OTTAWA -- The Conservatives are forcing members of Parliament to vote on whether to compel the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to turn over documents related to the shipping of viruses sent to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2019 and the subsequent firing of two scientists.
The party’s opposition day motion, sponsored by MP Michael Chong, seeks explanation on why Dr. Xiangguo Qiu and Dr. Keding Cheng were escorted out of Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Laboratory in July 2019 and terminated 18 months later by the agency.
The Conservatives have long questioned whether that event is linked to the fact that four months before their removal, Qiu had been responsible for a shipment of Ebola and Henipah viruses to China's Wuhan Institute of Virology.
“Today, Canada’s Conservatives are demanding that Justin Trudeau release the secret documents he has been hiding from Canadians. These documents are about the transfer of Ebola and Henipah viruses to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in March 2019, and Drs. Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng, who had their security clearances revoked and were fired after the transfer,” said Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole in a press release issued Tuesday.
In March, Dr. Guillaume Poliquin, the head of the National Microbiology Laboratory, told the House of Commons special committee on Canada-China relations studying the issue that specific shipment of was done “in accordance with the lab’s standard operating procedures in compliance with the Human Pathogens and Toxins Act and the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, as well as with the Canadian fire safety standards.”
PHAC President Iain Stewart hasn’t provided specifics on the two doctors’ termination, only to say that an internal investigation took place and they no longer work there.
If adopted, the Conservative motion would give PHAC 48 hours to release the unredacted documents and also require that Health Minister Patty Hajdu appear before the special committee for at least three hours to discuss the events. It asks that the law clerk and parliamentary counsel review the documents and remove information that could compromise national security or unveil details related to the ongoing RCMP investigation into the issue.
O’Toole on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of covering up a potential national security breach.
“For years, Canada's security services have been warning the government and universities about the risks of research co-operation with communist China. It begs the question of how two scientists with deep connections to the Chinese military were able to obtain a high-level Canadian security clearance to conduct work with dangerous viruses like Ebola,” the press release reads.
During question period later in the day, Trudeau fielded questions not only about why the government continues to support research collaboration with China, but also about why Canada remains the only member of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance to have not blocked or restricted Huawei from its 5G network rollout.
He responded suggesting the Conservative Party is trying to score “political partisan points."
“This government takes seriously our responsibilities to keep Canadians safe, we will continue to, and that’s why among other things, we created a national security and intelligence committee of parliamentarians, something that Conservatives refused to do,” he said.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology is at the centre of a new probe launched by the U.S. to determine the origins of the COVID-19 virus, with some suggesting it’s possible the virus was leaked from the Chinese lab.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau has said the Canadian government supports efforts by the Biden administration to determine the source of the virus after the results of the World Health Organization’s report, released earlier this year, on how the virus first spread to humans were largely inconclusive.
Chong asked the government on Tuesday whether they’d allow U.S. officials to question scientists from the Winnipeg lab as they pursue the coronavirus’ origin.
Hajdu accused the opposition of stoking fear and said the government “remains focused” on stopping the spread of the virus domestically.
With a file from The Canadian Press.
