OTTAWA | The President of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Iain Stewart, was publicly blamed this afternoon by the Speaker of the House of Commons for contempt of parliament.
In a very rare gesture, the Speaker of the House, Anthony Rota summoned Mr Stewart to the bar to notify him of his “attack on the dignity and authority of parliament”.
The PHAC president has defied an order from the House of Commons to deliver unredacted documents to educate the public about the firing of two scientists from the country’s most secure laboratory.
Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng were both escorted by the RCMP outside the Winnipeg National Microbiology Laboratory in July 2019, shortly after being involved in sending samples of two extremely dangerous viruses, Ebola and Nipah, at the Chinese Institute of Virology in Wuhan. They were then fired in January 2020, without explanation.
Mr Stewart and Minister of Health Patty Hajdu assured that the shipment to Wuhan was perfectly legal and that the dismissal of scientists had nothing to do with the virus responsible for COVID-19 first detected times not far from the Chinese laboratory.
National security
But the official opposition is not convinced of this and therefore calls for documents to understand the transfer of the virus and the layoffs. Conservative leader Erin O’Toole accuses Justin Trudeau of “covering up a possible attack on national security.”
“The Conservatives will continue to demand answers and accountability from Justin Trudeau on protecting our national security until the documents are released,” he said.
PHAC turned over the requested documents to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians rather than to the requested House of Commons Canada-China Relations Committee.
For the Speaker of the House, Liberal Anthony Rota, this is insufficient since the Committee of Parliamentarians on National Security and Intelligence is kept in secrecy and therefore does not report to the public.
Mr Stewart believes he would violate national security and privacy rights if he delivered the requested documents.
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