Canada police suspend controversial contract with China-linked firm
- The deal with Canada’s Sinclair Technologies, which is controlled by Shenzhen-based Hytera, raised concerns over potential Chinese access to RCMP communications
- One opposition politician described the arrangement as something out of a book, except ‘characters in spy novels would never be that incompetent’
Canada’s federal police on Thursday suspended a contract with a Beijing-linked firm to supply and maintain police radio equipment – following a political backlash, the public safety minister’s office said.
The half-million dollar contract for a radio frequency filtering system to prevent eavesdropping had gone to Canada’s Sinclair Technologies, which is controlled by China’s Hytera Communications.
Concerns were raised about potential Chinese access to Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) communications since the Shenzhen-based company – which has been blacklisted by the United States – is partly owned by the Chinese government.
“The RCMP has suspended the contract,” a spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said.
When asked about it this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the deal was “disconcerting”, given his security agencies’ warnings about Chinese espionage and interference in Canadian affairs.
Opposition Tory leader Pierre Poilievre said Wednesday it was an “astonishing” gaffe.
“I mean, it’s almost something that you’d expect to be out of a spy novel, but characters in spy novels would never be that incompetent,” he commented.