Secret lab document impasse: Conservatives reject Liberal proposal

The Official Opposition has flatly rejected a Liberal proposal to create a new House of Commons committee to comb through sensitive material relating to the firing of two scientists at Canada’s highest-security laboratory.

“Your government’s efforts to find a suitable arrangement are many months too late,” said Conservative House leader Gerard Deltell in a letter sent Wednesday, responding to a proposal from Government House Leader Mark Holland.

Deltell’s letter outlines the reasoning for their refusal to sign on to the Liberal proposal, including that in their view, past calls to produce the documents have included adequate safeguards and skepticism over the Liberals’ intentions given what he called a “pattern of behaviour concerning parliamentary accountability.”

The Conservatives have now asked House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota to rule that the Liberals continued refusal to disclose the documents is in breach of parliamentary privilege. Should Rota agree, they’ve stated an intention to present a motion calling for the seizure of the documents.

Amid an impasse over how to handle the documents, the Liberals had suggested that while information best held with National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), they would be open to a separate body forming that would be advised by a panel of three former senior judges, to review the materials within a secure government facility.