Go ahead.
Evidence of meeting #2 for Public Safety and National Security in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was amendment.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #2 for Public Safety and National Security in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was amendment.
A video is available from Parliament.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
On a point of order, Mr. Chair, I do believe I had my hand up first, and I think the video would show that, Mr. Chair.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Chair, sorry; I have a point of order. I had my hand up at the same time as Mr. MacGregor some time ago, so I think I did have my hand up. I mentioned that when you came to me to respond to Mr. MacGregor's motion as well that I had my hand up on another motion, and you said I would be recognized right after Mr. MacGregor.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Mr. Chair, the same could be said for me. Again, the motion was carried. My hand went up first. I would appreciate being called on by you, Mr. Chair. My hand was up first.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Jim Carr
Sorry; was your hand was up when we asked for unanimous consent, or was there another matter?
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
So was mine, Chair.
No, I'm not going to.... With all due respect, I think the chair could rule on it.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
We could review the video if you'd like, Ms. Damoff—
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
It's up to the chair to recognize whomever he wants to recognize.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Mr. Chair, you've already given me the floor, so I'd like to move forward, if that's all right with you.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
I'm going to present a motion.
I move
That the committee instruct the chair to report to the House the following: the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security calls on the Minister of Public Safety to make a decision on Huawei's involvement in Canada's telecommunications network. For over three years, security experts, allied countries, the House of Commons and Canadians have called on your government to act on the serious national security concerns and ban Huawei from Canada's 5G infrastructure. On Tuesday, September 28, 2021, the Prime Minister promised to make a decision “in the coming weeks”. The government's indecision has been exploited by Huawei, which sold Canadian telecommunication firms hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of critical equipment installed in their networks. Now, these large Canadian telecoms are seeking over one billion dollars in compensation from the taxpayer to remove and replace Huawei infrastructure from their networks. Canadian consumers already pay some of the highest monthly fees for cell phone service in the world. The committee recommends that the government reject the requests for compensation from Canada's large telecommunication companies, and that the government inform the committee of the date on which a decision will be made on Huawei before year-end, and the committee requests a government response.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Jim Carr
I'm disappointed that we had two members of the committee who were vying for the attention of the chair simultaneously, and I had no way, given the technology, of knowing who was first.
I am going to call on Ms. Damoff to tell us what she was about to say to the committee, and then we'll proceed from there.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
I can't do that, Chair, because there's a motion on the floor.
I move:
That the debate be now adjourned.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Jim Carr
That, I believe, is not debatable, is it?
There's a motion, Clerk, to adjourn debate on Ms. Dancho's motion.
12:35 p.m.
The Clerk
It's a dilatory motion, sir.
Can I proceed with the vote?
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Jim Carr
It can't be debated, so we will proceed with the vote.
(Motion negatived: nays 6; yeas 5)
Clerk, does that mean we proceed with the debate?
12:40 p.m.
The Clerk
Yes, sir.
Ms. Dancho has raised her hand.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Mr. Chair, I just wanted to add some comments to the motion.
Again, we know that this has been an issue going on in Canada for several years. It's been about three years since the Prime Minister promised Canadians that he will make a decision on Huawei, and that has yet to occur. In my meetings with a number of the telecommunication companies in Canada, I have found that this is a pressing issue for them. They continue to need to evolve their infrastructure, and yet they're being held back on the decisions they can make. Just from a purely telecommunications point of view, this is impacting access for all Canadians to upgrade their network.
On the other hand, we're also seeing significant national security concerns expressed about Huawei from experts across the western world. We are the outlier in the Five Eyes in banning Huawei from our 5G infrastructure and from infrastructure for telecommunications across Canada. We need to be leaders to ensure that our telecommunications are protected and that Canadians are protected.
This is a national security issue, and it is of grave concern to opposition and opposition parties that the government is not being a leader on this issue. We have Huawei technology in Canada. In our international airport in Ottawa, when you come down the escalator, what's the first thing you see? The largest advertisement in the Ottawa airport is of Huawei.
There are clear indications that the Huawei company is taking advantage of the government's indecision, and we are increasingly concerned that this will threaten the longevity and the security of our telecommunications and therefore the national security of each individual Canadian. We all own cellphones now. We are incredibly dependent on them. We must ensure we are working with companies that protect our national security. We do believe that before we break for Christmas, we need to ensure the government is aware that opposition parties will continue to hold them to account. We view this matter as urgent, and that is why we've brought forward this motion today.