Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has spent months ignoring the advice of our allies and refusing to ban Huawei from our future 5G network.
Countries and providers across the world are acknowledging the reality that it is far too dangerous to allow a Chinese government-controlled company to have access to every level of our communication network. However, the government is refusing to make a decision, leaving the industry and the Canadian people in limbo.
Now we see that while the government stalls this decision, it is denying anyone who is opposed to Huawei from providing any input on whether the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada should allow Huawei to fund a research chair. It seems that no one opposed to Huawei is allowed to provide any input on whether it should be allowed to further entrench itself in our scientific and technical research infrastructure. This is typical of the government: make a decision, and then only allow those who agree with it to provide any input. It is certain that if anyone opposed to Huawei's funding research is barred from participating, then only those in favour will be heard.
Right now, UBC is partnering with Huawei on 5G research because the government has not told it that it should not do so, although three former directors of our key security agencies have said that Canada should cut ties with Huawei when it comes to the development of our 5G infrastructure.
The director of CSIS has said we need to be wary of state-sponsored espionage on the 5G network, yet one of the largest universities in the country is allowing Huawei into its network, with zero guidance from the Liberal government. Universities like Stanford, Berkeley, and Oxford are severing ties with Huawei, while the Canadian government is basically welcoming it with open arms.
lt is unthinkable why the government is helping Huawei embed itself into Canada's research infrastructure and 5G network while saying it has not decided on whether to allow it at all. We cannot have a government that pulls the wool over its eyes and pretends that everything is fine while Canadians await execution in China. It is unreasonable to allow Chinese government-controlled Huawei to infiltrate our 5G networks and our universities.
lt is far past time for the government to listen to our allies, do what is right, ban Huawei from our 5G network and also stop signing research deals with it.