A group representing many of the country’s largest employers is asking Ottawa to beef up its national security powers to protect against “unprecedented dangers” facing Canadian business from foreign states including China, Russia and Iran.
It’s urging Ottawa to rewrite the mandate of Canada’s spy agency so security officials there can share detailed threats with people outside government, including private companies. Under the act governing the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS, the agency can only advise the government and is limited in most situations from providing anything but generalized briefings to outsiders.
The Business Council is also asking Ottawa to ban entities linked to foreign states that pose a threat from collaborating in or benefitting from Canadian academic research. In January, The Globe and Mail reported that 50 Canadian universities have conducted extensive research with China’s military since 2005. Joint projects with China’s National University of Defence Technology included research on topics such as quantum cryptography, photonics and space science.
The council also recommends amendments to Ottawa’s screening of foreign takeovers to “more precisely target and screen out” what it called “malicious foreign investments,” adding the government should set up a mechanism to incorporate feedback from Canadian companies on emerging national security threats.
“Between 2019 and 2020, China’s targeting of the canola sector cost Canadian farmers upward of $2.35-billion in lost exports and lower prices,” the report said.