MPs of a House committee voted to conduct a full study of the Winnipeg laboratory documents, which show multiple security breaches occurred at the top biosafety facility, after opposition parties pushed back on the Liberals’ attempts to water down the probe.
Conservative MP Michael Chong presented a motion to launch a probe of the documents during a special meeting of the House of Commons Canada-China relations committee on March 26.
He called the issue a “grave and serious matter,” in which a government scientist collaborated with and was paid “clandestinely” by the Chinese regime and its military.
MPs waited three years to see the documents that shed light on the affair, Mr. Chong noted, stating that they now must study the matter appropriately.
Liberal MPs on the committee objected to aspects of Mr. Chong’s motion and sought to reduce the scope of the proposed study. MP Yasir Naqvi, who tabled multiple amendments, said the study “cannot be turned into a political show.”
“This is about foreign interference. This is about national security. And all of us have an important and a serious obligation to treat all these these matters very seriously,” he said.
Mr. Naqvi set out to change Mr. Chong’s motion so that the study of the lab would not be a priority for the committee. He also attempted to limit it to two meetings, remove some witnesses, and delete a clause that allowed the MPs to summon reluctant witnesses.
In the end, all of Mr. Naqvi’s amendments were either defeated by the Tories, Bloc Québécois, and NDP MPs, or were withdrawn by him.
Previous Motion
A previous attempt by Mr. Chong to launch a probe of the Winnipeg lab documents in the ethics committee was blocked by the Liberals and the NDP on March 4.This time around, NDP MP Heather McPherson, one of three vice-chairs on the Canada-China relations committee, supported the motion and voted against the Liberal amendments. While speaking against one of those amendments, which aimed to downgrade the urgency of the study, she said the study should be prioritized.
Ms. McPherson was part of a small group of MPs from each party who reviewed the unredacted Winnipeg lab documents and recommended that they be released to the public.
That ad hoc committee found no major national security prerogative and concluded that not disclosing the documents would seem to be an attempt by the government to avoid “embarrassment.” A panel of impartial arbiters supported the move.
The federal government released the 600 pages of documents in late February following a protracted battle with the opposition. The Liberals defied four orders from the House and took the former House Speaker to court to avoid disclosing the documents.
The released documents, though containing many redactions, provide substantial information about the security investigations conducted into allegations involving scientists Qiu Xiangguo and Cheng Keding who worked at the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg. The lab, designated biosafety level 4, which represents the highest level of containment controls, is Canada’s only biosafety facility permitted to handle lethal pathogens.
