Home Newsroom 2005 Speeches (archive) Cullen: 2005-05-25

First Public-Private Summit on National Security

Notes for a keynote address by
The Honourable Roy Cullen

Ottawa, Ontario
May 25, 2005

Introduction

Thank you and good morning.

It’s a pleasure to be here and, on behalf of the Government of Canada, to welcome everyone to the first Public-Private Summit on National Security.

I’d also like to extend my thanks to the Conference Board of Canada for providing the opportunity to speak to you this morning, and to thank each of you for being here.

Collaboration between the public and private sectors is essential to national security. We all have a part to play, and the more we can do to ensure our roles complement one another, the greater the benefit to all.

This is the foundation of the Government of Canada’s approach to national security. Government can provide leadership, specialized resources, and a strategic framework within which we can better define and coordinate our roles. That said, it is a fundamental truth that security is a shared responsibility.

There are simply too many threats, too many connections and too many interdependencies to allow any other approach. It is an unfortunate reality, but in today’s environment, a threat to one can very easily be a threat to many.

Threat environment

The August 2003 blackout in Ontario and the northeastern United States is just one example.

An electric utility in Ohio had a problem. A relatively small problem, in fact, but in a matter of minutes, several states and a good part of Ontario were without electricity for days, which is a very big problem. The repercussions for Canada, as I’m sure you recall, were substantial:

• Millions of work hours were lost.
• Water conservation warnings were issued to protect drinking water supplies.
• First-responder emergency services were under extreme pressure.
• Financial transactions and other network services were disrupted.
• Government operations were reduced to the essentials – and the list goes on.
• In this case, the blackout was the result of a small software glitch, complicated perhaps by human error, but any number of causes, natural and otherwise, could bring about similar or even great disruptions.

Budget 2005 will invest $34 million to enhance pandemic influenza preparedness, including the creation of a national antiviral stockpile. This is in addition to $300 million already provided to the provinces and territories for the National Immunization Strategy.

Government of Canada response - PSEPC

Because one of the primary roles of government is to protect its citizens, the Government of Canada is pursuing an ever-more integrated approach to national security. Circumstances demand a comprehensive approach to identifying, and assessing potential threats, and a comprehensive approach to responding to incidents.

The creation of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC) in December of 2003 exemplifies the Government’s integrated approach.

This department and portfolio – you’ll hear more about it over the course of this summit – brings together all the key functions: security and intelligence, policing and enforcement, corrections and crime prevention, border services and border integrity, immigration enforcement, emergency management and others.

The National Security Policy

This integrated approach is the foundation of Canada’s National Security Policy, released in April of last year.

This Policy articulates Canada’s core national security interests and provides a framework within which the Government is working with its partners to address current and future threats to our country – without losing sight of what it is we are trying to protect.

We need a dynamic, responsive and integrated system for national security, but it cannot come at the expense of the things that make this country so worthy of protection. Our Canadian values of democracy, human rights, respect for the rule of law, and pluralism are embodied throughout the policy.

Achieving this balance – securing our open society – requires a sustained effort over time. Indeed, the job of promoting national security will never be completely finished. There will always be new threats to be addressed, and responses to be refined and adapted.

The NSP: One year later

Nonetheless, I am pleased to report that, in little more than a year since the National Security Policy was released, we have made significant progress. We just tabled our first-year progress report on May 11, which demonstrates the seriousness that the Government assigns to its commitments.

From my perspective as Parliamentary Secretary, I am happy to see that the machinery of government is focussing on incidents, no matter their origin - - whether they be natural, man-made, cyber or terrorist threats.

The National Security Policy Advisor and Margaret Bloodworth, the Deputy Minister of PSEPC will get into this with more details.

From a national perspective, I am really pleased to see that the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre described in the Policy is up and running. This centre, known as ITAC, brings together expertise from federal, provincial and municipal agencies across Canada to produce an accurate and timely picture of possible threats.

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada has also established an Operations Centre and a Cyber Incident Response Centre to monitor and provide strategic response and coordination for the Government of Canada.

Canada-US and International Cooperation

Together, these and other actions support the aims of the National Security Policy – to guard against threats to Canada from within, and threats from outside our borders.

Understandably, we place a premium on our security relationship with the United States. We need a secure border, and we need an open border. In this area, Canada and the United States both recognize the importance of this partnership.

The relationship between PSEPC and its counterpart, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is being built on shared objectives.

The success of the innovative measures being put in place under the Canada-U.S. Smart Border Declaration is drawing international attention. We continue to expand joint initiatives such as FAST – the Free and Secure Trade program – customs pre-clearance, and the NEXUS Highway and air programs for pre-approved, low-risk travelers. The NEXUS initiative has attracted 75,000 participants in British Columbia and Ontario alone. As well, almost 450 carriers and more than 39,000 drivers are participating in the FAST program. These types of initiatives fall under what I would call risk management.

In December 2004, Canada and the U.S. launched the ‘25% challenge’, a commitment to reduce transit times across the Windsor-Detroit Gateway by 25 per cent over the next year. At that border crossing, they have now exceeded that goal. These initiatives are enhancing our mutual security and at the same time, ensuring the flow of goods and services between our two countries. They are helping us to manage risk at our borders.

All the same, we need to continue to build a strong, 21 st century border and to that end, we will be investing more than $70 million in technology investments to improve border management and to increase the efficiency of border operations. This will allow the Canada Border Service Agency and its partners to purchase equipment such as portal radiation detectors for marine container sites, hand-held radiation detectors for air cargo sites, and remote-operated vehicles for underwater vessel inspections. Such equipment will facilitate legitimate cross-border traffic and support economic development while stopping people and goods that pose a potential risk to Canada.

Other security measures that are under development include a new Canadian passport that uses a biometric chip for facial recognition. The system is currently being developed and tested, and the new passport will be issued to Canadians beginning in August 2006.

As our economic relationship with Mexico grows, we are taking steps to ensure our security relationship grows in tandem. Many of the principles of the Smart Border Declaration are reflected in the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America launched by the Prime Minister, and the presidents of the United States and Mexico in March of this year.

Lest anyone doubt Canada’s efforts, allow me to draw your attention to the words of Tom Ridge, former Secretary of the U.S Department of Homeland Security.

Speaking in Toronto earlier this month, Secretary Ridge said he does not “accept the thesis that Canada is lenient or has not done what it needs to do to advance its interest and…to combat terrorism." According to Secretary Ridge, anyone who thinks otherwise ‘has not been paying attention.’

International Security

We have also made progress in the area of international security. Budget 2005 allocates $100 million over five years to international peace and security initiatives. An example of one of these initiatives under our International Policy Statement is the Counterterrorism Capacity Building Program. This program will be led by Foreign Affairs and will provide vulnerable states with training, funding, equipment, and technical and legal assistance to help them prevent and respond to terrorist activity. We will provide these states with assistance in multiple areas of national security.

Transportation Security

In many ways, our transportation systems form the backbone of our economic system. That is why the Government is also taking steps to protect our transportation systems. The Government is establishing Marine Security Operations Centres on the east and west coasts to bring together civilian and military resources necessary to detect, assess and respond to a marine security threat.

The Canadian Forces, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Coast Guard have increased their on-water presence. Also, the Marine Facility Security Contribution Program assists ports and port facilities with security enhancement. Many Canadians are well aware of improvements to security at our airports.

Collaboration with the private sector

Many of the initiatives I’ve just described involve partnerships between governments but, as I said at the beginning, engagement of the private sector is fundamental to the success and effectiveness of the National Security Policy.

This is just common sense. Up to 90 percent of Canada’s critical infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector. These are the systems that keep our economy running, provide the foundation for our quality of life, and connect us to one another and the world. A significant disruption in any one of these critical sectors could do substantial economic damage, put public safety in jeopardy, and leave us vulnerable to opportunistic attacks.

Regardless of the enterprise, all critical infrastructure owners have an obligation to their shareholders. These are valuable, revenue-generating assets that must be protected. Risks must be managed, and plans made to deal with and recover from potential disruptions.

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness works with the Insurance Bureau of Canada to encourage the private sector to engage in more disaster prevention, and to mitigate exposure to disasters. Similarily, PSEPC, Environment Canada and the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction collaborated to release a report under the Canadian Natural Hazards Assessment Project. The report outlined ways for countries to mitigate exposure to disasters, and was distributed internationally.

The Government of Canada has a responsibility to its shareholders – the people of Canada – to ensure threats to vital systems are understood and addressed; that they are resilient; and can recover quickly from disruption.

Critical Infrastructure Protection

But we can only do so much working in isolation. With all the interdependencies among these vital sectors, some not yet fully understood, the need for a collaborative approach to protecting these assets becomes obvious.
This is the objective of the National Critical Infrastructure Assurance Program being developed by PSEPC.

The Department released a position paper on a National Critical Infrastructure Protection Strategy in November of last year. Stakeholders in provinces and territories and across the private sector have been providing comments, and we’ve also opened the floor to discussion through a series of town hall-style meetings across the country. We hope to release a national strategy this summer.

I know that Margaret Bloodworth will have more to say on this as she is working closely on this important file.

Conclusion

I have every confidence that this collaboration will continue to grow in the months and years ahead.

I think everyone understands, whether you’re a fire chief in the British Columbia interior, the head of a national government or the president of a multi-national corporation, there are risks we simply cannot manage on our own. We have to cooperate; we have to coordinate; we have to complement each other’s efforts.

With the National Security Policy, the Government of Canada has created a framework that enables and promotes this integration. With Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada, we have the resources and expertise to lead its implementation.

And we have made the financial commitments necessary to move forward.

Budget 2005 provides for an additional $1 billion over five years for key measures to enhance national security. Government of Canada investments in our national security since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 now exceed $9.5 billion.

This is not to say progress will come easy. The degree of public-private collaboration required to realize initiatives such as the National Critical Infrastructure Assurance Program and the National Cyber Security Strategy is unprecedented.

This summit provides an opportunity to understand the challenges we face in achieving this collaboration, and consider how, together, we can overcome those challenges.

Our shareholders – and yours – expect nothing less.

Thank you.