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

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

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

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.

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.