The Trudeau government has an appalling record of failing to stand on guard for the security of Canadians in the face of China's interference with our democracy
We now know why Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fought so hard to keep secret the documents revealing scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, were fired from Canada’s highest security biolab because of their undisclosed relationships with agencies of the People’s Republic of China.
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It was the same reason Trudeau fought so hard to avoid a public inquiry into China’s interference in the last two federal elections, until political and public pressure left him with no choice.
Both controversies reveal the same thing – the Trudeau government’s appalling record of failing to stand on guard for the safety and security of Canadians in the face of China’s brazen and continuing interference with our democracy.
Documents released this week, almost four years after the fact, finally revealed the full story about why Qiu and Cheng were marched out of Winnipeg’s Level 4 National Microbiology Laboratory – which does research on some of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases – in July 2019, before being officially terminated in January 2021, after their security clearances were revoked.
The reason was that by then, CSIS and Public Health Agency of Canada investigators had concluded the scientists were “a realistic and credible threat to Canada’s economic security.”
Qiu, in particular, CSIS said, “developed deep, cooperative relationships with a variety of People’s Republic of China institutions and has intentionally transferred scientific knowledge and materials to China in order to benefit the PRC, and herself, without regard for the implications to her employer or to Canada’s interests.”
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Even when confronted with evidence of these activities, CSIS said, Qiu lied about these relationships.
While those investigations were going on, Trudeau, when confronted by questions from the opposition parties demanding answers about security lapses at the Winnipeg lab, accused the questioners of anti-Asian racism, while his government claimed the information had to be kept secret for reasons of national security.
That’s the same tactic he used, initially, when questioned about China’s interference in the last two federal elections – playing the race card while invoking national security.
This before he was finally compelled to agree to a public inquiry into foreign interference – grudgingly – in the face of months of opposition and public pressure to do so.
But that’s not all the Trudeau government did in a bid to keep the Winnipeg lab security documents secret.
For months, it rejected demands from a special Commons committee on Canada-China relations to release the documents, as well as from the House of Commons itself and ultimately from then Commons speaker Anthony Rota.
Instead, the Trudeau government went to court to keep the documents secret until dropping the case after the issue became moot, because of the 2021 federal election, which dissolved Parliament.
Following the election, then Trudeau government house leader Mark Holland struck an ad hoc all-party committee to examine the lab investigation documents.
It concluded most of them could be released without endangering national security and that the real reason the government tried to keep them secret for so long was not due to legitimate national security concerns, but out of embarrassment for the internal security failures it revealed.
In releasing the documents Holland, now health minister, acknowledged the security situation at the lab was unacceptable and that proper security protocols were not followed, but he insisted he is “absolutely certain” – and the documents establish – “that no sensitive information left the lab.”
But at this point, given its record, how would this government even know?
lgoldstein@postmedia.com
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