier—in this network ecosystem, is connectivity so sensitive that an impact at your end creates comparable difficulties for some of your suppliers?

For example, could someone compromise one of your suppliers by using your system?

[Luc Jarry]

In terms of connectivity, I would say no, not with our model.

We have dedicated links to some of our suppliers exactly because we expect greater reliability and availability. These are some of the aspects of fibre optics my colleagues are discussing.

We use protocols with different service providers in Canada and the United States with dedicated MPLS links. This is not necessary for others. We should not forget that there are levels of criticality associated with our systems: there are the “critical”, “standard” and “average” levels. We put in place the measures required to ensure availability.

[Michel Picard, Liberal, Montarville, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Mr. Paul-Hus, you have five minutes.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My first question is for the representatives of Tawich Development Corporation.

We did some research on you. We discovered that you went to China recently and that you have photos of your meeting with the people from Alibaba.

Can you tell us if you reached agreements with them? If so, what kind of agreements?

[Jean Fernand Schiettekatte]

The people at Alibaba want to open data centres in Canada. They want to have data centres that meet Canadian standards. In fact, all transactions between Asia and Canada could flow through a northern fibre. This makes it interesting because it reduces the latency. Alibaba has opened several data centres in the United States.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

I believe that the photograph shows the Cree nation signing an agreement with the Chinese. Have you already signed a memorandum of understanding?

[Jean Fernand Schiettekatte]

We have signed agreements, but not with respect to data centres. We import security equipment for mines, sweaters and things like that.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

But no technology.

[Jean Fernand Schiettekatte]

No.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

All right.

The company would be established in Quebec. Have you calculated the economic benefits for Canada or Quebec of the project you are undertaking?

[Jean Fernand Schiettekatte]

We are in discussions for a prefeasibility study, which would provide more solid statistics on the economic benefits. We believe that the banking data processing centres that would be established in northern Quebec would generate significant economic benefits for Quebec.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

In the North, we already have the North Warning System, the Canadian portion of which is run by National Defence under NORAD. Would the proposed optical fibre telecommunication link be linked to the 47 existing radar stations?

[Jean Fernand Schiettekatte]

This is very interesting and something that I did not mention in our presentation, which deals more with First Nations. However, it would be important to add the Canadian military bases to this link. That is something that could be considered.

Mr. Scheer wants to ensure Canada's security and presence in the far north, and we believe that this fibre optic line is one of the tools that would make this possible.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Perfect, thank you.

Mr. Jarry, when we talk about the Internet of Things, we are also talking about the supply chain. My colleague asked a question about checking the devices that are purchased. What do you think of the Chinese corporation Huawei?

[Luc Jarry]

What is a little surprising about Huawei is that it has been working with Bell Canada for a long time. Now questions are being raised especially because there are concerns about security and espionage. I find it surprising that a company like Bell Canada has been doing business with Huawei for many years while other companies have backed away.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Is it the deployment of the 5G network that is problematic? The older devices were different. Could the new devices and 5G technology have a different impact?

[Luc Jarry]

I retired from Bell Canada after working there for many years. However, I did not directly participate in that project. What I can say is that we have concerns about security. I am talking about espionage. I was surprised to learn about that.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Okay.

Concerning the Internet of Things, you spoke about various remote controls for things. There are definitely some of us who have remote locking systems. These things are controlled by home automation systems. Can the equipment be programmed when installed and controlled afterwards, or must you control the automated system to control the thing?

[Luc Jarry]

One of the main problems with the Internet of Things is cybersecurity. Cybersecurity is not a consideration when designing and manufacturing most of the things that we want to connect to the Internet. One of my recommendations to the committee is to deal with this aspect once and for all. We now have to consider cybersecurity when connecting a device.

Let us not forget that automated systems are not new. As I mentioned, we have been investing in this area for 15 to 20 years. However, these systems were on closed networks. Now we will be able to prevent equipment breakdowns in plants with artificial intelligence.

Earlier, we talked about the availability of systems at Cascades. We will be able to operate systems 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. We can use artificial intelligence to anticipate equipment breakdowns. To take advantage of that we have to connect all the equipment.

We must not forget that the majority of cyber attacks that have taken place in Canada and around the world involve information and denial of service. When we connect these things, it becomes physical. In terms of security, we must now ask ourselves if this will be part of the country's military arsenal.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you.

Ms. Sahota, you have five minutes.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

David is going to be taking my time.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

I would like to come back to what was said earlier about the attack on WhatsApp, which was reported yesterday. According to the analyses we have learned about to date, it would seem that state actors were responsible for this attack and that the human rights sector was targeted.

In your view, are the world's greatest cybersecurity threats posed by the private sector or state actors?

[Luc Jarry]

Are you referring to vulnerabilities?

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

I am referring to the exploitation of vulnerabilities.