'Grow a spine': Canadian MPs ask Justin Trudeau to get tougher on China, ban Huawei

Despite Huawei’s repeated calls that it will uphold the privacy and security of Canadians, Canada's opposition ministers on November 18 called out on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to build a tougher stance on China’s entry into the 5G network in the country. This comes after the United Kingdom recently joined the US, Australia, and New Zealand to ban Huawei technology from their 5G systems. Canadian opposition parties joined forces to pass a motion to ban Huawei in the Canadian parliament in retaliation to China’s state-sponsored human rights abuses and Canadian interference. The ministers asked PM Trudeau to unveil a comprehensive plan to block the Chinese 5G within 30 days. 

Earlier, in the UK at least 63 MPs, four senators, a former House of Commons speaker, and more than 20 community groups passed a similar non-binding motion, imposing the Magnitsky sanctions against Chinese bureaucrats and officials. The Conservative Party caucus had also made appeals to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his deputy Chrystia Freeland and Global Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne to sanction Chinese and Hong Kong firms as a commitment to the Alliance Canada Hong Kong (ACHK).

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Conservatives ask to 'grow a spine'

Champagne tweeted that such sanctions were “an important tool to hold perpetrators of gross human rights violations to account.” Meanwhile, calling for an instant ban on Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s 5G technology in Canada, the Conservatives passed 178 to 146, saying, that the Liberal government had to “grow a spine” and crush the Chinese foreign operations, according to sources of Canada’s Globe and Mail.

With the arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in 2018 on an extradition request from the US in Vancouver, Canada has found itself in the middle of the US-China trade war. According to a poll conducted by the Angus Reid Institute at least, 56 per cent of Canadians were in favour of Huawei's 5G ban and want its technology allies banned, as well. However, as per the sources of Global and Mail, the Conservatives, Bloc Québécois, NDP, and other MPs were in favour of the ban, while Liberals voted against the motion in majority except for the Beaches-East York MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and Scarborough-Guildwood MP John McKay. 

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(Image Credit: AP)