Health agency emphasizes tighter security
The Public Health Agency of Canada says it has taken steps to bolster research security after two scientists lost their jobs over their dealings with China.
The reassurances did little to placate the federal Conservatives, who accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of covering up serious security lapses at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.
“This is his government’s lab, it’s not a random university lab,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Thursday at a news conference.
“It’s the top lab for the prime minister’s public health agency, and he is exclusively responsible for the machinery of government as prime minister of the country. So this is on Justin Trudeau.”
Trudeau acknowledged Thursday that Canada must be vigilant in light of efforts by countries like China to gain access to secrets.
But he chided Poilievre for “choosing to spew conspiracy theories and drum up political attacks, partisan attacks on an issue that, quite frankly, should be bringing Canadians and parliamentarians together to try and solve this.”
Two scientists at the microbiology laboratory were fired in early 2021 after reviews found they failed to protect sensitive assets and information, and played down their collaborations with Chinese government agencies, say documents released Wednesday.
The scientists, Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, were stripped of their security clearances over questions about their loyalty and the potential for coercion or exploitation by China, the records show.
More than 600 pages of internal reports and correspondence were made public following a special allparty review.
CSIS described Qiu as “reckless in her dealings” with various Chinese entities, “particularly in her lack of respect for proper scientific protocols regarding the transfer of pathogens and in working with institutions whose goals have potentially lethal military applications” contrary to the interests of Canada. The spy service also found that Qiu provided at least two employees of Chinese government institutions access to the laboratory.