NDP MPs once again came to the Liberals’ defense in the Commons on Monday, allowing them to block the parliamentary investigation into Chinese spying at the high-security infectious diseases laboratory in Winnipeg.
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Two researchers linked to the Chinese army and the Wuhan virology lab stole scientific secrets and dangerous pathogens for years and transmitted them to China.
The DD Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, were kicked out of the Winnipeg lab in 2019. But their layoffs were not announced until January 2021. The couple disappeared without a trace while under investigation. an investigation by the RCMP, CSIS and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). You have to do it!
- Listen to the Lester-Durocher meeting with Journal de Montréal blogger Normand Lester via QUB :
Trudeau’s about-face on the investigation
After several years of requests from opposition parties, the Trudeau government finally agreed that MPs from all parties could have access to documents on the Canadian security services’ investigations into this matter.
The special committee of MPs acknowledged that some information had to remain secret for reasons of national security, but asserted that other information was redacted to protect PHAC executives.
The Liberal government also agreed to have a parliamentary commission call witnesses to try to get to the bottom of this mysterious and disturbing affair. Several high-level officials were going to be summoned, including the director of CSIS, David Vigneault, the Prime Minister’s national security advisor, Nathalie Drouin, and the Minister of Public Safety, Dominic LeBlanc.
Then Trudeau changed his mind. There is no question of parliamentarians investigating this.
Unable to answer questions on this subject, Justin Trudeau deflected criticism by accusing Pierre Poilievre of using national security as a weapon. The Conservative leader viciously pointed out that Chinese spy networks across Canada supported the re-election of a Liberal government in 2021.
- Listen to the Lester-Durocher meeting with Journal de Montréal blogger Normand Lester via QUB :
The NDP hides behind Judge Hogue
The NDP justified its support for Trudeau in the Chinese espionage affair in Winnipeg by saying that the Hogue commission, which is already investigating Chinese interference in Canadian politics, should also take care of this file.
It’s a way of drowning the fish. Judge Marie-Josée Hogue of the Quebec Court of Appeal is tasked with discovering the extent of Chinese interference in the last two federal elections of 2019 and 2021. And that’s not all.
Not only is he asked to uncover the interference of China, but also that of Russia, India and any other actor, state or not, in the recent federal elections. That’s a lot of work to do.
And what’s more, from its first public hearings, questions were raised about its operation and the choice of people who obtained intervener status.
Thus, Judge Hogue’s impartiality was called into question when she allowed Senator Yuen Pau Woo to participate in the investigation as a full intervener. Not only did Woo serve until 2022 as head of the liberal-aligned Independent Senators Group, but his positions mirror those of the Chinese Communist Party.