Federal Government Reintroduces Critical Infrastructure Cyber Security Bill

On June 18, 2025, the government introducedBill C-8, anAct respecting cyber security, amending the Telecommunications Act and making consequential amendments to other Acts, in the House of Commons.

It shares the same name of its predecessor, Bill C-26, which was introduced by the Trudeau Government in 2022. Up until now, it was unclear whether the new government would resurrect the Bill C-26 which died on the order paper with the dropping of the writ for a federal election earlier this year.

Like its predecessor, Bill C-8 has two purposes:

• First, the bill would amend theTelecommunications Actto empower the government to stop telecommunications service providers from using or providing products and services posing security risks. Practically speaking, this would allow the government to order companies not to use products or services from, for example, certain Chinese-controlled companies. Providers could be ordered to remove such equipment even if already