Canada-China Relations Committee on June 14th, 2021

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Yes. The question was about whether you are co-operating with U.S. investigators—for example, making government scientists available to them, making documents, including lab notes, available to them that pertain to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and that are resident in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

[Dr. Guillaume Poliquin]

To be clear, the transfer of materials was for Ebola and Henipah viruses. They were not for coronaviruses.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Yes, but I'm not asking about the transfer of materials. I'm asking about any lab notes that might shed light on the kind of research and the kind of work that was taking place at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

I have another question, Dr. Poliquin. We know from public documents that a People's Liberation Army scientist, Feihu Yan, worked at the Winnipeg lab. How long did he work at the Winnipeg lab?

[Dr. Guillaume Poliquin]

Mr. Chair, I am not in a position to be able to discuss non-employees.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Can you tell us whether or not he received a security clearance, or was he admitted without a security clearance?

[Dr. Guillaume Poliquin]

Mr. Chair, I'm not able to discuss details of non-employees.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Non-employees, I guess, can just walk into the lab and it's not really a concern to the management of the lab. That's what I'm inferring from these answers here.

[Dr. Guillaume Poliquin]

Mr. Chair, I would like to be clear that we have a number of security processes, which include non-staff. However—

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Why can't you tell us whether or not.... Why can't you tell us how long he worked at the lab for, then? He's not covered by the Privacy Act.

[Dr. Guillaume Poliquin]

Mr. Chair, non-employees and people who have been here as visitors or non-public servants...that would be considered personal information, and therefore, I think—

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

That's exempt, by the way. Mr. Chair, that's exempt from section 8 of the act—

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Thank you, Mr. Chong. Your time has concluded.

We'll now go on to Mr. Oliphant for five minutes, please.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to return to the minister to clarify something. Was she ordered by the NSICOP, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, to produce papers?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Thank you, MP Oliphant, for the question.

No. Indeed, we provided them proactively [Technical difficulty—Editor] appropriate.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

One of the largest ironies to me is that the opposition was very critical of the act at the time it was developed because of the exceptions, and if the committee wanted certain papers, there were exceptions made that ministers could decline to give them, including, as Mr. Harris said, under section 15. However, am I right in saying that you have submitted all relevant papers, unredacted, to that national committee?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

That's correct. They have all of the papers now.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Thank you.

That's the first irony.

The second irony concerns Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe's question about the members of the Bloc Québécois.

A member of the Bloc—

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

I have a point of order.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

—sitting on the committee, the member for Saint-Jean, was appointed by—

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order.

There's a point of order, Mr. Oliphant.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

—Governor in Council—

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Mr. Oliphant.

I don't think Mr. Oliphant can hear me.

[Rob Oliphant, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

—but she resigned. Now, no member—

[The Chair, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order.

Mr. Oliphant, can you hear me?

Order, Mr. Oliphant.

Mr. Oliphant, can you hear me?