STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.

Canada to ban China’s Huawei Technologies from 5G networks, sources say

May 19, 2022 | 2:15 PM

OTTAWA — Senior government officials say the Liberals have decided to ban Chinese vendor Huawei Technologies from Canada’s long-awaited blueprint for next-generation mobile networks.

The development of 5G, or fifth-generation, networks will give people speedier online connections and provide vast data capacity to meet ravenous demand as more and more things link to the internet and innovations such as autonomous vehicles emerge. 

The Opposition Conservatives and other critics have long pressed the Liberals to deny Huawei a role in building the country’s 5G infrastructure, saying it would allow Beijing to spy on Canadians more easily.

Some say Huawei’s participation could give it access to an array of digital information gleaned from how, when and where Canadian customers use internet-connected devices. 

In turn, the theory goes, Chinese security agencies could force the company to hand over the personal information.

Three of Canada’s partners in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance — the United States, Britain and Australia — have taken decisive steps to curb the use of Huawei gear in their countries’ respective 5G networks.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 19, 2022.

The Canadian Press