The Conservatives successfully passed a motion for a parliamentary inquiry into the security breach at a top virology lab in Winnipeg, where two Chinese scientists employed there were covertly working for China’s communist government.
Conservative MP Michael Chong had attempted to launch an inquiry to probe the national security breach at the National Microbiology Lab last month, following the release of documents the Conservatives sought access to for three years.
The initial motion was shut down by the Liberals earlier this month, with the support of the NDP, on the basis of protecting national security.
An ad hoc committee formed in 2022 determined that the documents had been kept sealed to protect the Public Health Agency of Canada from “embarrassment” as opposed to protecting national security.
“The information appears to be mostly about protecting the organization from embarrassment for failures in policy and implementation, not legitimate national security concerns, and its release is essential to hold the Government to account,” the committee said.
The Conservative motion called for several witnesses, including Public Health Agency of Canada officials, Health Minister Mark Holland, and Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc, to testify before the committee.
“After years of secrecy and cover-ups, Common Sense Conservatives have forced the Trudeau Government to be transparent with Canadians over the national security breaches that occurred at the Winnipeg Microbiology Lab,” the Conservative party said in a statement issued Tuesday.
“Earlier this month, Canadians discovered that the government and military of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) were able to penetrate our nation’s maximum-security laboratory which handles the world’s most dangerous viruses and pathogens. Not only was sensitive information and materials transferred to labs run by the regime in Beijing, but government scientists were also secretly collaborating with the PRC’s top military officials in the field of biotechnology, bioweapons and bioterrorism.”
Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi tried to diminish the examination by introducing a motion to reduce its priority and limit the number of meetings on the matter.
Naqvi claimed that the calls for an inquiry were “all about political posturing” which attempted to “score political points,” instead of trying to shed light on how the breach occurred.
His motion was voted down by the Conservatives, NDP and Bloc Quebecois, who agreed that the committee should have the power to summon witnesses who refuse to testify.
“It is a grave and serious matter because the government scientists clandestinely collaborated with the government and the military of the People’s Republic of China and were paid clandestinely by the government and the military of the People’s Republic of China, without the government of Canada knowing anything,” Chong told the committee Tuesday.
Unredacted documents released to MPs earlier this month revealed that the two Chinese infectious-disease scientists gave confidential scientific data to China which presented “a realistic and credible threat to Canada’s economic security.”
“It took 3 years to get the Winnipeg lab docs. We finally got them 3 weeks ago,” posted Chong to X on Friday. “Since then, we’ve not been able to get dedicated hearings on the docs at a committee.”
“Conservatives are determined to ensure that a breach of this magnitude will never happen again. For this reason, Conservatives have launched a full parliamentary investigation into this security breach, despite Liberal attempts at committee to limit and delay this study,” the Conservatives said.