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.
“Canadian companies are in the crosshairs of state-sponsored actors seeking to advance their interests in a way that undermine Canada’s national and economic security,” the Business Council said in a statement accompanying a new report being released Thursday. The report notes the government of Canada regularly identifies the disruptive activities of countries such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea as posing the greatest strategic threats to this country’s security.
It estimated the cost of espionage to Canadian businesses is likely tens of billions of dollars annually. It’s also asking Ottawa to give CSIS funding to launch a new division with the mandate to train and advise private-sector companies on how to defend themselves against economic threats, saying Ottawa should look to models established in allied countries including MI5′s National Protective Security Authority in Britain.
The council’s recommendations also call for new efforts to bolster innovation in Canada by funding “high-risk, high-reward research in emerging and strategic fields as well as expanding international partnerships to fight economic coercion and other unfair trade practices. It embraces the idea of a “NATO for trade” partnership where like-minded countries agree to come to the aid of each other when they are economically threatened.
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