The National Microbiological Laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, June 17, 2021. Shannon Van Reyes / The Globe and Mail
The Liberal government and the NDP agreed to set up an ad hoc committee – without the approval of the official opposition – this will gain access to secret documents about the dismissals of two scientists on infectious diseases in the Canadian microbiological laboratory with a high degree of security.
The panel will not be a parliamentary committee, which means that it will not have delegated and investigative powers to the House of Commons.
This will continue even if the Conservatives and the Québécois bloc refuse to join, House of Representatives leader Mark Holland told The Globe and Mail on Wednesday. The Conservatives are adamant that they will not participate until the Bloc responds immediately to a request for comment.
“We don’t have much faith or trust in the Liberals’ approach to this,” said Conservative leader Candice Bergen.
Mr Holland promised that the ad hoc commission would have full access to all national security documents explaining why Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng were fired from the National Microbiological Laboratory in Winnipeg in January 2021.
The two scientists lost their security clearances in July 2019 and the RCMP was called in to investigate. Dr. Qiu, who heads the department for the development of vaccines and antiviral therapies at the Winnipeg Laboratory, and Mr. Cheng were fired in January 2021.
The Globe and Mail reported that a senior Chinese Liberation Army officer had collaborated with Dr. Qiu on the Ebola study and that the RCMP was investigating whether the fired scientists had handed over Canadian intellectual property to China.
Opposition parties have been demanding for nine months that the liberal government release publicly unedited versions of the documents. The government refused to do so and warned that their release could threaten national security.
Mr Hollande said he hoped the commission would start working as soon as possible.
The NDP struck a deal in March to support the liberal minority government on budget and trust issues, and an agreement on the Winnipeg Laboratory Documents Committee expands co-operation between the two parties.
“With the participation of the NDP, we will continue with this ad hoc commission,” said Mr Holland. “We believe it is essential to give parliamentarians the opportunity to review these documents and challenge the editors.
The Decibel podcast: Why were two scientists fired from a virus lab in Winnipeg?
Asked if Canadians would understand exactly why the two scientists were fired, Mr Hollande said: “Everything that can be shared must be shared.” He said information that could harm national security would be kept by the public, but not by members of the ad hoc committee.
“Canadians should expect parliamentarians from all parties … to have the opportunity to look at every last letter of the documents and to know the whole story,” he said. “They will have the opportunity to appeal to an independent body of lawyers if they do not agree with any of the amendments.”
Conservative outside critic Michael Chong said the Liberal Plan has a roundabout run around parliament, as the panel will not be a formal parliamentary committee.
He said he believes the Liberals have reached an agreement with the NDP because conservatives are pushing for a vote on his proposal for the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs to see the documents.
“It is obvious that the government is trying to divert attention from what we are trying to do,” Mr Chong said. “This is an attempt to deny information to parliament.”
He said a parliamentary committee, not set up by the Liberals, should receive the documents. The Liberal government’s rules on paperwork will prevent lawmakers from learning what happened, he said. “They put a lot of restrictions on this commission, which will allow the government to reject the commission’s information.
Heir McPherson, a critic of the NDP’s foreign affairs, defended the NDP-Liberal agreement, saying the issue could disrupt Foreign Affairs Committee procedures at a time when urgent issues such as Russia’s war against Ukraine require its attention. “My priority is to hand over these documents to the parliamentarians. There was a traffic jam, “she said.
The issue sparked parliamentary opposition last June, when opposition parties banded together and invoked parliamentary privilege to order the government to publish the recordings.
When the Liberals were reluctant to do so, they voted to declare the Canadian Public Health Agency disrespectful to parliament. The government turned to the court to try to stop the issuance of documents, but abandoned efforts when the election was called.
Just before Christmas, the Liberals reversed the course and proposed an ad hoc commission with judges as arbitrators.
The Conservatives rejected the idea, saying they wanted the Liberals to stick to the plan they first unveiled last June to provide lawmakers with documents from the House of Commons legal official.
“The process they have proposed will not ensure the protection of national security documents or national security issues,” Mr Holland said.
More than 250 pages of minutes were completely withheld by lawmakers, and hundreds more were partially censored. Deputies are looking for documents related to the transfer of deadly virus samples in March 2019 to the Institute of Virology in Wuhan, which was monitored by Dr. Qiu.
The RCMP’s investigation focuses on the possibility of transferring materials such as plasma DNA molecules that could be used to recreate vaccines or viruses to the Chinese authorities without the approval of the Public Health Agency.
The Globe also reported that Dr. Qiu has collaborated on scientific articles with Chinese military researchers.
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