44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 29, 2024 10:00AM
- Feb/29/24 2:11:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, we know they are not worth the cost. We know they are not worth the corruption. We now know they are a risk to Canadians' safety.
Just a few years ago, thinking back, the Prime Minister mused about how he admired the basic dictatorship of China.
We now know that Beijing's agents infiltrated a top-level lab to steal sensitive secrets, including the genetic code to ebola.
The CSIS reports, quoting PHAC, “Dr. Qiu represents a very serious and credible danger to the government of Canada...due to the potential for theft of dangerous materials attractive to terrorist and foreign entities that conduct espionage to infiltrate and damage the economic security of Canada.”
However, under the Liberal Prime Minister, nothing was done to protect Canadians.
Canadians have had enough of this corrupt Liberal government, which is now actually a threat to the security of Canadians.
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- Feb/29/24 2:21:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the documents reveal a shocking disregard for Canada's national security. They reveal a government that is completely asleep at the switch on national security and the machinery of government. They reveal government employees collaborating with Beijing's government and with the biological weapons unit of the People's Liberation Army.
Equally shocking are the health minister's comments. He said yesterday that there was no evidence of actual breaches at the lab and that no sensitive information actually left the country. The documents say otherwise.
Does the minister stand by those comments?
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- Feb/29/24 2:23:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, some will attempt to turn national security concerns into partisan games. That is unfortunate.
Let me just give an example. The exchange concerning Ebola in 2019 was done in the context of trying to work with China and other countries on finding solutions to Ebola, which exists in so many different parts of the world. At that moment in time, in 2019, the relationship with China was in a different place. The information that was shared was through legitimate channels. It has nothing to do with this issue. It was absolutely known and handled with complete control.
I think it is very important to not mis-characterize national security for partisan interests.
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- Feb/29/24 2:24:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is the exact opposite of a cover-up. It was the current government that created the process that released the documents. Conservatives actually refused to participate in the process.
The second thing I will say with respect to our national security interests is that it is essential, when we are dealing with national security, to recognize two things: that the party opposite is saying it would support partisan interference into the Public Health Agency of Canada, and that if it were in government, it would see that political interference into the process as acceptable.
No, it is done at arm's length, and rightfully so. It is the Public Health Agency of Canada that identified these Canadian citizens, these eminent scientists, who were lying, and took action.
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- Feb/29/24 2:30:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost, the crime, the corruption or the cover-ups. After the Liberals hid the Winnipeg lab documents from Canadians for over three years, we finally know why they blocked Parliament. We know Dr. Qiu had “close and clandestine relationships with...entities of the People's Republic of China” and collaborated with military scientists.
The People's Liberation Army is a known security threat to Canada, so why did the Prime Minister cover up the breach of national security instead of arresting the spies?
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- Feb/29/24 2:35:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when China, Russia or any other country threatens Canada, it is an attack on our democracy, on the House of Commons and on every member here. That worries me a great deal.
That is why we have put in place policies to further strengthen public safety and to ensure that national security is not compromised.
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- Feb/29/24 2:36:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what Canadians watching at home are seeing today is deplorable. National security should not be a partisan issue.
We have no lessons to learn from the Conservatives when it comes to protecting national security in research and science in Canada. Our government has done more than any other to protect science, to protect intellectual property, to help our universities and our research centres by identifying security risks.
In January, we published a list that tells research institutes not to do business with entities that might act to the detriment of the Government of Canada.
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- Feb/29/24 2:38:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, instead of talking about the facts, what the opposition Conservatives are trying to do today is politicize national security. I think Canadians' health and safety is the primary responsibility of every MP here.
As I said in January, we have published a list of entities that Canadian research centres should avoid doing business with in the interest of protecting national security and intellectual property. Everyone watching knows that we will always be there to protect Canada's national security.
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- Feb/29/24 2:43:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what a disgraceful answer from the minister.
A national security culture begins at the top with the Prime Minister. This is a Prime Minister who said that he admires Beijing's basic dictatorship. This is a Prime Minister who, over the past eight years, has repeatedly ignored Beijing's interference. In the face of that, is it any wonder that, under the Prime Minister's watch, top Beijing military scientists had unfettered access to some of Canada's most sensitive biological secrets?
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- Feb/29/24 2:45:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the evidence speaks otherwise. After eight years, the Liberal-NDP Prime Minister is worth neither the cost nor the cover-up. He cannot be trusted to keep our people safe.
Yesterday the entire nation was shocked to learn that the government granted two People's Liberation Army assets full access to secret research in a top secret Canadian lab. This represents the biggest security breach since the Cold War, and it happened under the Prime Minister who famously said he admires China's basic dictatorship. How can Canadians trust this Prime Minister, who fails to take national security seriously?
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- Feb/29/24 2:51:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the minister must be confused, because it is not Conservatives making a link between these scientists and threats to national security. It is the government's own security agencies saying that these individuals were collaborating with foreign entities that presented a threat to the security of Canada.
We are talking about research with pathogens and deadly viruses, while, at the same time, these individuals were on the payroll of the People's Liberation Army and the communist regime in Beijing. Rather than inform Canadians and come clean at the outset, the government went into overdrive to cover it up.
How can the Prime Minister be so callous and selfish that he would try to protect himself rather than the security of Canadians?
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- Feb/29/24 2:52:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to answer my colleague. Canada shows leadership when it comes to national security. That is something the Conservatives will not do.
Let me refresh their memory, because they tend to be selective when it comes to the facts. On January 16, we announced that we would ban funding for research in sensitive areas. There are 100 entities around the world. We work with our Five Eyes allies. We work with research centres in this country. We work with universities.
Canadians know that we will always put national security first and defend the interests of Canada.
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- Feb/29/24 2:54:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in the first order, one of the things that is disturbing about what the member is supposing is that if he were in government, and I hope that does not happen, they would interfere in the redaction process and they would be involved in it. We obviously did not do that, particularly not with national security.
The member opposite and I had a conversation about this. First, I suggested immediately that they see the documents at NSICOP. They said that was not good enough. Therefore, I created an ad hoc committee. The ad hoc committee gave them the opportunity not only to see the documents, but put to an independent arbiter whether or not they should be released publicly. We did that together. The documents were released. They are now before us.
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- Feb/29/24 2:54:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is a known admirer of China's basic dictatorship.
Over the past eight years, he has allowed research with the Chinese army. He has allowed the Chinese Communist Party to interfere in our elections. He has turned a blind eye to intimidation of the Chinese diaspora.
With the release of the Winnipeg lab documents yesterday, we learned that the Prime Minister also allowed a person who represented “a very serious and credible danger” to compromise Canada's national security.
Will the Prime Minister finally admit that he tried to hide the documents to protect himself, not to protect Canadians?
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- Feb/29/24 2:56:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I hope the Conservatives will listen.
On January 16, we banned research work in sensitive areas with approximately 100 entities around the world. We have worked with our allies to protect science, intellectual property and the work done by our universities.
We will always be there to defend national security.
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- Feb/29/24 2:56:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, where was the minister in July 2019 when two scientists were expelled from Canada by the security agencies? Where was the minister then? It was not last January; it was in 2019. That was over four years ago.
What we learned yesterday is that the Prime Minister ignored four orders of Parliament to produce documents. He took the Speaker of the House to court. This is unprecedented in the history of our country, and it is the worst cover‑up in the history of our country.
Why did the Prime Minister want to protect himself instead of defending the national security of Canadians?
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- Feb/29/24 2:57:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the people watching at home must be truly appalled.
We just explained to the Conservatives yet again that the Prime Minister and all government members on this side of the House take national security seriously.
On January 16, we banned not one but 100 entitities from working with Canadian research centres, universities and colleges on sensitive research. That is exactly the type of measure that we need to take to defend Canada's interests.
We will always be there to defend science.
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