China condemns Canada's Huawei 5G ban over 'groundless' security risks


Beijing hit out at Canada for banning telecoms giants Huawei and ZTE 

from Canadian 5G networks on Friday 

Fri, May 20, 2022

Beijing hit out at Canada for banning telecoms giants Huawei and ZTE from Canadian 5G networks on Friday, calling Ottawa's concerns for security risks "groundless" and warning of retribution.

Canada's long-awaited measure on Thursday follows the United States and other key allies, and comes on the heels of a diplomatic row between Ottawa and Beijing over the detention of a senior Huawei executive on a US warrant, which has now been resolved.

The United States has warned of the security implications of giving Chinese tech companies access to telecommunications infrastructure that could be used for state espionage.

Both Huawei and Beijing have rejected the allegations.

"China is firmly opposed to this and will conduct a comprehensive and serious assessment," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters in response to the 5G block.

"The Canadian side has excluded these Chinese companies from the Canadian market under the pretext of groundless security risks and without any solid evidence."

He added that Beijing would "take all necessary measures" to protect Chinese companies.

"This move runs counter to market economy principles and free trade rules," he said, accusing the Canadian government of "seriously damaging the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies."

Canada had been reviewing the 5G technology and network access for several years, repeatedly delaying a decision that was first expected in 2019.

It remained silent on the telecoms issue after China jailed two Canadians -- diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor -- in what observers believed was in retaliation for the arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wangzhou in Vancouver in December 2018 at the request of the United States.

All three were released in September 2021 after Meng reached a deal with US prosecutors on the fraud charges, ending her extradition fight.

But Canadian Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne made the 5G announcement on Thursday, citing the "intention to prohibit the inclusion of Huawei and ZTE products and services in Canada's telecommunication systems."

Champagne said Canadian telecommunications companies "will not be permitted to include in their networks products or services that put our national security at risk."

"Providers who already have this equipment installed will be required to cease its use and remove it," he said.

- 'Hostile actors' -

Huawei already supplies some Canadian telecommunications firms with 4G equipment.

Most, if not all, had held off using Huawei in their fifth-generation (5G) wirelesss networks that deliver speedier online connections with greater data capacity. Others have looked to other suppliers while Ottawa hemmed and hawed.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino warned Thursday of "many hostile actors who are ready to exploit vulnerabilities" in telecom networks.

The United States, Australia, Britain, New Zealand, Japan and Sweden have already blocked or restricted the use of Huawei technology in their 5G networks.

The US government considers Huawei a potential security threat due to the background of its founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, a former Chinese army engineer who is Meng's father.

The concern escalated as Huawei rose to become the world leader in telecoms networking equipment and one of the top smartphone manufacturers.

Beijing also passed a law in 2017 obliging Chinese companies to assist the government in matters of national security.

The decision could prove to be "a major expense for Canada," Kendra Schaefer, tech policy researcher at consultancy Trivium China, told AFP.

"Not only have local telecom providers already invested... in Huawei equipment, but additionally they are going to go back and have to rip out everything they've already installed," she added.

ehl-tjx/apj/dhc

Canada to ban China's Huawei, ZTE from 5G networks

Canada's government has said it will ban the use of the two Chinese telecommunications giants' 5G gear due to national security concerns. The move follows similar restrictions in other Western countries.

Huawei is the biggest global supplier of network gear for phone and internet companies

Chinese telecommunications giants Huawei and ZTE will be banned from Canada's high-speed 5G networks, Canadian government officials said on Thursday. 

The decision was widely expected, though it had been delayed amid diplomatic tensions between Beijing and Ottawa. 

Canadian Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said wireless carriers "will not be permitted to include in their networks products or services that put our national security at risk."

"Providers who already have this equipment installed will be required to cease its use and remove it," he said.

Canada cites security concerns

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the innovation "represents a major opportunity for competition and growth" but "also comes risks." 

"There are many hostile actors who are ready to exploit vulnerabilities in our defenses," he said.

Canada's allies in the Five Eyes intelligence-pooling group — the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand — had already banned Huawei.

Huawei, seen as a symbol of China's progress in becoming a technological world power, is a subject of US security and law enforcement concerns.

Washington has lobbied allies to exclude Huawei from 5G mobile networks over concerns that Beijing could pressure the company into cyberespionage. China and Huawei have denied the claims.

The decision was first expected in 2019, but the move had been repeatedly delayed amid a diplomatic row between Canada and China over the detention of a senior Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a US warrant.

China subsequently jailed two Canadians after the arrest. All three were released in September.

HUWAEI GOT ITS START BY HACKING CANADIAN TECH COMPANY; NORTEL, THEN ONCE IT COLLAPSED THEY BOUGHT ALL OF NORTEL'S TECH PATENTS

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for NORTEL 

Canada to ban Huawei from country's 5G, 4G networks, in line with Five Eyes allies

Christopher Nardi , Anja Karadeglija - Yesterday 
National Post

OTTAWA — The Canadian government will ban equipment from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE from both the country’s 5G and 4G wireless networks, following a review that took three years to complete.


© Provided by National PostCanada to ban Huawei from country's 5G, 4G networks, in line with Five Eyes allies

“Telecommunication companies in Canada will not be permitted to include in their networks products or services that put our national security at risk,” Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne told reporters Thursday.

“Providers who already have this equipment installed will be required to cease its use and remove it.”

With the move, Canada falls in line with its allies in the Five Eyes intelligence network — the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. — who have all already banned or restricted Huawei equipment from their 5G networks.

The Liberals have been promising a decision on a Huawei ban for three years. Asked about why it took so long, Champagne said “this has never been a race. This is about making the right decision.”

Over that time, Canada’s large telecoms have been moving on building stand-alone 5G networks using equipment from other vendors, meaning the Huawei and ZTE ban is largely irrelevant to those networks. So-called non-standalone 5G networks are integrated with older 4G networks.

Both Bell and Telus will have to remove existing Huawei equipment from those older networks. Telus warned the government back in 2019 that “a full ban on Huawei for 5G will force operators to replace their existing 4G Huawei equipment — an expensive and complex proposition over an elongated timeframe.”

Innovation Canada said in a policy statement that telecom companies will have to remove 5G equipment and managed services from Huawei and ZTE by June 28, 2024, and “any existing 4G equipment and managed services must be removed or terminated by December 31, 2027.”

Canada bans Huawei from its 5G network

Champagne said Thursday the government would not be financially compensating telecoms. The National Post previously reported both Bell and Telus approached the government about the possibility of being compensated by taxpayers for the cost of removing equipment.

On top of older, previously-sold equipment, Huawei has sold slightly more than $700 million worth of equipment to telecom operators in Canada since 2018, mostly to Bell and Telus.

Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a China expert and senior fellow with the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, said that two and five years to remove all the Huawei equipment is just too long.

Though she said she is “fully in favour” of the Liberals’ announcement Thursday, she said she’d hoped the government would go as far as the U.S. and outright ban all of the company’s products, such as consumer items like cellphones.

“There are other elements of what the company provides that can also be a problem,” she said.



The Huawei and ZTE ban stems from the fear that having Huawei equipment in Canada’s next-generation wireless networks is a security risk, especially considering China’s laws that state companies must cooperate with its intelligence services.

Innovation Canada said in its policy statement that the Canadian government is seriously concerned the two companies “could be compelled to comply with extrajudicial directions from foreign governments in ways that would conflict with Canadian laws or would be detrimental to Canadian interests.”

Asked what threat Huawei poses to Canada, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the “examination that was conducted over the last period of time, it was thorough, it was meticulous, it was on the strength of the advice that we get from our national security partners.”

The government will also soon introduce legislative framework for protecting critical infrastructure in the finance, energy, telecom and transport sectors, Mendicino said. Critical infrastructure has become more vulnerable to cyber-attacks over the past decade as it’s been increasingly connected to the internet.

In separate statements, the opposition Conservatives, NDP and Bloc Québécois all essentially said: it’s about time.

“The Liberal government’s lack of action on this decision has been an international embarrassment,” Conservative MP Raquel Dancho said. “In the years of delay, Canadian telecommunications companies purchased hundreds of millions of dollars of Huawei equipment which will now need to be removed from their networks at enormous expense.”

The NDP’s Brian Masse said the decision was “long overdue” and ultimately may have hurt Canada’s reputation in its intelligence allies’ eyes.

“It has taken the Liberal government three years to make this decision while the other Five Eyes countries made their positions known much sooner. This delay only worked to raise serious questions at home and among our allies about the Liberal government’s national security commitments and hampered the domestic telecommunications market.

The Bloc Québécois said it welcomed the “tardy” decision, and insisted that no government money would be spent compensating telecom giants who already have Huawei technology in their systems.

Taxpayers should not have to 'subsidize' rich telecoms that chose Huawei, Conservatives say

Possible Huawei ban has telecoms asking Liberals about taxpayer compensation for new equipment

Matt Gurney: Canada’s Huawei delay is symbolic of a deeper problem

U.S. State Department cheers Canada's long-awaited ban on 5G gear from China's Huawei

The Canadian Press

WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department says it welcomes Canada's decision to ban China's Huawei Technologies and ZTE from its next-generation mobile networks.

Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne revealed the long-awaited decision Thursday, a move critics say was long overdue.

In a statement, the U.S. says it supports efforts around the world to ensure consumers and customers can trust their wireless networks and providers.

It says it will continue to collaborate with Canada and other allies to ensure shared security in the 5G era.

The U.S. first began restricting domestic firms from doing business with Huawei back in 2019, and has been waiting for Canada to follow suit ever since.

During his confirmation hearing in September, U.S. ambassador to Canada David Cohen suggested Washington was growing impatient with the delay.

"We welcome Canada's decision," the State Department said in writing Friday in response to a query from The Canadian Press.

"The United States supports efforts to ensure countries, companies, and citizens can trust their wireless networks and their operators. We continue to collaborate with allies like Canada to ensure our shared security in a 5G future and beyond."

That anodyne comment stands in contrast to what Cohen told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last year before he was confirmed as President Joe Biden's envoy to Canada.

"We are all waiting for Canada to release its framework for its overall China policy," Cohen said, describing the autocratic regime's ambitions as an "existential threat'' to the U.S.

He also promised to take part in discussions to "make sure that Canada's policies reflect its words in terms of the treatment of China."

At the time, Canada was walking a tightrope with China, having arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition warrant while working to free two Canadian citizens detained in retaliation by the regime.

Just days later, however, Wanzhou was released after the U.S. Department of Justice announced a deferred prosecution agreement in her case. The two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, were freed by China hours later.

Earlier this week, Ottawa also announced the end of another irritant that was believed to be a symptom of the Huawei tensions: a three-year Chinese ban on imports of Canadian canola.

In March 2019, a few months after Wanzhou's arrest, China blocked canola from two Canadian companies, ostensibly after pests were detected in shipments from Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2022.

SEE

 LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for Five Eyes 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for Huawei 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for NORTEL 

HUWAEI HACKED NORTEL IN THE NINTIES, THEN IN THE TWO THOUSANDS WHEN NORTEL WENT BROKE THEY BOUGHT UP ITS TELECOM PATENTS

HUAWEI UBC 
Huawei spends millions at Canadian university, but some professors fear US crackdown

At least three University of British Columbia professors have shunned Huawei funding because they fear being labelled ‘enemies of the US’, colleague says 

Huawei has continued to pour money into UBC projects, even after the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, as Canada’s allies tighten screws on the firm

Ian Young in Vancouver Published: 8 Jan, 2020

UBC President Santa Ono (left) and Huawei Canada Research President Christian Chua sign a 2017 deal for Huawei to provide C$3 million in umbrella funding to UBC researchers. Photo: CNW Group/Huawei Canada

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, has said she might study for a doctorate in business administration at the University of British Columbia while on bail in Vancouver, as she undergoes a lengthy extradition process to face accusations of fraud in the US.


But at western Canada’s most prestigious university, some academics fear that connections to the Chinese tech firm could put them in peril, even as Huawei continues to spend millions on research there.

Since the arrest of Meng in December 2018, 18 new projects have been earmarked for Huawei funding at UBC, costing the company C$2.6 million (US$2 million), according to a spreadsheet provided by the university.

However, UBC engineering professor Lukas Chrostowski said he knew of at least three department colleagues who have refused to take part in Huawei-financed projects because they worry they will be swept up in US action against the firm.

If funding were to be cut off [from Huawei], then that is a major risk for academics in Canada UBC computer science professor Ivan Beschastnikh

His own work in photonics – the use of light to transmit and process data – is heavily funded by Huawei, including a C$900,000 (US$694,000) grant in January 2019. His other projects in recent years have received C$70,000 (US$54,000) from Huawei.

“You’ve got concerns – I’ve heard that because you are working with Huawei you would be labelled an enemy of the United States,” said Professor Chrostowski.

The fears come as Washington pressures Ottawa to follow its lead by banning Huawei from developing its national high-speed 5G internet infrastructure. US authorities have said that Huawei might imperil Canadian security – as well as that of its intelligence allies – by illicitly accessing state secrets or individuals’ private data.


UBC engineering professor Lukas Chrostowski is an expert in the field of silicon photonics, with some of his research funded by Chinese tech giant Huawei. Photo: UBC / Janis Franklin

Vancouver has meanwhile been at the centre of the Huawei story since Meng was arrested at its international airport a year ago, at US request. With Meng still under guard at her Vancouver mansion and the formal stage of her extradition hearing to begin on January 20, the city remains on the cutting edge of tensions between China and the West.

Chrostowski – who said he personally knew three UBC professors who refused to work with Huawei, but declined to name them – said he had been closely following Meng’s case, and he and his colleagues were well aware of the security fears around the firm.

But their own concern, he said, “is not with Huawei, the concern is with the United States”.

“The concern is that the United States has policies that change in time and it is difficult to predict what kind of actions the US government will take,” he said.

Huawei, the telecommunications giant, has committed or spent C$7.8 million (US$6 million) on UBC projects since 2017. Projects under way are devoted to cloud computing, the privacy and security of artificial intelligence, digital image forgery detection and silicon chip fabrication, among other topics.

That includes an umbrella grant of C$3 million signed in 2017 by UBC President Santa Ono and Huawei Canada Research President Christian Chuat in a ceremony flanked by Chinese and Canadian flags.

University students move in to campus accommodations at UBC in Vancouver in this 2015 file photo. Photo: Xinhua

UBC computer science professor Ivan Beschastnikh, whose recent projects have received C$420,450 in Huawei commitments, said the risk that a political decision would cut off such financing was “the biggest thing that I worry about”.

Other researchers were “biting their nails” waiting for a Canadian policy decision that could doom Huawei funding, Beschastnikh added. Because his own research was “tightly entwined with the fate of Huawei in Canada”, he said he was pursuing collaborations with other companies to hedge his bets.

The South China Morning Post sought comment from the lead researchers on all 32 UBC projects that have received Huawei funding since 2017. Of the 18 academics, only Chrostowski and Beschastnikh agreed to discuss their work and relationship with the firm.

“If funding were to be cut off [from Huawei], then that is a major risk for academics in Canada,” Beschastnikh said. “We need a heads up if this is going to happen. This can’t happen overnight.”

Fears of a Huawei ‘Trojan horse’

Nevertheless, critics of Canada’s government say it has been dragging its feet by failing to announce a strategy for handling Huawei, as allies such as the US, Australia and New Zealand ban it from 5G work or take other steps to mitigate potential security risks.

Instead, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has issued vague warnings to universities about working with Huawei.

US President Donald Trump and his national security adviser Robert O'Brien. O’Brien has said Huawei would act as a “Trojan horse” if allowed to help build Canada’s 5G network. Photo: AP

Yet without an official policy framework, these “nebulous” intelligence briefings represented a challenge to academic freedom, said telecoms security expert Christopher Parsons, a senior research associate at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

Parsons said that the US was developing a “substantive firewall” of policies to limit what intellectual property US researchers could share with Chinese companies and institutions.

“In Canada we don’t have those directives. It’s not the fault of the universities. They’re following the law,” he said.

But he echoed the concerns of Chrostowski and Beschastnikh that, without policy guidance, academics in Canada risk running afoul of a US crackdown.

“They are put in a very challenging situation … Canadian researchers are engaged in research and sharing with Chinese companies including Huawei and it may turn out that those engagements run counter to US policies,” he said.

“That has implications for universities receiving status for their academics travelling in the United States. It could lead to broader socio-economic problems between Canada and the US.”

Gail Murphy, vice-president of research and innovation at UBC, said the university “is not aware of any restrictions regarding working with Huawei and will continue with its partnership with Huawei”.

She added it was up to faculty and student researchers to “choose whether or not they embark on research projects that are permitted within UBC policy”.

But looming over those decisions is the escalating US pressure.

You get Huawei into [the 5G network of] Canada or any other Western country, they’re going to know every health record, every banking record, every social media post Robert O’Brien, US national security adviser

In November, US national security adviser Robert O’Brien told a security forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia, that Huawei would act as a “Trojan horse” if allowed to help build Canada’s 5G network.

Even setting aside the risks to strategic intelligence, “you get Huawei into [the 5G network of] Canada or any other Western country, they’re going to know every health record, every banking record, every social media post”, O’Brien warned.

Huawei has repeatedly denied it poses any security risk to western countries.

Song Zhang, vice-president of research strategy and partnerships at Huawei Technologies Canada, said that Huawei had spent about C$650 million on research and development projects in Canada in the past decade, with about 10 per cent of that going to research partnerships, mostly at universities.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported in November that Huawei had made about C$56 million (US$43 million) in funding commitments to Canadian universities in recent years.

Working with Huawei was “a very natural thing” for Canadian researchers and not practically different to working with any other firm, he said.

Zhang said the rapid evolution of “negative pressures” on Huawei in Canada and the arrest of Meng had come as a “huge surprise” to him. “But we quickly realised, this is part of global politics that is beyond any individual’s control,” he said.

“Canada has always been a very open environment. That’s the underlying strength. Ultimately that gives me confidence.”

In the 10 years that Zhang has worked at Huawei, its Canadian R and D team had grown from a staff of 40 to 50 to about 1,000. Zhang said Canada held particularly importance as a global talent centre for Huawei, because the firm was no longer welcome in the US.

Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, Meng’s father, told The Globe and Mail last month that Huawei was moving its US research centre to Canada in response to American sanctions, which he claimed made it impossible to even call or email staff in the US. In June, the firm said it had cut hundreds of jobs at its Silicon Valley centre.

Considering the restrictions Huawei faced in the US, Zhang said, it would not be surprising to see even more focus on Canada in the future.

That prospect will likely depend on whether Canada eventually follows Washington’s lead and takes a harder line on Huawei, and with its China policy in general.

Other voices in Canada have been trying to counter the US drumbeat. The waters of the Canada-China relationship had been “muddied” by former officials, now working for companies using Huawei products, making policy suggestions that reflected business interests, said Parsons of the Munk School.

Huawei clash with US ‘inevitable’, says tech giant’s founder Ren Zhengfei

“These are people with money in the game,” he said.

He pointed specifically at former deputy prime minister John Manley, now a director of telecom firm Telus, who last month called for a “prisoner exchange”: in return for China releasing the Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who are being held on accusations of espionage, Canada could free Meng, Manley suggested.

Telus uses Huawei equipment in its infrastructure and is the Canadian firm most exposed to the impact of any ban on its gear.

“It is increasingly pressing that the Canadian government figure out broadly what its strategy is towards China,” Parsons said. “Part of that includes how they are going to deal with Huawei.”

Canada has always been a very open environment. That’s the underlying strength. Ultimately that gives me confidence Song Zhang, vice-president of research strategy and partnerships at Huawei Technologies Canada

Canadian researchers and Huawei alike deserved clarity, he said: the government had been “kicking the can down the road for more than a year and a half”.

Compared with its Five Eyes intelligence allies – the US, Britain, Australia and New Zealand – “Canada is the laggard” in addressing the Huawei situation, said Parsons.

Washington has introduced a range of sanctions on Huawei, effectively banning it from 5G networks in the US by prohibiting federal contractors from working with the firm and putting it on an export blacklist. Top US universities have frozen funding links with Huawei as a result.

Australia and New Zealand last year followed Washington’s lead by banning Huawei from 5G projects on security grounds.

Britain has deferred a decision on a possible ban, but last month Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the key criterion would be that it not “prejudice our ability to cooperate with other Five Eyes security partners”. The University of Oxford has already banned grants and donations from Huawei.

“The Americans have been very clear – both in the current and former [US] administrations – that if Canada allows the adoption of Huawei technology into our 5G networks, that will have possible substantive, perhaps irreparable, consequences for the types of information the Americans are willing to share with Canada,” Parsons said.

“If Canada loses that, we will go increasingly blind in the world.”

Meng’s ‘shadow’ looms over researchers

Meng, whose lawyer relayed her musings about studying for a PhD during her bail hearing in December 2018, has not yet been reported on UBC’s sprawling campus, about 8km from her C$13.6 million home on the west side of the city.

But her presence is felt in other ways.

Engineering professor Chrostowski said Meng’s arrest had “cast a shadow” over UBC researchers’ US interactions.

“Last summer the US imposed restrictions on who is able to work, and under what circumstances, with Huawei … so now we have restrictions where we can’t use US technology in the research we do with Huawei,” he said.

His C$900,000 neuromorphic computing project, launched just a month after Meng’s arrest, involves machine-learning using photonic processors.

Intellectual property generated by the research will be owned jointly by Huawei and UBC, although the university is not allowed to sell the technology to Huawei’s rivals for a window of several years, said Chrostowski. (Other partnerships involved Huawei as part of a consortium of tech firms, including US-based companies.)

The funding comes from Huawei Canada, “not Huawei China”, he stressed. “That’s an important distinction because Huawei Canada operates under the laws of Canada … any time we share information they have to ask us if it’s OK to share it with China. The information stays in Canada unless we agree to having it exported.”

Chrostowski’s relationship with Huawei dates back to 2011, when he met Huawei staffers at a course on silicon photonics he was teaching.

He said Huawei did not just finance research but was “highly involved” in previous joint projects – describing his first 2014 project with the company, he said that meetings were held every two weeks or monthly with a team of Huawei researchers.

UBC computer science professor Ivan Beschastnikh's recent projects have received C$420,450 (US$324,000) in Huawei funding. Photo: UBC

He said these were all Canadian citizens, ex-employees of Nortel scooped up by Huawei after the Canadian firm, once a world leader in telecoms technology, collapsed in 2009.

The demise of Nortel coincided with the rise of Huawei. In 2012, a former Nortel security adviser accused Huawei of having benefited from years of Chinese hacking of the Canadian firm; Huawei’s founder Ren has denied any role in Nortel’s collapse.

Asked whether he worried that Huawei posed a potential security risk to Canada, Chrostowski said: “I have been given assurances [by Huawei] that Huawei is not stealing information and data from Canadian users.”

He added: “I don’t have any reason to doubt that.”

Canada’s view of China worsens as Huawei, detention rows drag on
12 Dec 2019

Computer scientist Beschastnikh has worked as principal investigator on four Huawei-financed projects at UBC since 2017. Topics have included optimising cloud data storage, finding bugs in cloud software and designing “peer to peer” machine learning that does not depend on a single centralised service or company.

He said his software-related topics were “in the clear” compared to hardware research, where security concerns about Huawei were focused. He had made it a condition of working with Huawei – and other firms – that resultant code be open source and available for public scrutiny.

Security concerns about Huawei were largely due to “fundamental weaknesses of the internet infrastructure we have created”, said Beschastnikh, with internet service providers having full control of how information was routed.

“So there’s a technical concern about the infrastructure that leads to these problems with power – power relationships at a nation-state level,” he said.

Previously, he said, the US had enjoyed a hegemony on the designs that underpinned the internet, and he believed some security concerns about Huawei were linked to protecting that hegemony. “Once you have a monopoly, you don’t want to give that up.”

Beschastnikh said that the computer science department at UBC had held discussions about the risks involved with Huawei funding. Ultimately, he felt “totally confident that the security risks [of working with Huawei] are mitigated by working on open source and staying away from certain topics”.

“A lot of the discussion [about Huawei] is very high level, nation-state level. But there’s a story to be told about the individual researchers who [are] biting their nails because the funding situation could be put in jeopardy.”


Who is JW00237? Secret Canada campaign to ban Huawei’s ‘spies’
6 Mar 2019

Right Wing Echo Chamber

Last week the right wing thunk tank and taxpayer funded lobby group the Fraser Institute discovered corporate welfare. And sure enough their political lobby arm the Canadian Taxpayers Federation echos their masters voice;



Mr. Gaudet said the collapse of the auto industry remains inevitable despite this latest surge of public cash. "There is no evidence in the past that corporate welfare works," he said. This bailout will only lead other financially struggling companies and industries in this tough economic time to also expect a government shell-out, Mr. Gaudet warned. "The government can't bail them all out," he said. "It's hard to justify to a laid-off Nortel worker why his or her tax dollars should go to support artificially inflated salaries in the auto industry."



Which Nortel workers are those? The ones left working in China?

My goodness but this is funny to hear the CTF speak on behalf of workers. This political lobby of business types, who are not taxpayers, whose association does not speak for workers but a small self interested right wing business lobby, whose association is not democratic and has no elected officials simply employed self appointed spokesmen.

But as the article goes on to point out actually the last time Chrysler was bailed out they paid back their debt. However it seems ominous that this apologist for the capitalist class is telling us the Big 3 are doomed. Of course as usual they blame workers salaries and production costs for being uncompetitive. However as usual they never let the facts get in the way of their rhetoric. In Canada the wages and benefits paid to Toyota workers who are not unionized are competitive with CAW wages and benefits. Not less but competitive. Yet no one is telling Toyota workers to take a wage cut.

And like the Big 3 Toyota is cutting back on production as well. The crisis of overproduction has hit automakers around the globe, thanks of course to globalization.

We are facing a two fold crisis in capitalism, the fiancial market meltdown and the crisis of overproduction and underconsumption. Nothing new in that it is just the same old same old as Marx pointed out 150 years ago.

SEE

Bail Out Is Not Job Security

Chrysler Black Mail

There Is An Alternative To Capitalism

Auto Solution II

We Own GM

Auto Solution

tagsMGuinty, GM, concesssion bargaining, unions, trade union, Marx, Ontario, Corporate Welfare, Canada, cars, automobilie, production, taxes, tax credit, investment, environment, hybrid, self-valorization,, self-management,, workers control,, autoworkers,, KEN LEWENZA,,CAW, Big Three Auto,, libertarian socialism, automobile, Chrysler, Tony Clement, business unions, auto parts, workers, layoffs, plant-closings, workers-control, unions, labour, Canada

Cyber Attacks Involving Huawei Devices in Canada Spiked after Meng Wanzhou Arrest

An uncovered government report outlines hacking threats. And prescriptions that raise privacy issues.

Bryan Carney Yesterday | TheTyee.ca
Bryan Carney is director of web production at The Tyee and reports on technology and privacy issues. You can follow his very occasional tweets at @bpcarney.

The report supports opponents of Huawei getting Canadian government contracts, including for next generation network technology, 5G. Photo: Creative commons licensed, Flickr.

Soon after Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver, there was a spike in sophisticated cyber attacks attributed to Huawei devices in Canada, according to a newly uncovered 2019 government report.

Recovery from disaster is a long process, as this Museum of Anthropology exhibition demonstrates. Open until Sept. 5.

The report, aimed at outlining the most dangerous and actionable cyber-risks to Canadians, was commissioned by Public Safety Canada from Clairvoyance Cyber Corp. It was shared with The Tyee, Global News and the Toronto Star by the Institute of Investigative Journalism at Concordia, who acquired it via a freedom of information request.

If true, the allegation bolsters opposition to including Huawei in government contracts, including for Canada’s next generation of network technology — 5G, which will enable faster speeds and connectivity for new kinds of devices.

The refusal of the Trudeau government to rule out Huawei, arguably a Chinese state-owned entity, for critical infrastructure contracts is surprising to many security experts and puts Canada at odds with all of its fellow Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance members.

The report summarizes how China is alleged to be involved in “systematic computer network exploitation” and “espionage” of technology in the Canadian public and private sector.

Such spying and taking advantage of technology weaknesses has contributed to the “erosion” of Canada’s domestic network technology industry, forcing it to consider external suppliers like Huawei more often in technology “supply lines” for things like cell phone networks, the report notes.

“Soon after Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada,” the report observes, “increased [Advanced Persistent Threat] activity was seen involving Huawei devices within... Canadian critical infrastructure and business.”

The APT activity the report links to Meng’s arrest involves sophisticated, likely state-sponsored hacks that enable actors to gain control of or access to systems, such as private, corporate and government email servers. These kinds of threats, the report says, can persist undetected for long periods of time.

The report does not elaborate on what kinds of “devices” were associated with increased activity. The term “critical infrastructure,” however, is more closely associated with equipment used in computer and telecommunication networks rather than consumer cell phones, though the company manufactures both.

The author of the report, David McMahon, is a computer engineer who has held top roles in the military, intelligence, security and privacy industries.

McMahon told The Tyee via email that security concerns prevented him from going into detail about how increases in APT activity — difficult to detect by definition — were measured for the finding.

However, the trend is documented in the cyber security industry, says McMahon, who pointed to a 2010 report authored by Citizen Lab founder Ron Deibert detailing hacks that wrangled private documents from targets like the Indian government and the Dalai Lama.

The Tyee asked Public Safety Canada, who commissioned the report, to confirm the spike in hacking activity alongside other key details, but did not receive a response by press time.

The spike is part of a trend of threats dating back years, or even decades, according to the report.

“Nortel was a wake-up call,” McMahon elaborated via email, referring to a 2004 hack of the Canadian telecommunications giant that is thought to have contributed to its eventual insolvency. (Nortel was, at the time, laying the groundwork for the development of the next generations of wireless networks, which would later come to be known as 4G and 5G; hackers stole reams of documents about the technology and sent them to China.)

McMahon also cited research showing China once even successfully diverted a large portion of Canada’s internet traffic, routing it through its own country to “facilitate espionage and targeting.” China did so by strong-arming network interchanges, which typically rely on collaboration among nations to deliver traffic along the shortest route, says the research.

Christopher Parsons, a security expert reached by The Tyee who also conducts research at Citizen Lab, points to a paper he recently authored which recommends Canada conduct tests in IT supply lines to detect and mitigate vulnerabilities that may be been injected into critical hardware and software.

In other words, the threat is real. But some of the recommendations included in McMahon’s report to Public Safety Canada may give privacy experts pause.

One recommendation suggested that Canada sponsor an “empirical study of cyber crime” through “direct network monitoring at scale.”

Right now, McMahon says, government security analysts rely on monitoring reports they receive from security companies and platform providers.

“We mean that a statistically valid data set of cyber crime is required,” McMahon told The Tyee when asked to explain what the report meant by “direct network monitoring.”

Industry has shown it can gather cyber threat intelligence at a large scale without impacting privacy, McMahon insists.



‘You Have Zero Privacy’ Says an Internal RCMP Presentation. Inside the Force’s Web Spying Program

READ MORE

Other monitoring tools, however, like the web surveillance tools the RCMP used for Project Wide Awake, have proved to be divisive and controversial, drawing calls of overreach.

McMahon’s report also includes an ambiguously worded recommendation that could be interpreted as a call to require technology companies to include “back doors,” which give government special keys to defeat privacy controls in technology.

“Law enforcement will need to abandon trying to regulate encryption or force industry to build back door vulnerabilities into commercial systems,” the recommendation reads.

Asked to clarify his position, McMahon told The Tyee that he now believes that governments should neither regulate encryption, which enables private communication online, nor force companies to create back doors. Instead, companies should assess their risks and make decisions for themselves, McMahon wrote.

If Canada did mandate back door vulnerabilities into encryption schemes in order to facilitate network monitoring, these vulnerabilities would be exploited by nefarious actors, said Parson.



Privacy Commissioner Launches Investigation of RCMP Internet Unit

READ MORE

The strategy has been called for by representatives of Five Eyes members including Canada, but is widely opposed by civil society and prominent tech companies. Although his report appeared to acknowledge the tactic, McMahon told The Tyee that it was unlikely to be approved in the near future.

How Public Safety Canada will interpret and respond to this, and other surprising recommendations in the report, remains to be seen.

Clairvoyance Cyber Corp. prepared the report after receiving a sole-source contract from Public Safety Canada worth $24,400, which is $600 below the threshold where such contracts require publicly bid solicitation, internal procurement documents obtained with the report show.

With files from Jared Dodds and Michael Wrobel, Concordia University’s Institute for Investigative Journalism.

Criminal Capitalism

Those who say that Enron was an exception, like oh say Tyco and WorldCom and QWest and Hollinger under Conrad Black well here are a couple of more exceptions proving the rule, that capitalism is a criminal enterprize.

Nortel settlement adds to the disgrace heaped upon execs

'Payola' probe turns towards radio conglomerates


The only reason business doesn't get caught or convicted more often is because of the golden rule, dem dat has da gold makes da rules. And then they have their pals enforce the rules.
New questions raised over Mulroney's ties with German businessmanLast Updated Wed, 08 Feb 2006 21:59:22 EST

CBC News

Former prime minister Brian Mulroney received $300,000 from a secret Swiss bank account after he left office because he was strapped for cash, German businessman Karlheinz Schreiber has told The Fifth Estate

And while there are those who break the 'rules' that is the function of capitalism, which is why capitalist complain about all dem der rules and regulations, cause even when they are doing business as usual they still can't help themsleves.

DoJ to investigate Mittal bid for Arcelor
MSNBC - 10 hours ago
The US Justice Department has begun an antitrust investigation of Mittal Steel's $23bn hostile bid for Arcelor, creating a potential regulatory hurdle for a proposed ...
Culture Clash Cited in Mittal's Arcelor Bid ABC News
Global behemoth Globe and Mail

We can add these stories I reported on;

Mittal

Japan's Dot.Com Scandal

Wal-Mart A Toxic Success

War and the Market State

Criminal Capitalism



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Nortel, Payola, Records, Music, Radio, USA, Canada, Crime, Corporation, Capitalism
Mittal, Mulroney, Airbus, Black

The Honorary Canadian

Before the U.S. gave the Dalai Lama a medal Canada made him an honorary citizen.

The Dalai Lama first visited Canada in 1980, meeting with the Governor-General. In 1990, he visited again and was greeted by the government minister for multiculturalism. In 1993, he met the external affairs minister. Paul Martin was the first prime minister to meet him, in 2004, and last year he was granted honorary citizenship.

In a move likely to further aggravate Canada's relations with China, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will use his office on Parliament Hill to host a meeting and photo session with the Dalai Lama on Monday afternoon.

Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean also plans to receive the 72-year-old monk at her official residence, Rideau Hall, and Opposition leaders are scheduled to meet him at the Lord Elgin Hotel Tuesday morning.

On Iraq

On the U.S. presence in Iraq, the Dalai Lama then told an Ottawa audience on Sunday that the intention was "not necessarily" bad, but the practical result was that the problem is only getting worse.

"No matter what the intentions, methods become unrealistic. So instead of solving the problem (they) increase the problem," he said to the audience of about 5,000 people.

As a person, he said Bush was very likable.

"I love him, really, as a human being. Very nice man, very simple, straightforward, no formality," he said, to laughter from the audience.

He criticized U.S. policy in Iraq, diagnosing the cause of policy blunders as a "lack of awareness about reality."

This lack of realistic perception, he said, causes "the whole policy or method [to] become unrealistic," and therefore unpragmatic and ineffective.

As a result, he said, U.S. policy in Iraq, "is not solving the problem, but increasing the problem."

So I wonder what he will tell Steve about Afghanistan?

"First inner disarmament, then outer disarmament."

But will he listen?

And despite being an Honorary Canadian the Harpocrites are two faced when it comes to the real politics behind trade relations with China. It seems our taxpayer funded State Capitalist companies in Quebec are eager to play footsie with the Chinese state in Tibet, while the PM blusters on about human rights.

Although His Holiness says Canada has been and continues to be a good friend in his struggle for autonomy -- he says Mr. Harper "seems very concerned about human rights" -- it has been at times a shallow friendship. There are, for example, the helicopter engines built in Quebec by Pratt & Whitney Canada, a subsidiary of a U.S. firm, that have ended up in Chinese anti-tank attack helicopters, prompting an investigation by the U.S. State Department. And there is the railway from China into Tibet, completed last year by Canadian companies Bombardier, Power Corp. and Nortel, which the Dalai Lama says could be "really dangerous" for his people.

SEE:

No Reincarnation Without Permission

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Buddha, Tibet, reincarnation, China, human rights, Dali Lama, Buddhist,

Trudeau says China fails to understand judiciary system as Canadians detained

Prime minister condemns Beijing for linking its 2018 detention of two Canadians with arrest of Huawei executive

AFP in Ottawa Thu 21 May 2020
 

Meng Wanzhou, seen in January, was arrested in Vancouver in 2018. Photograph: Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters

Beijing’s linking of its detention of two Canadians in China to the arrest of a Chinese executive in Vancouver shows it does not understand the meaning of an independent judiciary, Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.

China detained the former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor in December 2018, nine days after the arrest on a US warrant of the Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver.

“We’ve seen Chinese officials linking those two cases from the very beginning,” Canada’s prime minister said.

“Canada has an independent judicial system that functions without interference or override by politicians.

“China doesn’t work quite the same way and doesn’t seem to understand that,” he said, calling the linkage of the cases “distressing” while vowing to continue to press for the release of the two Canadians.

The arrests led to the worst-ever crisis in relations between the two nations, with accusations of “arbitrary detentions” and hostage diplomacy met with trade sanctions and suspended consular visits.

Kovrig and Spavor have been held on espionage suspicions and refused access to lawyers.

Meng, meanwhile, has been living in a Vancouver mansion after being granted bail while fighting extradition in court.

The US is seeking to put her on trial for Huawei’s alleged violations of US sanctions against Iran.

Earlier, the Chinese ambassador, Cong Peiwu, told Global News that “competent Chinese authorities are handling the cases [of Kovrig and Spavor] according to law.”

He then pivoted to Meng, saying her case was “the biggest issue in our bilateral relationship” and renewing demands that she be sent back to China “smoothly and safely”.

A decision in the first phase of the Meng case, which dealt with whether her alleged crimes are punishable in Canada – a key criterion for extradition to proceed – is expected on Wednesday.

If the judge rules against Meng, the case will proceed to a second phase of arguments in June.

1. CANADA IS DOING AMERICA'S (TRUMP'S) DIRTY WORK AGAINST HUAWEI

2. HUAWEI BROUGHT DOWN CANADIAN TELECOM MANUFACTURER NORTHERN TELECOM AKA NORTEL BY HACKING IT IN THE NINETIES AND BOUGHT IT OUT WHEN IT WENT BANKRUPT

3. STALINST CHINAJUDICIARY FUNCTIONS WHERE THE STATE DETERMINES THE CRIME AND THE OUTCOME IN ADVANCE AND ASUMES EVERYONE ELSE DOES TO

Huawei reaps more patent royalties than it pays out for second straight year

HOW HUAWEI GOT STARTED; 

RIPPING OFF PATENTS FROM NORTEL


Fri, December 23, 2022 
By Paresh Dave

OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) -Chinese technology giant Huawei will bring in more patent income than it pays to other companies for their patents for the second straight year in 2022, as it seeks to offset the impact of U.S. export curbs on sales in its hardware business, the company announced late Thursday.

Huawei, known for its telecoms equipment and smartphones, signed or renewed over 20 patent licensing deals this year, said Steven Geiszler, the company's U.S. chief intellectual property counsel. Among licensors announced Thursday were several automakers, including Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche and BMW, that are seeking to add more communications technologies to their vehicles.

"By getting a return on our R&D investment, it allows us to re-invest and re-invent," Geiszler said, referring to research and development.

"Audi respects the intellectual property of third parties and is willing to take licences, if such licences are necessary and available to comply with the law," the German automaker said.

Other automakers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Huawei also said it had extended its patent deal with its Finnish rival Nokia, which began booking licensing revenue from Huawei back in 2017 when the agreement was originally signed.

Nokia booked altogether 1.5 billion euros ($1.59 billion) in revenue from patent licensing in year 2021, while Huawei generated about $1.2 billion globally from licenses over the three years ended 2021, or roughly hundreds of millions of dollars annually, Geiszler said.

Its full-year sales figures for 2022 will not be tallied until next year, and the licensing unit's profits or losses are not accounted for independently, he said.

Those figures are small relative to the billions of dollars in annual sales Huawei has lost due to U.S. curbs on Chinese technology since 2019 that have stung its ability to sell in places such as the United States and Europe.

But the company has grown more aggressive in striking deals for its patents over the past two years to at least make up some ground. In addition, in some cross-licensing agreements where money previously never exchanged hands, Huawei is now getting cash to balance out the deals since it is selling fewer devices that use the patents it had secured.

As publicly disclosed technology, the patents are not subject to the U.S. restrictions, Geiszler said.

($1 = 0.9422 euros)

(Reporting by Paresh Dave; additional reporting by Jaiveer Shekhawat in Bangalore and Anne Kauranen in Helsinki, editing by Cynthia Osterman, Louise Heavens and Mark Potter)

ANALYSIS: Jagmeet Singh wouldn’t back Scheer but he could back O’Toole

David Akin 
GLOBAL NEWS

WINDSOR, ON — Ask a campaigning NDP leader if they would support this party or that party in a potential minority government and every NDP leader is trained to say the same thing: They’re running to be prime minister.

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

 NDP leader Jagmeet Singh walks along the waterfront in Windsor, Ont. on Wednesday, August 25, 2021.

It’s what Jack Layton said. It’s what Thomas Mulcair said. And during a campaign stop here Wednesday, it’s what Jagmeet Singh said.

"I'm running to form government,” Singh told reporters here. "I'm running to be the prime minister because I've seen in a minority that New Democrats made life better for people. If we were not there, if we were not present in Ottawa … people would have been far worse off in this pandemic. And that's motivated me more than ever to be the next prime minister so we can actually help people out."

Read more: NOTEBOOK: Jagmeet vs. Justin in a city where an election likely changes little

Singh’s response was prompted by a reporter’s query about his intentions if the current general election results in a minority Conservative government led by Erin O’Toole. Voters already know what Singh’s NDP did when Justin Trudeau led a Liberal minority government: It largely supported the government on confidence matters but withheld support until it could say it achieved certain objectives — increased sick leave benefits or pandemic benefits to students — that are important to those who vote New Democrat.

These negotiations with a minority prime minister can be tricky. One has to know when you’ve got all you’re going to get from a minority PM. And, at some point, if one pushes to far, a minority PM could just find another parliamentary partner or chance a confidence vote and an election.

The late Jack Layton and his team have been widely credited for skillfully negotiating with both a Liberal and Conservative minority prime minister, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper. Only once did Layton ask for more than a prime minister was ready to give.

That was in 2005, when Layton could not accept what the Martin government was offering on health care. Martin called Layton’s bluff, the country went to the polls, and that’s how we had Stephen Harper.

Those who have been involved in minority government negotiations say any participating leader can only go as far as his base will allow him

And that rule largely prevented Singh from entertaining any scenario in which he would have propped up former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, had Scheer ended up leading a minority Conservative government after the 2019 election. Scheer’s personal values on so-called social conservative issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, right-to-die legislation and so on were just too far from the NDP base and so, even before they started counting the ballots in 2019, Singh had declared that working with Scheer would be a non-starter.

Was that wise? Who knows. But Singh did see the NDP caucus cut down from 39 members to 24 members and, in the process, lost a significant amount of political capital. Scheer, on the other hand, won the popular vote and increased the Conservative caucus by 20 MPs. (And then lost his job! But that's another story ... )

This time, though, it may be different if Singh finds himself facing a Conservative minority led by Erin O'Toole.

For one thing, Singh is campaigning well so far in this election and all polls have consistently shown the NDP in position to win seats rather than lose them as it did in 2019. It might even add back the 15 members to its caucus it lost in 2019. And that will give Singh more political capital and freedom in any negotiations.

Second, Singh, when asked Wednesday here, did not — as he did in 2019 — rule out working with the Conservative leader. He now sounds as if he is keeping all his options open should he be leading a minority government or working with one as a supporting partner. Singh did tell the Toronto Star's editorial board in February, though, he would not work with O'Toole. But now, he's less equivocal.

"We'll look at that when it happens and make decisions that are in the best interest of Canadians," Singh said Wednesday.

Finally, there is O’Toole himself and a party that is very different than the one in 2019. Both may be more palatable to the NDP base than 2019.

And the Conservatives are doing their darnedest to appeal to working class voters with policies that could have come right from NDP playbooks of Parliaments past. On Monday, for example, O’Toole said he'd introduce legislation that would guarantee at least one spot on the board of directors of any federally regulated company for worker representatives. Then he vowed to change bankruptcy laws so that pensioners would have a greater claim to bankrupt company’s assets, something New Democrats fought hard for when both Nortel and Sears went out of business.

On top of that, O’Toole has often introduced himself as the pro-choice son of a General Motors worker. The Conservatives may not get the endorsement of union leaders but they are working hard to get the votes of union rank-and-file.

And that should that make it much easier for Singh and O’Toole to come to some understanding in a future Conservative (or NDP!) minority parliament.

Canada election: Are Conservatives trying to secure a broader base?

Duration: 01:51 

The Conservative campaign made a brief stop in Brantford, Ont. today where Erin O’Toole promised to boost health care funding if elected, pledging $60 billion over the next decade with a big focus on mental health services. The Conservatives seem to be crossing over into typical NDP territory. In recent days O’Toole has been making a pitch to unionized workers. And as Mike Le Couteur reports, it’s all about securing a broader base.

Adam Zivo: A pro-labour Conservative party invading NDP turf is hardly surprising

Embracing government intervention more than anyone expected, the Conservative platform says the party would continue pandemic-related stimulus spending for two years before shifting into deficit-reduction mode.

© Provided by National Post Erin O'Toole listens to a reporter's question during a news conference on August 23, 2021 in Ottawa, Canada.

The platform also contains several pro-labour policies that would typically be associated with the NDP, suggesting that reform conservatism , which sees a role for government in supporting those left behind by laissez-faire capitalism, is becoming more influential within Canada.

Reform conservatism acknowledges that unrestricted markets can sometimes unfairly deprive citizens of opportunities to flourish and has grown increasingly influential since the Trump era. It is currently advocated by Mark Rubio in the United States (who calls it “common good capitalism”) and Jason Kenney in Alberta.

Its slow ascendancy not only reflects voter frustration with worsening economic inequality, but also a rejection of the growing frivolity of progressive politics, which has become increasingly alienated from working class values.

Reflecting reformist views, the Conservatives have proposed a “Canada Job Surge Plan,” which would pay 25 to 50 per cent of the salaries of new hires for six months following the end of the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy. The Conservatives have also proposed increasing the Canada Workers Benefit, as well as an expanded employment insurance plan that would kick in when provinces go into recession, boosting salary replacement from 55 per cent to 75 per cent.

The Conservatives have said that they will work with unions to alter the Canada Labour Code so that they can have a more level playing field against multinationals. They have similarly promised to: make it easier to organize unions within firms that have a history of anti-labour activity; force companies to provide gig workers with financial contributions equivalent to CPP and EI; and ensure that large companies include worker representatives within their boards of directors.

These kinds of policies are not typically associated with conservative politics. Tackling unemployment through wage subsidization? Supporting businesses through generous financial aid rather than tax cuts? Fortifying the social safety net? Defending Canada’s labour movement? Giving workers a say in corporate governance?

It seems that the Conservatives have enthusiastically invaded the NDP’s turf.

Yet, unlike leftist approaches, reform conservatism is focussed on providing equality of opportunity, rather than equality of outcome — ensuring that hard work and personal responsibility remain key factors for success. Relatedly, it does not vilify the wealthy, since wealth-generation is still attributed to personal virtue, and while it believes that government interventions can be constructive, it is nonetheless attentive to fiscal discipline and individual freedoms.

The conservative embrace of labour unions and social spending is based on the belief that everyone who wants to move upward through hard work should be given a fair opportunity to do so — and this lionization of hard work remains a conservative value.

But why would working class voters think that conservatives can be better friends to them than socialists? It boils down to the uneasy dynamics that underpins contemporary progressive politics, which, broadly speaking, is an alliance between: the working class — often marginalized, earthy and pragmatic — and champagne socialists — often privileged, idealistic and grandiose.

Over the past two decades, growth in the knowledge economy has boosted the influence of the latter, aligning progressive politics with economic and cultural privilege. This trend is epitomized by the ascendance of “bourgeois bohemians” or “BoBos” ( a term recently popularized by David Brooks in The Atlantic ), who are the kind of people who advocate for the working class but would be mortified visiting a trailer park — aka: they want to be society’s saviours but condescend to people unfamiliar with their elite culture (i.e. post-industrial lofts, pretentious gastronomy, spicy Twitter essays).

In response, many working class voters have migrated to conservative circles where they feel culturally respected — with Trumpism being a messy example of that.

Conservative politicians have traditionally embraced these voters through pugilistic anti-elite rhetoric that, while emotionally satisfying, offers few actual solutions to working class woes. Trump’s failure to improve the rust belt’s economic conditions comes to mind, as does Maxime Berniers’ angry politicking.

In this context, the Conservative platform seems to treat the pandemic as an opportunity to more constructively pivot Canadian conservatism towards the working class — capturing disadvantaged voters who feel alienated by progressive elitism.

Should this reorientation succeed, an important question will be whether the Conservatives can fully reconcile their pro-business and pro-labour wings. How do you navigate between competing forces that disagree on the size and role of government?

Maintaining peace between these two factions would likely be doable in the short term, when higher spending is justified by the pandemic. Unlike the NDP, though, the Conservatives at least recognize that spending needs to be reigned in, but what would happen when cuts pit business against labour? It’s an interesting thing to think about, but likely too speculative at this point.

When Conservative leader Erin O’Toole first declared he was betting on union support last fall many were surprised, while others were skeptical. Yet, of all the political shifts created by the pandemic, the rise of a pro-labour Conservative party is in some ways not very surprising at all.