Trudeau openly criticized the federal public service for 'signing contracts that have questionable levels of security' at a time of increased concern over foreign interference
OTTAWA – The RCMP has suspended its telecommunications contract with a company with ties to the Chinese government, confirmed a spokesperson for Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino on Thursday.
This turn of events happened just hours after the RCMP told the National Post the technology supplied by Sinclair Technologies posed “no security concerns”.
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In a statement sent on Wednesday evening, RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Kim Chamberland said the radio communications were protected with “end-to-end encryption” and that the radio frequency filtration did not allow access to radio communications.
“The contract was awarded in accordance with Federal Government procurement policies and regulations, and in accordance with the Trade Agreements,” she said.
Radio-Canada revealed on Wednesday that Public Services and Procurement Canada awarded a contract to Sinclair Technologies in 2021 worth $549,637 for a radio frequency filtering system meant to protect the RCMP’s land-based radio communications.
While Sinclair Technologies is based in Ontario, it is controlled by Hytera Communications, a company based in China.
Hytera Communications is owned in part by the Chinese government through an investment fund and has been blacklisted since 2021 by the United States Federal Communications Commission for posing an “unacceptable risk” to the national security of the country.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau strongly reacted to the news, openly criticizing the federal public service for “signing contracts that have questionable levels of security” at a time when Canada’s security agencies are urging more vigilance over foreign interference.
Mendicino said he instructed his officials, in light of Radio-Canada’s report, to look “very closely” at the details of the contract and to review the process by which the contract was awarded by PSPC last year.
The RCMP was not immediately available for comment on the suspension of the contract.
More details to come