(Ottawa) Federal Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne says Canada only wants to work with “trusted partners” in its artificial intelligence projects.
These comments by Minister Champagne to The Canadian Press can be taken as a fairly clear signal that Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei could be excluded from potential suppliers of 5G technology.
The federal government has long been postponing the announcement of the identity of the companies selected to deploy the new generation 5G internet network, operated by artificial intelligence. This decision is slow in particular because of Huawei’s interest in the project when China until recently arbitrarily detained two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
The two were released in September after more than 1,000 days in detention in a case widely seen as retaliatory action by Beijing in response to the Vancouver arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou at the request of states -United. This saga ended when the United States ended the proceedings against Mme Meng after coming to an understanding with his lawyers.
Minister Champagne said he expects Canada’s decision in the 5G network supplier case to be announced in the coming weeks when the resumption of activities returns to the House of Commons on November 22.
He said national security must remain the priority when choosing trusted partners to develop an artificial intelligence-based network, the scope of which is expected to transform the daily lives of Canadians.