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    • MPs to study RCMP contract granted to company with ties to Chinese government

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    Members of Parliament voted Monday to call Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino to testify as part of a probe into the federal government's now-suspended RCMP contract with a Canadian company whose parent organization has ties to the Chinese government.

    Last week, after the news broke about the $549,637 contract awarded to Ontario-based Sinclair Technologies Inc. for radio frequency filters, Mendicino's office confirmed the contract was suspended pending a review. 

    In deciding to take on a study of this contract, MPs on the House of Commons Industry and Technology Committee indicated a desire to examine how it was this agreement came to be, and whether the federal officials who inked this deal fell short when it came to considering any potential national security implications.

    While some MPs wanted to see testimony taking place this week, with the House of Commons set to adjourn for the holidays on Friday and not return until the end of January, the committee agreed broadly to invite Mendicino to appear "as soon as possible."

    Similarly, the committee passed a second motion seeking to have Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne come before MPs "as soon as possible… to answer any questions that the members of the committee deem relevant," which could include questions about Sinclair Technologies Inc. and the security requirements under the Investment Canada Act.

    Conservative members of the committee had been pushing for a slate of additional witnesses to be called as part of the study, and wanted to order the federal government to turn over all relevant documents connected to the contract within a month.

    But, after Liberal MPs said that the issue might be better placed for further scrutiny at the House of Commons Public Safety and National Security Committee, a Bloc Quebecois-proposed amendment was passed narrowing the scope of the committee's work.

    Among the additional witnesses the Conservatives wanted to hear from on this topic—and still could, pending future decisions made at this committee or another—are Sinclair Technologies President and CEO Amiee Chan, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, and senior officials from the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) and Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).

    As CTV News has reported, the RCMP contract is not the only deal the federal government has awarded to Sinclair Technologies, whose parent company Norsat International was bought in 2017 by Hytera, a partly state-owned enterprise by the Communist Party Government of the People’s Republic of China. 

    In a previous statement to CTV News, Sinclair said it is a trusted and independent company. It cited privacy reasons for being unable to comment further.

    With files from CTV News' Annie-Bergeron Oliver and Michael Lee

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