A Conservative government in Canada will ban Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from the development of the country’s 5G network, party leader Erin O'Toole said in a statement ahead of a possible fall election.
Canada is the last of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence-sharing allies with Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom not to rule out Huawei’s involvement in the 5G development. Canada has faced mounting pressure from senior US officials to prohibit Huawei’s participation.
In additition, O'Toole called for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to be held accountable for the country's faltering COVID-19 testing regime.
"The Trudeau Liberals have created this mess by refusing to approve other testing methods – despite all our allies having, for months, multiple tests including much faster and less invasive methods," O’Toole said on Thursday.
Canadian officials have acknowledged the need for a more diverse testing strategy, but more than seven months into the pandemic Health Canada has yet to approve new devices.
As of Thursday, the number of novel coronavirus cases in Canada has surpassed 140,000 with 9,199 virus-related deaths, government data revealed.
Trudeau’s Liberal government are set to present its long-term COVID-19 economic recovery plan via a throne speech on September 23. Trudeau’s recovery plan will then be put to a vote and a fall election could be called if his speech does not get a vote of confidence.