Skip to main content

ETHI Committee Meeting

Notices of Meeting include information about the subject matter to be examined by the committee and date, time and place of the meeting, as well as a list of any witnesses scheduled to appear. The Evidence is the edited and revised transcript of what is said before a committee. The Minutes of Proceedings are the official record of the business conducted by the committee at a sitting.

For an advanced search, use Publication Search tool.

If you have any questions or comments regarding the accessibility of this publication, please contact us at accessible@parl.gc.ca.

Previous day publication Next day publication

Minutes of Proceedings

44th Parliament, 1st Session
Meeting 110
Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 11:04 a.m. to 12:03 p.m.
In Camera
Presiding
John Brassard, Chair (Conservative)

Library of Parliament
• Alexandra Savoie, Analyst
• Maxime-Olivier Thibodeau, Analyst
The committee proceeded to the consideration of matters related to committee business.

At 11:27 a.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 11:32 a.m., the sitting resumed in public.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the clerk of the committee presided over the election of a vice-chair.

On motion of Pam Damoff, it was agreed, — That Darren Fisher be elected First Vice-Chair of the committee.

The committee proceeded to the consideration of matters related to committee business.

The committee resumed consideration of the motion of Michael Chong moved on Monday, March 4, 2024, which read as follows:

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, pursuant to Standing Orders 108(3)(h)(vi) and (vii), of the collection and transmission of information and intelligence within the Government of Canada and the government’s reliance on its over-classification to deny access to it by Parliament and Canadians, provided that the committee report its findings to the House and call the following witnesses to appear:

(a) the Departmental Security Officer, Executive Director of Security, Public Health Agency of Canada;

(b) the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Stephen Lucas;

(c) the Vice President, Infectious Diseases Branch, Public Health Agency of Canada, Dr. Donald Sheppard;

(d) the Vice President, National Microbiology Laboratory Branch, Public Health Agency of Canada, Dr. Guillaume Poliquin;

(e) the President of the Public Health Agency of Canada, Heather Jeffrey;

(f) the Minister of Health, the Honourable Mark Holland;

(g) the Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, David Vigneault;

(h) the Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council and National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the Prime Minister, Nathalie G. Drouin; and

(i) the Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc.

Debate arose thereon.

Amendment

René Villemure moved, — 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, former 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) any other witness that the Committee deems necessary.”.

Debate arose thereon.

The question was put on the amendment and the result of the vote was announced:

YEAS: Michael Barrett, Larry Brock, Matthew Green, Damien C. Kurek, René Villemure — 5;

NAYS: Parm Bains, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Darren Fisher, Anthony Housefather, Iqra Khalid — 5.

Whereupon, the Chair voted in the affirmative.

Accordingly, the amendment was agreed to.

After debate, the question was put on the motion as amended and the result of the vote was announced:

YEAS: Michael Barrett, Larry Brock, Matthew Green, Damien C. Kurek, René Villemure — 5;

NAYS: Parm Bains, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Darren Fisher, Anthony Housefather, Iqra Khalid — 5.

Whereupon, the Chair voted in the affirmative.

Accordingly, the motion was agreed to.

The motion adopted, as amended, read as follows:

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 Counsel of 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; and

(f) any other witness that the committee deems necessary.

At 12:03 p.m., the committee adjourned to the call of the Chair.



Nancy Vohl
Clerk of the committee