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.
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.
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.
“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.
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