Mr. Chair, I would like to move an amendment to the motion. Everyone will get a copy, including the clerk. I'll read the amendment, and then I'll read the motion as amended in its entirety. The amendment is as follows:
That the motion be amended (a) by adding, after the words “undertake a study,”, the words “for three meetings,”; (b) by deleting the words “the collection and transmission of information and intelligence within the Government of Canada and”; (c) by replacing the words “reliance on its over-classification” with the word “reasons”; (d) by adding, after the words “findings to the House”, the words “and request, pursuant to Standing Order 109, a comprehensive response from the government,”; (e) by adding, after the word “appear”, the words “for one hour per witness”; (f) by replacing paragraphs (a) to (e) with the following: “(a) Anthony Rota, former Speaker of the House of Commons; (b) Philippe Dufresne, former Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel of the House of Commons; (c) Iain Stewart, past president of the Public Health Agency of Canada;” (g) by deleting paragraphs (g) and (h); and (h) by adding the following paragraph at the end: “(j) and any other witnesses that the Committee deems necessary.”.
I will now read the amended motion in its entirety, for greater clarity:
That, in light of the February 28, 2024, tabling of the Winnipeg lab documents which contained the government's own findings concluding that the People's Republic of China and its entities infiltrated Canada's top microbiology lab, a national security breach representing a very serious and credible threat to Canada, and given that access to this information had been denied to Parliament and all Canadians by the government for several years, the committee undertake a study, for three meetings, pursuant to Standing Orders 108(3)(h)(vi) and (vii), of the government's reasons to deny access to it by Parliament and Canadians, provided that the committee report its findings to the House and request, pursuant to Standing Order 109, a comprehensive response from the government, and call the following witnesses to appear for one hour per witness: (a) Anthony Rota, former Speaker of the House of Commons; (b) Philippe Dufresne, former Law Clerk and Parliamentary Advisor at the House of Commons; (c) Iain Stewart, former President of the Public Health Agency of Canada; (d) the Minister of Health, the Honourable Mark Holland; (e) the Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc; (f) any other witnesses that the committee deems necessary.
Mr. Chair, this motion is being moved at the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics to address this issue from an access to information angle. I am aware that the Special Committee on the Canada-People's Republic of China Relationship is already studying the situation at the Winnipeg lab, but it is doing so from a different angle focusing on the public health implications of Chinese scientists' access to the lab. What interests our committee, however, is access to information, a subject that is right there in our mandate. There was an access to information problem. The committee must therefore investigate and make recommendations. Ultimately, the goal is to prevent such situations from reoccurring, which could happen if we were to do nothing.
Thank you very much.