Liberals plan committee to review docs on fired lab scientists — with or without Tories
Global News
Government House leader Mark Holland said Wednesday the NDP has agreed to the idea, and he hopes the Tories and Bloc Quebecois will also participate.
The federal Liberals are moving ahead on a special all-party, security-cleared committee to review documents related to the firing of two scientists from the national microbiology laboratory — even if the Conservatives continue to rebuff the plan.
Government House leader Mark Holland said Wednesday the NDP has agreed to the idea, and he hopes the Tories and Bloc Quebecois will also participate.
Members of the committee will be able to see unredacted documents, but an independent panel of three former judges, to be jointly chosen by the parties, will have final say on what material can be made public without jeopardizing national security.
The Conservatives rejected the proposal last December, preferring that the documents be turned over to a regular committee of MPs.
Under a House of Commons order passed by opposition parties last spring — over the objections of the Liberal government — the documents would be vetted by the parliamentary law clerk for potential national security issues but committee members would retain the right to release whatever material they chose.
In a January letter, Holland urged the Conservatives to reconsider the federal proposal, citing articles by several experts who backed the government view that national security would be endangered by complying with opposition demands.
Holland said Wednesday the government’s planned all-party committee respects the Conservative desire to be able to see unredacted documents and to contest any redactions.
“If they don’t budge from their position, then I have to question the authenticity of their request,” he said in an interview.
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