Conservative MP Michael Chong rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Oct. 18, 2023. (Screenshot from ParlVu)
MPs have voted to conduct a full study of the Winnipeg laboratory documents, which show multiple previous security breaches at the top biosafety facility, after opposition parties pushed back on attempts by Liberals to water down the committee 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,” saying that a government scientist collaborated and was paid “clandestinely” by the Chinese regime and its military.
Mr. Chong said that MPs waited for three years to see the documents shedding light on the affair and they now have to study the matter appropriately.
Liberal MPs on the committee pushed back on aspects of Mr. Chong’s motion, seeking to reduce the scope of the proposed study. MP Yasir Naqvi tabled multiple amendments, saying 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 sought to change Mr. Chong’s motion so that the study of the lab would not be a priority of the committee. He also attempted to reduce its scope by limiting it to two meetings, removing some witnesses, and removing a clause allowing 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 he withdrew them.
Mr. Chong’s motion to conduct a full probe of the Winnipeg lab documents was eventually adopted unanimously with minor amendments supported by Mr. Chong.
Previous Motion
A previous attempt by Mr. Chong to launch a probe of the Winnipeg lab documents in the ethics committee had been blocked by the Liberals and the NDP on March 4.
This time around, the NDP MP on committee, Heather McPherson, supported the motion and voted against the Liberal amendments. While speaking against a Liberal amendment to downgrade the urgency of the study, she said the study of the matter should be prioritized.
Ms. McPherson was part of a small group of MPs from each party who reviewed the unredacted Winnipeg lab documents and made a recommendation that they be released to the public.
This ad hoc committee found there was no major national security prerogative and that not disclosing the documents seemed to be more 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, after 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 contain many redactions, but they provide substantial information about the security investigations that were conducted into scientists Qiu Xiangguo and Cheng Keding who worked at the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg. The lab is Canada’s only bio-safety level 4 facility permitted to handle lethal pathogens.
The two were involved in multiple security breaches at the lab and had extensive working relationships with Chinese regime entities. Ms. Qiu helped China build its lethal pathogens program at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) before it acquired a top-safety certification. A Chinese general nominated Ms. Qiu for an award in 2016, praising her use of the Winnipeg lab to fulfill Beijing’s interests.
The two scientists, who are still under an RCMP investigation, were fired in 2021. They currently reside in China where they are using aliases and are actively working with organizations with military ties, a recent Epoch Times investigation has revealed.