diff --git a/pkg/controllers/cisnetworkpolicy/controller.go b/pkg/controllers/cisnetworkpolicy/controller.go
index ae39b289de..b8e20f9bf6 100644
--- a/pkg/controllers/cisnetworkpolicy/controller.go
+++ b/pkg/controllers/cisnetworkpolicy/controller.go
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ func register(ctx context.Context,
 		ctx: ctx,
 		k8s: k8s,
 	}
-	logrus.Debugf("CISNetworkPolicyController: Registering controller hooks")
+	logrus.Debugf("CISNetworkPolicyController: Registering controller hooks for NetworkPolicy %s", flannelHostNetworkPolicyName)
 	nodes.OnChange(ctx, "cisnetworkpolicy-node", h.handle)
 	nodes.OnRemove(ctx, "cisnetworkpolicy-node", h.handle)
 	return nil
diff --git a/pkg/rke2/rke2.go b/pkg/rke2/rke2.go
index ef38e92c9e..35ac9e514d 100644
--- a/pkg/rke2/rke2.go
+++ b/pkg/rke2/rke2.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/rancher/rke2/pkg/controllers/cisnetworkpolicy"
 	"github.com/rancher/rke2/pkg/images"
+	"github.com/rancher/wrangler/pkg/slice"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/urfave/cli"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
@@ -114,7 +115,8 @@ func Server(clx *cli.Context, cfg Config) error {
 
 	var leaderControllers rawServer.CustomControllers
 
-	if cisMode {
+	cnis := clx.StringSlice("cni")
+	if cisMode && (len(cnis) == 0 || slice.ContainsString(cnis, "canal")) {
 		leaderControllers = append(leaderControllers, cisnetworkpolicy.Controller)
 	}