Ottawa pledges $36.4 million for security of ‘vital cyber systems’ operators

The federal government promised Tuesday to invest $36.4 million over five years to help “operators of vital cyber systems” increase security, and to provide $1.33 billion over six years to the Canada Foundation for Innovation, which has invested in the past in cyber research and in a facility that the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) uses to simulate the effects of strong wind on structures.

Finance Minister Joe Oliver tabled Tuesday the 2015-16 budget in the House of Commons.

“Following consultations, new legislation will require operators of vital cyber systems to implement cyber security plans, meet robust security outcomes for their systems and report cyber security incidents to the Government of Canada,” the federal government stated in its budget document. “Building on the efforts of individual operators of vital cyber systems to secure their own systems, Economic Action Plan 2015  funding will provide enhanced support to operators through the development and dissemination of cyber security tools, security information and expertise to implement the new legislation.”

The ruling Conservatives say the $36.4 million over five years will “support the operators of Canada’s vital cyber systems in addressing cyber security threats, as required by new legislation.”

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Also, starting in 2015-16, the government says it will provide $58 million over five years to protect the federal government’s “essential cyber systems and critical infrastructure against cyber attacks.”

Since 2010, when the government released its cyber security strategy, a “core priority has been protecting the Government’s cyber systems and infrastructure, to defend against significant security breach attempts by cyber attackers who present ongoing threats to Canada and our allies abroad,” the government stated Tuesday in the budget document.

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The government also pledged $1.33 billion, over six years, starting in 2017-18, to the non-profit Canada Foundation for Innovation. The foundation previously invested $12 million in the Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Research Institute, a London, Ont. facility whose areas of research includes the effect of non-synoptic wind systems (such as tordadoes and downbursts) on buildings. The 2015-16 budget document did not specifically pledge additional funding for WindEEE but gave examples of past recipients of Canada Foundation for Innovation funding.

WindEEE is one facility used by ICLR, which was established by property & casualty insurance industry, is affiliated with Western and provides information on how property losses – from flooding, strong wind, earthquake and wildfire risk – can be reduced.

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The capability provided by WindEEE “gives researchers insight into how best to renovate existing structures and build new ones that can both harness wind energy and reduce the property loss and high insurance costs that result from wind,” the federal government said in its 2015-16 budget document.

The Canada Foundation for Innovation also previously gave $360,000 to the British Columbia Institute of Technology, which the government says “helped one Vancouver Island spin-off produce an industrial firewall that protects critical infrastructure, such as hydro and oil and gas installations, from cyber threats.”

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In the budget, the government also proposes to allocate $58.2 million over five years “for the Canada Revenue Agency to combat aggressive tax avoidance in Canada by the largest and most complex business entities.”

As of March 31, the federal debt was estimated at $616 billion. For the fiscal year that ended March 31, revenue is projected at $279.3 billion and expenditures at $281.4 billion (including $26.7 billion on public debt charges), for a deficit of $2 billion.

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The government is projecting a surplus of $1.4 billion in 2015-16. It is also projecting surpluses of $1.7 billion, $2.6 billion, $2.6 billion and $4.8 billion in 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 respectively.