Trudeau says decision on Huawei’s fate on Canadian 5G expected ‘within coming weeks’

The Trudeau government has yet to decide if the Chinese telecommunication will be granted permission to work with Canadian networks to create a 5G network

With Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig freed following the release of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei could be the next hurdle in Canada-China relations.

Huawei, which is the world’s largest smartphone provider, has business dealings in Canada and has for years wanted to build a 5G wireless network in the country. Yet the Canadian government has yet to decide if the Chinese telecommunication will be granted permission to work with Canadian networks to create a 5G network.

On Tuesday afternoon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked about why his government hasn’t banned Huawei, and if it plans to.

“We’ve actually seen that many Canadian telecommunications companies, if not all of them, have started to remove Huawei from their networks and are moving forward in ways that don’t involve them as a company,” Trudeau said.

“We continue to weigh and look at the different options, but we will no doubt be making announcements within the comings weeks.”

Huawei has deep connections to the ruling Chinese government, and for some, the decision to bar it should be an easy one.

“Canada should move as quickly as possible to ban Huawei,” said Margaret McCuaig-Johnson, a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

In 2020, Rogers, Bell and Telus all tapped Ericsson to be their 5G supplier, with Telus adding Nokia to the list. Despite the carriers finding other partners to work with, McCuaig-Johnson thinks it’s important for Canada to unequivocally shut the door on Huawei.