44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 6, 2023 11:00AM
Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Kootenay—Columbia.
I am pleased to rise in the House today to speak to Bill C-26, the critical cyber systems protection act, introduced in June 2022 and split into parts 1 and 2. The former aims to amend the Telecommunications Act to include:
the promotion of the security of the Canadian telecommunications system as an objective of the Canadian telecommunications policy and to authorize the Governor in Council and the Minister of Industry to direct telecommunications service providers to do anything, or refrain from doing anything, that is necessary to secure the Canadian telecommunications system.
The latter outlines the introduction of the critical cyber systems protection act, which would create a new regulatory regime requiring designated critical infrastructure providers to protect their cyber systems.
I would like to emphasize that the safety and security of our telecom industry, with particular reference to foreign adversaries such as the Beijing Communist Party, has been a broad theme in communications lately. This is especially concerning the controversial Bill C-11, the online streaming act, or, should I say, government censorship, and new revelations from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, CSIS, flagging election interference from those involved with the Beijing Communist Party.
We Conservatives believe it is of paramount importance to defend the rights and interests of Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Thus, Canada's national security should be strongly well equipped to be prepared for cyberwarfare threats that could be presented by emerging digital technologies, intelligent adversaries or authoritarian artificial intelligence.
The NDP-Liberal government has had a long record of denying Canadians the truth. Instead of protecting their rights and freedoms, the government uses deflection tactics to divide Canadians, pitting them against one another to distract from the real issue: that the NDP-Liberal government has been too slow to address cyber-threats. For this critical lack of action, Canada has seen several serious incidents occur with no substantive legislative response for over seven years. After years of chronic mismanagement and utter failure, it is time for the government to step aside and let the Conservatives turn Canadians' hurt into hope.
We support the stringent and thorough examination of this legislation. We will always defend and secure the security of Canadians, especially with regard to cybersecurity in an increasingly digitized world. There is a pressing demand to ensure the security of Canada's critical cyber-infrastructure against cyber-threats. Let us not forget that these very systems lay the foundation of the country as a whole. It is these cyber systems that run our health care, banking and energy systems, all of which should be guarded against the cybercriminals, hackers and foreign adversaries who want to infiltrate them.
Akin to several other Liberal ideas, a number of aspects of this bill require further review, and it should thus be sent straight to committee where it can be further dissected and refined to ensure that all flaws are addressed. One can only imagine the disaster that a hospital system crash would add to the already horrible wait times in emergency rooms and shortages of medical professionals thanks to the NDP-Liberal government. The results would be disastrous. Furthermore, disruption of critical cyber-infrastructure in health care can bring severe consequences, such as enabling cybercriminals to access confidential patient health care information.
While we understand that it is imperative to provide the resources necessary to effectively defend against cyber-threats, it is still equally important to ensure that the government does not overreach on its specified mandate through Bill C-26. A research report written by Christopher Parsons called “Cybersecurity Will Not Thrive in Darkness” highlights some recommendations to improve Bill C-26. Among these recommendations is an emphasis on drafting legislation to correct accountability deficiencies, while highlighting amendments that would impose some restrictions on the range of powers that the government would be able to wield. These restrictions are critical, especially concerning the sweeping nature of Bill C-26, the critical cyber systems protection act, as outlined in parts 1 and 2, which I have explained in my opening statement.
The sweeping nature of this legislation is not new, particularly for the Liberal government. It even goes back to Bill C-11, the online streaming act, which essentially placed the Liberal government as the online content regulator controlling what Canadians see or listen to online. If members ask me, the government policing what Canadians view online is a cyber-threat in its own way, but I will not get into that right now.
There are other flaws in Bill C-26 that I would like to highlight, which brings us back to having Bill C-26 closely reviewed in committee.
In terms of civil liberties and privacy, some civil liberties groups have flagged serious concerns regarding the scope and lack of oversight around the powers that may be granted to the government under Bill C-26. In September last year, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, along with other groups, released a joint letter of concern regarding Bill C-26, highlighting that the bill is “deeply problematic”, like several other questionable Liberal policies. They went on to further explain that Bill C-26 “risks undermining our privacy rights, and the principles of accountable governance and judicial due process”.
From an economic perspective, the bill lacks recognition of foreseeable impacted enterprises, such as small and medium-sized businesses, which will undoubtedly bring forth unintended consequences. According to the Business Council of Canada, some concerns include the lack of transparency seen through the one-way sharing of information. This brings about serious concerns. Operators are required to provide information to the NDP-Liberal government, yet those same operators are not entitled to receive any information back from the government or other cyber-operators. This whole information-sharing regime is lacking and, simply put, completely misses an opportunity to implement a transparent information-sharing system that would benefit all parties involved.
There is also concern regarding government overreach. Considering what powers would be granted to the government to order what a telecommunications provider has to do under Bill C-26, I would have expected to see sufficient evidence to support this overreach. However, that was not addressed at all, if not vaguely, in this bill. This, on top of blatant disregard for the recognition of privacy and other charter-protected rights, proves how the government only cares about granting itself more and more power, even in the face of blatant transparency and accountability concerns like election interference or the Bill C-11 censorship bill.
I only highlighted a few of the several highly valid concerns regarding this critically flawed bill. Obviously, it is important to defend national cybersecurity and defend against cybercriminals or foreign threats. However, there is a fine line between upholding the best interests of Canadians and just using another faulty bill as a power grab for the NDP-Liberal government, despite concerns regarding cyber systems, privacy and security infrastructure.
We Conservatives believe that it is of paramount importance to truly defend the rights and interests of Canadians from coast to coast to coast. One of the best ways this can be done is by securing Canada's cyber-infrastructure from attacks. While we welcome the idea of protecting the interests of Canadians in terms of cybersecurity, we want to flag that Bill C-26 has some highly concerning content that should be closely reviewed and discussed in committee to correct flaws and prevent potential overreach from the NDP-Liberal government. In the interest of protecting Canada's cyber-infrastructure, we must also guard against the sweeping government powers outlined in the critical cyber systems protection act.
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Madam Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise to discuss Bill C-26, an act respecting cybersecurity. I will be addressing elements of the legislation that deal with securing Canada's telecommunications system.
As Canadians rely more and more on digital communication, it is critical that our telecommunications system is secure. Let me assure the House that the Government of Canada takes the security of that system seriously. That is why we conducted a review of 5G technology and the associated security and economic considerations. It is clear that 5G technology holds lots of promise for Canadians: advanced telemedicine, connected and autonomous vehicles, smart cities, clean energy, precision agriculture, smart mining, and lots more.
However, our security review also made it clear that 5G technology will introduce new security concerns that malicious actors could exploit. Hostile actors have long sought and will continue to seek to exploit vulnerabilities in our telecommunications system. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service recognized this in its most recent public annual report. The report said, “Canada remains a target for malicious cyber-enabled espionage, sabotage, foreign influence, and terrorism related activities, which pose significant threats to Canada’s national security, its interests and its economic stability.”
The report said that cyber-actors conduct malicious activities to advance their political, economic, military, security and ideological interests. These actors seek to compromise government and private sector computer systems by manipulating their users or exploiting security vulnerabilities. The CSIS report also highlighted the increasing cyber-threat that ransomware poses.
The Communications Security Establishment has similarly raised concerns about threats like ransomware in recent public threat assessments. We have seen how such attacks by criminal actors threaten to publish victims' data or block access to it unless a ransom is paid. It is not just cybercriminals doing this. CSIS has warned that state actors are increasingly using these tactics, often through proxies, to advance their objectives and evade attribution.
To be sure, Canadians, industry and government have worked hard to this point to defend our telecom system, but we must always be alert and always be guarding against the next attacks. This has become more important as people are now often working remotely from home office environments, and the challenges are accentuated by the 5G technology. In 5G systems, sensitive functions will become increasingly decentralized to be able to be faster where speed is needed. We all recognize cell towers in our communities and along our highways, and 5G networks will add a multitude of smaller access points in order to increase speeds. The devices the 5G network will connect to will also grow exponentially. Given the greater interconnectedness and interdependence of 5G networks, a breach in this environment could have a more significant impact on the safety of Canadians than with the older technology. Bad actors could have more of an impact on our critical infrastructure than before.
The security review we conducted found that, for Canada to reap the benefits of 5G, the government needs to be properly equipped to promote the security of the telecommunications system. We need to be able to adapt to the changing technology and the threat environment.
Now, for these reasons, we are proposing amendments to the Telecommunications Act. The amendments would ensure that the security of our telecommunications system remains an overriding objective. This bill would add to the list of objectives set out in section 7 of the Telecommunications Act. It would add the words “to promote the security of the Canadian telecommunications system.” It is important to have these words specified in law. It would mean that the government would be able to exercise its power under the legislation for the purposes of securing Canada's telecommunications system.
The amendments also include authorities to prohibit Canadian telecommunication service providers from providing and using products and services from high-risk suppliers in 5G and 4G networks if deemed necessary after consultation with the telecommunications providers and other stakeholders. They would also give the government the authority to require telecommunications service providers to take any other actions to promote the security of the telecom networks, upon which all critical infrastructures depend.
We have listened to our security experts, Canadians and our allies, and we are following the right path. We will ensure that our networks and our economy are kept secure. A safe and secure cyberspace is important for Canadian competitiveness, economic stability and long-term prosperity.
It is clear that the telecommunications infrastructure has become increasingly essential, and it must be secure and resilient. Telecommunications present an economic opportunity, one that grows our economy and creates jobs.
The amendments to the Telecommunications Act accompany the proposed critical cyber systems protection act. This bill will improve designated organizations' ability to prepare, prevent, respond to and recover from all types of cyber incidents, including ransomware. It will designate telecommunications as a vital service.
Together, this legislative package will strengthen our ability to defend telecommunications and other critical sectors, such as finance, energy and transportation, that Canadians rely on every single day.
The legislation before us today fits with the Government of Canada's telecommunications reliability agenda. Under this agenda, we intend to promote robust networks and systems, strengthen accountability and coordinated planning and preparedness.
Canadians depend on telecommunications services in all aspects of their lives, and the security and reliability of the network has never been more crucial. They are fundamental to the safety, prosperity and well-being of Canadians.
We will work tirelessly to keep Canadians safe and able to communicate securely. This legislation is an important tool to enable us to do that.
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