Conservatives to try again for Winnipeg lab doc committee probe

Members of a special House of Commons committee on Tuesday will consider whether to study documents detailing allegations against two scientists fired from a high-security lab in Winnipeg.

The special committee on the Canada–People’s Republic of China relationship is set to meet at 8:45 a.m. eastern at the request of Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong.

Chong is seeking for the committee to probe the matter and call several witnesses, including Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) officials, Health Minister Mark Holland and Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc.

“It took 3 years to get the Winnipeg lab docs. We finally got them 3 weeks ago,” Chong said in a post on X on Friday.

“Since then, we’ve not been able to get dedicated hearings on the docs at a committee.”

2:04 ‘Unacceptable’: Minister Holland on lack of security that led to high-profile firing of 2 Winnipeg scientists in 2019

Earlier this month, Chong attempted to get the House of Commons’ ethics committee to probe the matter. However, a majority of members voted to end debate on the motion after Liberal MP Iqra Khalid said hearings were unnecessary and fall outside the committee’s mandate.

Released last month, more than 600 pages of documents detail allegations against scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng, who were escorted from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg in July 2019 for reasons “relating to possible breaches in security protocols,” public health officials said at the time.

They were subsequently fired in January 2021.

The Winnipeg lab is Canada’s only Level 4 laboratory, designed to deal safely with deadly contagious germs such as the Ebola virus.

2:55 Senior public servant receives first formal House of Commons reprimand for non-MP since 1913

Cheng was accused of violating safety and security policies by inviting restricted visitors into the lab unaccompanied, who then allegedly removed materials from the lab.

Investigators also found that Cheng received packages of biological samples from China that were mislabelled as “kitchen utensils,” which the investigation concluded was done to ease the shipping process but not with Cheng’s knowledge.

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Subsequent investigations, including by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and PHAC, determined that Qiu hid her relationships with Chinese research associations and shipped some materials from the Winnipeg lab without authorization.

While many details of Qiu and Cheng’s case were reported through leaks to media, the case became a lightning rod for scrutiny during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as federal Liberals fought for years to keep the documents secret.

6:52 What’s really behind the Winnipeg lab incident?

The documents range from mundane email chains to “Canadian Eyes Only” security assessments, largely uncensored and released in a batch by Ottawa on Feb. 28.

Holland tabled the documents in Parliament after a special ad-hoc committee was formed in 2022. It determined efforts to keep the information sealed were meant to avoid the “embarrassment” of PHAC, rather than 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,” it said.

Holland later told reporters that the documents show an “unacceptable” security situation in the lab.

1:03 O’Toole says Conservatives will not participate in committee investigation of Winnipeg lab firings

“The threat environment with respect to foreign interference was in a very different place at that moment” in 2019, Holland said on Feb. 28.

“While there were the proper protocols in place, there was a lax adherence to the security protocols in place.”

At the time Qiu and Cheng were working at the Winnipeg lab, Canada was fighting for the release of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor from Chinese detention. The two men weren’t released until 2021.

0:58 Tories demand release of Winnipeg lab documents amid questions on employees’ Chinese military connection

The government, as well as CSIS and the RCMP, also had information that China was attempting to influence diaspora communities in Canada and interfere in Canadian domestic affairs, including elections.

“I think in 2019, the extent to which China was attempting to influence the scientific community or to interfere in domestic Canadian affairs was not known to the extent as it is today,” Holland said on Feb. 28.

However, he added he is “absolutely certain — and you will see it in the documents — that no sensitive information left the lab.”

— with files from Global News’ Sean Boynton and The Canadian Press