By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – China Mobile is asking the Federal Court to compel the Governor in Council and Innovation Canada to release records it says were used to banish the telecom reseller from the country on national security grounds.
The motion to disclose the records, filed on Jan. 14, came after China Mobile said the office of the Privy Council denied the release of the records on public interest grounds late last month because it was under confidence. The court heard the motion last week.
China Mobile seeks the production of materials from the Governor in Council and the innovation minister, including “investigative files,” internal communications, notes and memoranda prepared by Investment Review Division personnel, which it said was subject to a blanket cabinet privilege that culminates in an “abuse of…discretion” because the material could not fall under confidence.
In a motion to dismiss the request on Jan. 17, the attorney general representing the government said the application should be denied because it requests material from the minister, which did not make the decision to ban the company; the request to challenge the confidence was not done correctly; and the certificate of confidence is valid to cover the requested documents.
China Mobile, a mobile virtual network operator that resold Telus wireless plans, was ordered to cease operating in Canada this summer or divest its business because of its alleged ties to the Communist government.
It had since asked the court to look at the case on the grounds it cannot influence Canadian telecom networks because it does not operate or own any. Last month it was denied an interim suspension of its ban until the full case played out in court.
The Federal Court has yet to make its final determination in the case. In its decision to deny the temporary suspension of the ban, the court agreed the company would suffer irreparable harm because it would lose all agreements and customers, but also said it did not meet all tests for a stay.
In its decision to ban China Mobile, the Canadian government cited developments in the United States, which has been making sweeping rules to deny Chinese-linked companies from getting licenses to operate in the country or banning investments in said companies. China Mobile said the government was under the influence of bias at the time because it made its decision before two Canadian prisoners were freed by China.
