Compared to other countries, Canada has been less proactive in prosecuting or outing elements that have engaged in cyber-espionage. The United States has identified a number of agents of the Chinese People's Liberation Army who have been involved in this kind of activity.
We tend to be reluctant to engage, particularly with the Chinese, with regard to activities like cyber-espionage, suppression of Chinese language media or indeed harassment of people who might wish to speak out. They are harassed either by Chinese agents directly or through various kinds of harassments over the Internet.
This has been because our government has given priority to the promotion of prosperity in our relations with China and is prepared to tolerate these sorts of activities, because the cost to Canadian business and Canadian prosperity would be high.
The Chinese government has made it clear that if Canada does crack down on these sorts of activities of agents of the Chinese state in Canada or cyber-disruptions, we will lose business. You may recall the hack of NRC aerospace data or the earlier hack of the Treasury Board and other related government departments. From what I've heard, they were attributable to the Chinese state, but there have been no consequences to China for doing these sorts of activities.
It really is a question of political will, and it would be great if your committee could start to compare the policies of other like-minded countries, particularly the United States, the U.K. and Australia, with regard to this sort of activity. Our cyber situation is really so grave that, arguably, it looks like the Five Eyes is being reduced to three eyes.
When you look at the Quad, it doesn't include Canada. When you look at the Australia, U.K., and U.S. activity in the Indo-Pacific, to the best of my knowledge, the United Kingdom is not an Asia-Pacific country. Canada is, so why have the United States and Britain decided not to include us in the recent consultations between the United States and the U.K. on Taiwan, along with Japan? Part of our country is geographically closer to China than Australia. Why are we being excluded?
I think it's because we have not been pulling our weight in terms of addressing threats to public safety and national security, and our allies just don't see us as reliable partners anymore, along with New Zealand, which is for different reasons. I feel very sorry about this, but I do feel it is not too late. This is the Parliament of Canada. We can turn this around.