Government Speaker Mark Hollande said Wednesday that the NDP agreed with the idea and hoped the Tories and the Quebec Bloc would join as well.
The members of the ad-hoc committee will be able to see documents that have not been drafted, but an independent panel of three former judges, jointly selected by the parties, will have the final say on the material that can be made public without national security is at stake.
The Conservatives rejected the proposal last December, arguing that the documents should be submitted to a regular committee.
Under a House of Commons decree passed by opposition parties last spring – with objections from the Liberal government – the documents would be reviewed by parliamentary lawmakers on possible national security issues, but committee members would retain the right to publish any material they choose.
In a January letter, Hollande urged the Conservatives to reconsider the federal proposal, citing articles by several experts who supported the government’s view that national security would be jeopardized if it complied with opposition demands.
The head of government in the House of Commons Mark Holland. (Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press)
Hollande said Wednesday that the planned committee of all government parties respects the Conservatives’ desire to see the full paperwork and challenge any changes.
“If they do not back down, then I have to question the authenticity of their request,” he said in an interview.
“On the one hand, you can not say that you want to see documents, but then refuse to see them. You can not say that you want to challenge pensions, but refuse to participate in a process that would challenge pensions. “
Hollande said a Conservative refusal to participate would lead him to conclude that the party wants to “keep it alive for political and partisan purposes, rather than having a genuine interest in seeing what is true.”
Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng. (Governor-General Και Innovation Awards)
Conservative MP Michael Chong, the party’s foreign relations critic, said late Wednesday that the Tories would not join the committee and accused the Liberals of bypassing parliament with the support of the NDP.
“It is clear that the Liberals are panicking and covering up something by setting up this extra-parliamentary committee. We will continue our efforts to bring these documents to a parliamentary committee.”
The block had no direct comment.
Opposition parties have stated that the documents will shed light on why scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, were taken out of the Winnipeg National Microbiological Laboratory in July 2019 and then fired in January 2021.
They also want to see documents related to the transfer, under Qiu oversight, of the deadly Ebola and Henipah viruses to the Chinese Wuhan Institute of Virology in March 2019.
Hollande said the government wants the planned committee to begin its work “as soon as possible”, but time will depend on how soon the Conservatives and the Bloc decide whether to participate.
As the Liberals and the NDP make up the majority of members of the House of Commons, it would be “appropriate for us to move forward” without the other two parties, he said.
“It is my sincere hope, obviously, that we have a wider involvement.”
