CI/KR RESPONSE FOR S/CT - CANADA - CORRECTED VERSION - FORMAT CORRECTED

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000283



SIPDIS



SIPDIS



SENSITIVE



PASS TO STATE FOR S/CT (Robertson),WHA/CAN (Fox)

WHITEHOUSE FOR HSC

DHS for International Affairs

DHS FOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION

DOE FOR P&I



E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: ASEC, ECON, PTER, PREL, PGOV, ETTC, EFIN, KHLS, CA

SUBJ: CI/KR RESPONSE FOR S/CT - CANADA -

CORRECTED VERSION - FORMAT CORRECTED



REF: STATE 6461



1. (U) Summary: The economies, societies and environments of Canada

and the United States are inextricably intertwined; the relationship

is most easily reflected in the staggering volume of bilateral

trade, over US$1.5 billion a day in goods, and the 300,000 people

who cross the shared border every day to work or visit. Moreover,

Canada is the single largest foreign supplier of fossil fuels to the

United States (providing 17 percent of U.S. oil imports and over 80

percent of U.S. natural gas imports). Our food and agriculture

markets are almost completely integrated, with Canada accounting for

about 20 percent of total US agri-food imports. In addition our two

countries' financial markets and telecommunications and electrical

networks are highly interconnected. As a consequence of this

exceptional interrelationship a disruption to Canada's critical

infrastructure (CI) could have an immediate and deleterious impact

on the United States. Because it would be virtually impossible to

provide an exhaustive accounting of Canada's CI, this cable gives

illustrative examples of CI in various sectors. Protection of CI is

a Canadian national priority, and Canada is a close and trusted

partner with the United States in working to protect CI in North

America. End summary.



CANADA'S APPROACH TO CI

--------------



2. (U) Like the United States, Canada's critical infrastructure

consists of physical and information technology facilities,

networks, services and assets essential to the health, safety,

security or economic well-being of its citizens, or to the effective

functioning of government. In many respects, the two countries

should be viewed as sharing the same infrastructure (pipelines,

bridges, power and phone lines) sprawling across a shared economic

space. As in the United States, it is estimated that most (between

85 and 95 percent)of Canada's critical infrastructure is owned and

operated by private sector firms, which therefore bear primary

responsibility for the development and implementation of business

continuity plans. In addition to the federal government's role, the

provinces and territories also have a significant jurisdictional

role in critical infrastructure protection and emergency management.

These government entities also own and regulate some critical

infrastructure.



3. (U) Canada has established the National Critical Infrastructure

Assurance Program (NCIAP) - an ongoing collaboration between private

sector partners and federal, provincial and territorial governments

- to provide a national framework for cooperative action and to

build a resilient national critical infrastructure. The federal

government classifies critical infrastructure within ten sectors, as

opposed to the USG classification system of 17 critical

infrastructure/key resources sectors.



4. (U) The 10 Canadian sectors are:



-- Energy and Utilities (e.g., electrical power, natural gas, oil

production/transmission)



-- Information and Communications Technology (e.g.,

telecommunications, broadcasting systems, software, hardware, and

networks including the Internet)



-- Finance (e.g., large-value payment, securities clearing and

settlement systems)



-- Health Care (e.g., hospitals, blood-supply facilities and

pharmaceutical manufacturers)

Qpharmaceutical manufacturers)



-- Food (e.g., safety, distribution, agriculture and food industry)







-- Water (e.g., drinking water and wastewater management)



-- Transportation (e.g., road, rail, marine, and aviation)



-- Safety (e.g., chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear

safety, dangerous goods, search and rescue, emergency services and

dams)



-- Government (e.g., services, facilities, information networks and

key national monuments)





-- Manufacturing (e.g., defense industrial base, chemical industry)





COOPERATION WITH THE UNITED STATES

--------------



5. (U) At the federal government level, the Public Safety Canada is

responsible for national CI policy. Public Safety Canada works

primarily with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

(particularly with the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection)

on the identification of shared CI, threat analysis and response

planning; since 2005, under the auspices of the SPP. We understand

that Public Safety Canada and DHS have recently collaborated on a

detailed threat analysis of shared CI. Post would welcome a copy.



EXAMPLES OF CANADIAN CI/KR (USG CATEGORIES)

--------------



A. (SBU) Banking & Finance - Canada's five main nationwide banks own

substantial U.S. subsidiaries and do large amounts of business in

U.S. currency. Toronto, which is less than an hour's drive from

Buffalo, hosts the world's seventh largest stock exchange, and

hundreds of securities are co-listed on both the Toronto and New

York Stock Exchanges. A major disruption of financial business in

Toronto would be felt instantly on U.S. markets.



B. (SBU) Chemical & Hazardous Materials - Canada's main

petrochemical complex is at Sarnia, Ontario, opposite Port Huron,

Michigan, where major oil and gas pipelines from western Canada

terminate. Sarnia and Port Huron are both relatively small towns

and they share resources, such as chemical spill response teams, in

emergencies. Also, Canada is the world's largest single producer of

uranium, accounting for about one-third of the world's uranium mine

output. Cameco's refinery at Blind River, Ontario takes uranium

oxide concentrate (U3O8) from mines in Canada and abroad and refines

it to UO3, an intermediate product. The UO3 is trucked to Port Hope,

Ontario (on the shores of Lake Ontario) where Cameco has about

one-quarter of the Western world's uranium hexafluoride (UF6)

conversion capacity - 12,400 metric tons per year. The uranium

hexafluoride is then shipped outside Canada for enrichment

(including in the United States) for use in light water reactors.

Disruption of uranium mining activities in Saskatchewan or the

milling and conversion facilities in Ontario could impact fuel

supply for American nuclear power plants. Destruction, disruption

or exploitation of the Port Hope plant could lead to radiological

contamination of American territory in New York state.



C. (SBU) Defense Industrial Base - The "Stryker" armored vehicle for

the U.S. Army is built by General Dynamics; the structure,

fabrication and final assembly of the "Stryker" takes place in

London, Ontario (and also at Anniston, Alabama). Disruption at the

Ontario plant would impact acquisition and deployment of the

"Stryker."



D. (SBU) Emergency Services - Response plans exist at the federal,

state/provincial and local levels to deal with cross-border

emergency response. For example, The Joint Inland Pollution

Contingency Plan is aimed at developing a coordinated and integrated

response between Canadian and United States governments to pollution

incidents and Mutual Aid pacts exist at the local level between

towns in the U.S. and in Canada, as in Port Huron - Sarnia (see B

above). Were these cross-border services disrupted, adequate

Qabove). Were these cross-border services disrupted, adequate

emergency response might be otherwise unavailable.



E. (SBU) Energy - Canada is the largest source of U.S. imports of

oil, natural gas, electricity and uranium; the United States exports

electricity, coal and petroleum products to Canada. This energy

trade is carried by a shared web of oil and gas pipelines, and our

interconnected electricity grid. On the Canadian side of the

border, the private sector owns over 85 per cent of the energy

infrastructure. Our interdependent relationship was highlighted

dramatically in August, 2003, when approximately 50 million people

in Ontario and seven U.S. states suffered a blackout of more than 48

hours due to a failure of our shared electricity grid (precipitated

by a fault at an Ohio power plant).



F. (SBU) Food & Agriculture - Canada and the United States are

engaged in a high volume of trade in agricultural products and

seafood; the potential impact on the U.S. of agro-terrorism or

bioterrorism at a Canadian food facility would be correspondingly



high. The top five agri-food imports into the U.S. from Canada are:

baked goods (including pasta and breakfast cereals),beef,

beverages, vegetables and pork.





G. (SBU) Information Technology - Millions of Americans rely on the

BlackBerry device produced by Research in Motion (RIM) of Waterloo,

Ontario; its network operations center in Ontario processes every

e-mail message to or from a BlackBerry. In early February 2008 more

than 5 million users were left without BlackBerry connectivity for

up to 24 hours during a technical upgrade, underscoring the

cross-border impact of any disruption to RIM's Ontario facilities.



H. (SBU) National Monuments & Icons - Niagara Falls is located on

the Ontario-New York border and ranks high as a "North American"

icon (the Canadian "Horseshoe falls" is probably the most

picturesque portion). Disruption at this locale would likely have

wide-ranging psycho-social impacts.



I. (SBU) Postal & Shipping - The St. Lawrence Seaway, jointly

managed by the U.S. and Canada, with its system of locks allows

ocean-going vessels to move between the high seas into the Great

Lakes, and facilitates ship-borne commerce between American and

Canadian ports on the Great Lakes. Almost 50 percent of Seaway

traffic travels to and from overseas ports, especially those in

Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Disruption on the seaway would

create a cascade of logistics problems for many shippers in the

Great Lakes states.



J. (SBU) Public Health and Healthcare - Approximately 3,500 Canadian

health care workers commute to the Detroit region on a daily basis,

and that number is expected to increase as Michigan health care

facilities continue recruiting in Canada due to an ongoing nursing

shortage. Disruption of this commute (via disinformation, attacks

on transport or bridges, for example) would directly and immediately

impact health care for thousands of Michigan residents.



K. (SBU) Telecommunications - Canadian telecoms companies carry

Canadian defense communications into the U.S. where they link up

with U.S. networks. Canadian financial institutions with large U.S.

holdings and operations (e.g. Bank of Montreal with Harris Bank;

Toronto Dominion with TD Banknorth; and Royal Bank of Canada with

Centura) use Canadian telecom networks to relay critical financial

data. Much command and control functionality for cross-border

electricity grids and pipelines is carried on Canadian telecoms

networks. Disruption to telecoms systems in Canada would have

immediate and deleterious effect on United States interests.



L. (SBU) Transportation - The value of goods transported annually

across a single bridge, the Ambassador bridge, between Detroit,

Michigan and Windsor, Ontario (valued at approximately US$108

billion in 2006),is more than the entire annual merchandise trade

between the United States and the United Kingdom (US$98 billion in

2006). Destruction or disruption of this bridge would have a

significant impact on, inter alia, the highly integrated North

American automotive industry.



M. (SBU) Water - The Point Roberts Water District in Washington

state draws 840,000 gallons of water per day for its residents from

the Greater Vancouver Water District (GVWD) from a reservoir located

in Delta, British Columbia. Disruption of this supply would create

Qin Delta, British Columbia. Disruption of this supply would create

significant distress for the population of this diminutive United

States exclave.



N. (SBU) Commercial Facilities - NAVCanada (NAVCAN) is the private,

not-for-profit operator of Canada's civil air navigation system;

NAVCAN manages all transatlantic air traffic in the airspace

immediately west of Iceland and North American landfall. Disruption

of this service would affect (cancel or postpone) hundreds of

transatlantic flights per day.



O. (SBU) Dams - Three dams in British Columbia regulate the flow of

the Columbia River into the United States. The Mica, Hugh

Keenleyside and Duncan dams were built as a result of the Columbia

River Treaty, signed by Canada and the United States in 1964. The

Treaty dams provide flood control, and they are essential to the

maintenance of power generation at hydro-electric plants in the

United States. Flooding and/or loss of electricity generation

capacity in the United States could result if the dams were

destroyed or otherwise exploited.



P. (SBU) Government Facilities - NORAD, the North American Aerospace

Defense Command, is an integrated bi-national United States and

Canadian organization charged with the missions of aerospace warning

and aerospace control for North America. One of three subordinate

regional HQs is located in Canada, at Winnipeg, Manitoba (the other

two regional HQs are in Alaska and Florida).



Q. (SBU) Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs)- In Ontario ten operating

nuclear reactor units are situated at Pickering and Darlington on

Lake Ontario facing New York State (roughly 60 miles north-east of

Buffalo). Another six operating nuclear reactor units are situated

on the shores of Lake Huron, adjacent to Lake Superior. One nuclear

reactor is located in New Brunswick adjacent to the Bay of Fundy,

about 45 miles from the New Brunswick-Maine border, and one is

situated in Quebec on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River

about 100 miles north of the Quebec-Vermont border. If an NPP

containment facility was breached and radiological materials were

released some contamination of U.S. territory (land or water) might

be expected.



6. (SBU) Comment: The inventory of critical infrastructure and key

resources that we have compiled here is illustrative, not

exhaustive. Post believes that a more comprehensive listing might

be obtained from the Department of Homeland Security.



7. (U) This message was cleared with DHS Attach at Mission Canada.

Wilkins