“Given the information available, we acted as quickly as possible,” Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) President Heather Jeffrey said Friday.

She testified before the House of Commons committee on Canada-China relations, which is investigating Ottawa’s handling of the case of two Winnipeg laboratory researchers.

PHAC has fired two scientists who left Canada after their security clearance was revoked amid questions about their loyalty and possible coercion by Beijing.

Documents filed in parliament in February suggest that scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng downplayed their cooperation with Chinese government agencies before the agency fired them in 2021.

The documents also show that Canadian intelligence concluded that Ms. Qiu had repeatedly lied about the extent of her work with Chinese government institutions. It is also stated that she refused to admit her involvement in various Chinese programs even when presented with evidence.

Intelligence agencies described Ms. Qiu as “ruthless in her dealings” with various Chinese companies. They point out that “in particular, the lack of adherence to appropriate scientific protocols regarding pathogen transmission and collaboration with institutions whose targets have potentially lethal military applications” are contrary to Canada’s interests.

The RCMP is currently conducting a national security investigation, although no criminal charges have been filed against Ms. Qiu and Mr. Cheng in connection with these allegations.

Ms. Jeffrey mentions that both are Canadian citizens and have requested a review of Ottawa’s decision to revoke their security clearances.

Conservative MPs, Bloc Québécois MPs and even a Liberal questioned officials about why Ms Qiu was allowed to carry out sensitive work during the investigation.

“Scientists concealed and actually lied about these connections, and when they were discovered, these scientists were fired,” Ms. Jeffrey said.

Bloc Québécois MP René Villemure told the committee he was “stunned” that “incompetent” PHAC staff had suffered no consequences after Ms Jeffrey suggested that only the two scientists would be punished.

New processes and policies have been put in place that will allow the agency to “identify efforts to conceal collaboration, affiliations and other motivations as quickly as possible in the future,” Jeffrey argued.

Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith repeatedly asked Ms Jeffrey whether updating protocols would have stopped unauthorized shipments of pathogens to China, a question that was only theoretical, she said.

Mr Erskine-Smith pressed why Ms Qiu was able to send a package without anyone asking questions as she was already under investigation at the time.

Guillaume Poliquin, who took over the Winnipeg lab a few months after the two scientists were fired, did not admit blame for the way Ottawa handled the situation.

He insisted that these were allegations and that further investigations were underway.

Conservative MP Michael Chong hopes officials will follow through on promises made in testimony to provide MPs with a timeline for when Cabinet will be informed of safety breaches at the lab.

“What we want to achieve here in this committee is to understand why it took 10 months to secure the laboratory, which seems like an excessive amount of time,” he said.

MPs need to understand the flow of information and intelligence within government, Chong added, so that Ottawa can respond much more quickly to similar incidents in the future.