Evidence of meeting #167 for Public Safety and National Security in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was solutions.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
Yes, I know. There is a certain element on this committee that would prefer that.
Liberal
William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC
Well, I think you might start by speaking to your social media adviser. He could eliminate your accounts, and that would cause a degree of disappearance.
No, in the Pontiac, you don't disappear. In fact, there are many, many areas of the riding of Pontiac that are well covered. In fact, Pontiac, as a riding, starts with the northern suburbs of Gatineau, where there is 100% coverage, as one would expect in any major city in Canada, but as soon as you go 20 minutes outside of Gatineau, that's not—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
So it is possible that I could digitally disappear 20 minutes outside of Gatineau.
Liberal
William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC
You can virtually disappear, but not within 20 minutes. You'd have to go a bit farther than that. You could—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
This is a public safety/public security committee, and what we look at are people who are not necessarily working in the public interest, shall we say. Is there any group, or are there any groups, of people who would prefer to digitally disappear, if you will, and who in turn would create a public safety issue? I'm thinking particularly of some of the people we might have heard of in our previous study on rural crime, but is there a group that we're not thinking about that does actually create security issues?
Liberal
William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC
Just so I can be sure that I've understood the question clearly, are you asking if there's a public interest in maintaining digital obscurity to be set aside from the predominant digital culture that we should be protecting?
Liberal
William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC
If there is one, they're not knocking at my doors regularly in the Pontiac—
Liberal
William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC
—and the mayors and municipal councillors who represent them are not knocking on my door requesting that assistance. It is certainly quite possible in my riding to live off the grid with a reclusive lifestyle, to enjoy the benefits of the national capital and have access to an international airport and a modern transportation system and all of the amenities of urban life on a day-to-day basis and still live in the woods.
Liberal
William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC
Actually, there are certain individuals who have raised health concerns about cell tower frequencies. That issue is still the subject of scientific inquiry, and I think that should continue. It's important that we have that kind of research being done. They would be in the minority, the very small minority.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
I have a final question. A lot of these rural communities are in pretty vulnerable states. There was an article a week or two ago about Huawei offering access at an inexpensive rate. That has been a subject of this committee's study over the last number of months. Do you have any opinion with respect to Huawei's offering services at supremely discounted rates to rural communities?
Liberal
William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC
My sense is that there are many companies that offer the technologies that Huawei offers, such as Nokia and Ericsson, to name just a couple. The national security considerations in relation to Huawei are being undertaken by our government at the highest levels. I have every faith that it will be done appropriately. I trust that process.
No matter what transpires on that ledger, we will have access in Canada to the necessary 5G technologies to build out digital infrastructure for all of rural Canada. It's just a question of which company would provide those technologies and services.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
Okay. With that, on behalf of the committee, I want to thank you for your appearance here.
We will now adjourn.