By Canadian Press

Liberals plan committee to review secret lab documents — with or without Tories

Apr 27, 2022 | 3:02 PM

OTTAWA — The federal Liberals are moving ahead on a special all-party, security-cleared committee to review documents related to the firing of two scientists from Canada’s highest-security laboratory — even if the Conservatives continue to rebuff the plan.

Government House leader Mark Holland says the NDP has agreed to the idea, and he hopes the Tories and Bloc Québécois will also participate.

Members of the committee will be able to see unredacted documents, but an independent panel of three former judges will have final say on what material can be made public without jeopardizing national security. 

The Conservatives rejected the proposal last December, preferring that the documents be turned over to a regular committee of MPs.

Opposition parties believe the documents will shed light on why scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, were escorted out of Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Laboratory in July 2019 and subsequently fired in January 2021.

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They also want to see documents related to the transfer, overseen by Qiu, of deadly Ebola and Henipah viruses to China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology in March 2019.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2022.

The Canadian Press