Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I ask this question yet again. President Biden ordered U.S. intelligence to investigate two likely theories on the origin of the coronavirus: one that it originated from human contact with an infected animal, or the other that it came from a lab accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The government says that it supports the U.S. investigation. Given that government scientists at…
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Mr. Speaker, perhaps the government can start helping by answering questions that we have been asking about the national security breaches at the Winnipeg lab. Clearly, there were breaches and we need answers. When will it start answering the questions we are asking: Why were the two government scientists fired from the Winnipeg lab? Where are these two government scientists? How did a Chinese mil…
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Mr. Speaker, I have a very short point of order. The House ordered the production of unredacted documents from the Public Health Agency of Canada by the end of day last Friday. The Minister of Health, during question period, twice indicated that the Public Health Agency of Canada had delivered the unredacted documents to the Clerk of the House. Can you confirm that that is the case, Mr. Speaker?
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Mr. Speaker, it is clear the government has failed to protect national security. It granted a scientist from China's military, Feihu Yan of the People’s Liberation Army, access to its level 4 Winnipeg lab, where the world's most dangerous viruses and pathogens are handled. How did this individual get access to the lab? Will the Prime Minister ensure that no scientist from China's military is grant…
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Mr. Speaker, the government has failed to comply with two orders from committee asking for the production of documents related to this matter, orders that he himself supported while he was in opposition but now opposes. The Prime Minister is accountable to this House. He came to office promising greater democratic oversight and promising open and accountable government. When will he respect this H…
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Mr. Speaker, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians is accountable to the Prime Minister, not the other way around. He appoints the members of that committee and they serve at his pleasure. He can block information to the committee and block its reports. When will the Prime Minister be accountable to this House and deliver the documents that we have been asking for? W…
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Madam Speaker, China is trying to silence the truth abroad after having silenced it at home. Several months ago, I woke up to the news that China's government had sanctioned me, adding me to a list of officials in the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom who have been sanctioned simply for speaking against Beijing's genocide of its Uighur Muslim minority and speaking against the crackdown …
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his work on this important issue. These sanctions are an opportunity for Liberal democracies to work more closely together, for their governments to work more closely together and for their elected legislatures to work more closely together to counter these threats. The European Parliament's decision to freeze the investment treaty with Ch…
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Madam Speaker, I will start by thanking my colleague for his work on this important issue. I think there is another measure the Government of Canada could take to combat the Chinese threat, which also relates to the genocide against the Uighur people. This measure has to do with the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing. Specifically, this would entail the Government of Canada announcing …
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Madam Speaker, I think there is a pattern with the government, and that is a big gap between its rhetoric on issues like democracy, the rule of law and human rights, and reality. The government came to office promising to make Canada a leader on foreign aid around the world, for example. The fact is that foreign aid has been cut by 10% relative to the average under the previous government. The gov…
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Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague has been working on the issue of Canada's role at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing next winter. I would like to know what he thinks the government should do about the Olympics and Paralympics to send a message to China concerning the genocide being committed against the Uighur people.
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moved: That an order of the House do issue for the unredacted version of all documents produced by the Public Health Agency of Canada in response to the March 31, 2021, and May 10, 2021, orders of the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations, respecting the transfer of Ebola and Henipah viruses to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in March 2019, and the subsequent revocation of security clearance…
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Madam Speaker, we put a requirement in the motion to have the Clerk of the House review the documents before discussing them with the special committee in order to ensure that no information regarding national security or a criminal investigation is made public.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague's question is an important one. There was a problem with the motion of December 2009. The motion that called on the government to release the Afghan detainee documents at that time was an order of the House to immediately release them publicly and without redaction. The government's position at the time was that this would be injurious to national security and to the sa…
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Madam Speaker, I will answer the member's question by conveying what his colleague, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, said. He said that he had no confidence in the legal advice the justice department had provided to the Public Health Agency officials about the redaction of the documents.
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Madam Speaker, I have three very quick questions for the member. I did not hear from her whether she supports or opposes the motion in front of us. Does she support or oppose the motion? My second question is this: Does she believe the lab in Winnipeg should continue its collaboration with scientists from China's military? Finally, does she believe the government should continue to grant access to…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague. I would like to ask him a question. Does he think that, when the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations adopted the two motions and in the House's debate on this motion, everyone took care to make decisions that protected national security and the integrity of an ongoing criminal investigation?
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with the arguments my hon. colleague has made. The special committee was responsible for the two motions that it adopted ordering the government to produce these documents. Both orders ensured that no information injurious to national security would be made public and no details concerning an ongoing criminal investigation would be made public. So too does the motion in front …
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Mr. Speaker, last week President Biden ordered U.S. intelligence to investigate two likely theories on the origin of the coronavirus, one being that it originated from human contact with an infected animal, and the other that it came from a lab accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Last weekend, the foreign affairs minister said the government supports the U.S. investigation. Given that gov…
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Mr. Speaker, we know that seven government scientists at the government's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg collaborated with scientists in China, particularly at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. We also know that one of those government scientists, Dr. Qiu, made at least five trips to China in a two-year period to collaborate on virus research. Seeing as the government says that it sup…
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Mr. Chair, I have some questions on China for the minister, in particular about Canadians held in detention by China. What was the most recent date government officials communicated with Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor and what was the medium of communication?
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Mr. Chair, I have a question about Canadian, Mr. Hussein Jalil. When was the most recent communication the government had with Mr. Jalil and what was the medium of communication?
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Mr. Chair, the question is about the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing. Will the government be sending a representative to the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics?
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Mr. Chair, maybe I could be more specific. Is the government contemplating sending the head of government, the Prime Minister, or a representative of the government, such as a diplomat, or other senior representative of the government, such as a minister, to the opening and closing ceremonies of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing?
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Mr. Speaker, on March 31, two years ago, the government's lab in Winnipeg shipped the Ebola and Henipah viruses to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Have there been any other shipments from the Winnipeg lab to the Wuhan lab of viruses or other materials?
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Mr. Speaker, if that is true, then how on earth did a Chinese military scientist gain access to work in the Winnipeg lab? Did the sudden departure of the two most senior people at the Public Health Agency of Canada last year, in the middle of the pandemic, have anything to do with this: the head of the lab, Dr. Matthew Gilmour, on Friday, May 15; and the president of the agency, Ms. Tina Namiesnio…
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Mr. Chair, I have a question concerning Line 5. What meetings or phone calls has any minister of the government had with any secretary of the U.S. administration regarding this matter and when did those meetings or phone calls take place?
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Mr. Chair, as the minister knows, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission is a binational commission overseen by the governments of Canada and the United States. The commission has become somewhat of a bilateral irritant due to insufficient funding by the Government of Canada. Is the minister aware of a letter sent by eight U.S. senators to the Canadian government on April 21 of last month voicing thei…
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Mr. Chair, I have another brief question about this. The funding shortfall the U.S. senators and Canadian stakeholders have been talking about is some $9 million. When one sees the government not taking care of what is a minor issue in the much larger bilateral relationship, the most important one we have, it raises questions about what other files are being neglected. Eighteen members of the mini…
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Mr. Chair, if the minister would also see if officials could identify the whereabouts of Mr. Jalil, I am sure that would give great comfort to his family in Burlington, Ontario. I have a question about Mr. Robert Schellenberg. When was the most recent communication the government had with Mr. Schellenberg and what was the medium of that communication?
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Mr. Chair, is there any information that the minister could shed light on about U.S. efforts to secure the release of Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor?
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Mr. Chair, I have a question about the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which is part of China's belt and road initiative and part of its attempt to export its model of governance throughout the Indo-Pacific region. The government has joined the AIIB and has already contributed $50 million in public money to this initiative, and is asking for an additional $49 million more in the es…
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Mr. Chair, former President Obama and former Vice-President Biden implored the government not to join the AIIB back in 2016. Their advice looks prescient in light of China's threats over the last five years to our citizens, our economy and our values. Will the government contemplate doing as Australia has done in withdrawing from the belt and road initiative, withdrawing Canada's membership from t…
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Mr. Chair, my question is about Huawei. Minister Goodale said in May 2019 that the government would make a decision on Huawei before the October 2019 election. In July of that year, he said a decision would be made after the 2019 election. It is now more than a year and a half since the election, yet there has been no decision. Four of Canada's Five Eyes allies have made a decision to restrict or …
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Mr. Chair, the House recognized recently that China is committing a genocide against the Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang in China. The previous minister, on his very last morning in office, made a snap announcement about measures to ban the importation of products from China that had been produced using forced Uighur labour: measures that appear to be ineffective. Is the government willing to i…
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Mr. Chair, I have a question on Iran: 85 Canadians and Canadian residents were victims of the shooting down of Ukrainian Airlines flight 752. Their families are still seeking justice. Just two weeks ago, the Ontario Superior Court found that shooting down the flight was a deliberate act of terrorism by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Given the court's finding, and given that this House a…
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Mr. Chair, this is a question on Hong Kong. China continues to violate an international treaty registered at the United Nations: the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, which guarantees Hong Kong's autonomy for 50 years from 1997. Last year, the U.S. sanctioned Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and 10 other Hong Kong and mainland China officials for undermining this international treaty. Is th…
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Mr. Chair, I have a question on Russia. Mr. Prigozhin, a Russian, has been sanctioned by Canada's allies and partners in part for his agency's spreading of disinformation throughout western democracies, for his interference in the 2016 presidential election in the United States, and for spreading disinformation via social media platforms in Canada and the United States, much of which actually targ…
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Mr. Chair, has the government made any inquiries or entreaties to join the quadrilateral security dialogue with Australia, Japan, India and the United States?
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, in response to questions about China’s threats to Canada and the government’s Winnipeg lab, the Prime Minister suggested that by simply asking these questions, we were fomenting anti-Asian racism. Does the Prime Minister realize that when he conflates criticism of China with anti-Asian racism, he plays into Beijing’s propaganda? For example, China accused Canada and its all…
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Mr. Speaker, two Canadian government scientists, Dr. Qiu and Dr. Cheng, were fired this January from the government's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. We know that CSIS urged the revocation of their security clearances because of their work related to China's Wuhan Institute of Virology. When will the government come clean and tell Canadians and the House what actually happened?
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Mr. Speaker, The Globe and Mail reports that seven government scientists at the Winnipeg lab collaborated with Chinese military scientists and conducted experiments with deadly viruses. One of those Chinese military scientists was actually given access to the government's lab in Winnipeg. How on earth did a Chinese military scientist get access to the government's lab in Winnipeg, a level 4 facili…
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Mr. Speaker, it is becoming clear that scientists at the government's virus lab in Winnipeg worked closely with China. One of these scientists, Dr. Qiu, not only visited China five times in two years for this work, but also collaborated with scientists at China's military institute and trained scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology to a level 4 standard, enabling them to handle the world's …
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Mr. Speaker, in a democracy, citizens deserve answers. To work at the government's level four lab in Winnipeg requires a secret clearance, a clearance normally only given to Canadian citizens. The CBC has reported that on July 5, 2019, Dr. Qiu and Dr. Cheng, along with Chinese students, were escorted from the lab by the RCMP. How on earth did Chinese nationals get secret clearance to work at the g…
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Mr. Speaker, we live in a democracy, where transparent and open government is incredibly important, something the current government is not upholding. We know that secret clearance requires senior-level approval. We know that CSIS raised national security concerns about Dr. Qiu, Dr. Cheng and the Chinese students at the government's lab in Winnipeg, as The Globe and Mail has reported. With all tha…
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With regard to payments made by the government to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: what is the (i) amount, (ii) exact date of all payments which have either been made or will be made in the 2021 calendar year?
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Mr. Speaker, recently the Czech Republic concluded Russian intelligence agents attacked an ammunition depot on Czech soil in 2014, causing deaths. In response, the Czech Republic expelled 18 Russian diplomats, and four EU countries expelled Russian diplomats in solidarity with the Czech Republic for this violation of international law. Three years ago, Canada expelled Russian diplomats in solidari…
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Madam Speaker, this is the longest budget in Canadian history. As Andrew Coyne pointed out in The Globe and Mail, this budget comes in at 739 pages and 232,903 words. Paul Martin's landmark budget of 1995 was fewer than 200 pages. Michael Wilson's budgets of the late1980s, which put Canada back on fiscal track and had operational surpluses, averaged less than 120 pages. The longest budget in Canad…
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Madam Speaker, I wish a happy Dutch Heritage Day to my colleague across the aisle as well. I appreciate the sentiment. Let me respond to my colleague's question by saying that Canada has done nothing well in response to this pandemic. It is clear that both the United States and the United Kingdom botched the early response to the pandemic a year ago. That is clear. Their cases skyrocketed. They ha…
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Madam Speaker, the member represents a portion of Windsor, the place of my birth and a part of southwestern Ontario that, I know, he and I are quite proud of. In answer to the member's question, we believe that the government should have introduced, in this budget, measures to help cool the housing market, which is the single biggest factor driving household indebtedness and household challenges i…
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