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Trudeau ‘questions’ RCMP contract that relies on tech supplied by firm with Chinese ties

Trudeau says it's 'disconcerting' that parts of the civil service were signing contracts with 'questionable levels of security for our operations and our national security institutions like the RCMP'

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has “some real questions” for the federal public service, which signed a contract with a company with ties to the Chinese government to provide the RCMP with sensitive communications equipment.

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.

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Sinclair Technologies is based in Ontario but 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.

Speaking in Montreal, Trudeau did not hold back when asked to react about the RCMP using equipment from an organization that has ties to Beijing.

“I find it disconcerting that while parts of the government’s security agencies were advising us as a government and as Canadians that we have to be very careful about foreign interference in our institutions, in our structures, in the way we do business and keep Canadians safe, that other parts of the civil service were signing contracts that have questionable levels of security for our operations and our national security institutions like the RCMP,” he said.

Trudeau added that his government would be following up on the contract to ensure that the communications technology used by the RCMP is secure, but also to make sure Canada is not signing contracts that leave it exposed to potential security flaws.

“We will have some real questions for the independent public service that signed these contracts. And we’ll make sure that this is changed going forward. It’s high time that happens,” he said.

More details to follow…

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