Weeks after the City of Ottawa announced it would allow limited entry of Chinese-made vehicles into the Canadian market, some are warning that the move puts data privacy at risk. However, that may not be a big negative for consumers entering the new car market.

Diane Dougall and Pat Shepherd, who were strolling through the Canadian International Auto Show on Friday and were looking for a new EV to replace their Teslas, said they were “absolutely” interested in an electric car made in China.

They said privacy would be less of an issue than with other connected cars.

“This is true about all our data being stored in many countries,” Sheppard said. “That should be a concern, too, especially when it comes to the United States. So is that more of a concern? No.”

Debbie Pellicioli of Waterdown, Ont., who was also at the car show, said her vehicle’s lease is about to expire. She said privacy was “a thing of the past” and that it would not prevent her from buying a car made in China.

Some preliminary data reflects this sentiment. 61% of Canadians surveyed by Leger between January 30 and February 2 supported Chinese-made EVs in the Canadian market. When asked if they had any concerns, more respondents cited vehicle quality and the impact on Canada’s auto industry (both 38%) than privacy and security (33%).

Experts interviewed by CBC News for this article agreed that data security is a key issue for most modern digitally connected vehicles, regardless of where they are manufactured, but noted that Canada’s privacy laws are not strong enough to protect consumers from data capture by manufacturing countries, including China.

“Computer on wheels”

“Every vehicle is now essentially a computer on wheels,” said David Masson, vice president and field chief information security officer at Darktrace, an AI and cybersecurity company. “It doesn’t really matter where the car comes from, whether it runs on electricity, gasoline or diesel, or angel breath.”

Over the past decade, China has passed a flurry of national security and intelligence laws that require Chinese companies to cooperate at government requests. A similar law in the U.S., known as the Cloud Act, requires U.S. technology companies to share data collected abroad with the government upon request.

and, List of data collected by the latest vehicles Not to mention all the data you can access from a smartphone connected to your car, including your voice, location, driving speed, the type of music you’re listening to, your surroundings, and whether you’re falling asleep while driving.

Similarly, Pierre Poièvre and Doug Ford criticized the China deal, the Conservative leader called EVs “mobile surveillance systems,” and Ontario’s premier lambasted them as “spikers.”

Auto industry leaders are also concerned. ”[It’s] “Allowing Chinese cars to enter the Canadian market is a bad idea,” Brian Kingston, CEO of the Canadian Automobile Manufacturers Association, said at a press conference at the auto show.

Kingston said that in addition to being a “trade irritant” that hinders the success of domestically produced cars, Chinese cars “have a variety of security and national security-related issues.” “If social media platforms are considered a threat to Canadians, I think it’s surprising that connected cars are now allowed in the country.”

No robust system in place

Ottawa once had similar concerns about privacy. Back in June 2024, former Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said cybersecurity was a top concern as the government considered imposing 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs to curb cheaper models flooding the market.

Now, the federal government says vehicles must comply with Canadian safety standards to be sold here.

At a recent parliamentary committee hearing, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said Ottawa will ensure “safeguards” are in place to prevent the vehicles from sending information back to China.

“We need to have policies about where the data goes, what kind of data is collected, who has access to that data, how it’s used, and we need to actually have penalties for misuse of that data,” said Beth Ann Schuelke Leach, an associate professor at the University of Windsor and policy director of the school’s Automotive Cybersecurity Shield Center.

“Most consumers don’t care about their privacy, so they rely on regulations and policies to protect their privacy,” she says. “We don’t have a robust system for that kind of security.”

So far, BYD appears to be the only major Chinese automaker officially registered to import passenger cars into Canada. According to Canadian Transportation Database. The company opened a bus assembly plant in Newmarket, Ont., in 2019, so it’s unclear whether this is a new development.

Analyst says China doesn’t need cars for espionage

The Canadian government has scrutinized other Chinese companies, including ByteDance’s TikTok and telecommunications giant Huawei, citing national security concerns. Huawei was banned from Canada’s 5G networks in 2022, and the Trudeau government ordered TikTok Canada to cease operations (this order was later overturned by a federal court).

Stephanie Carvin, a national security analyst and associate professor at Carleton University’s Norman Patterson School of International Studies, said the idea that allowing Chinese-made vehicles into Canada is another breach in data security is “probably false.”

“They’re watching us now. They have everything they need,” she said, adding that the bigger concern is economic national security and the impact their entry would have on Canada’s domestic car market.

“We know that companies like BYD receive significant support from the Chinese state in terms of loans, financial assistance, and relaxed labor laws,” Carvin said.

“Canadian manufacturers cannot compete with car companies where a percentage of every car is effectively subsidized by the province.”