Federal Official Says Years-Long Timeline to Fire Winnipeg Lab Scientists Needs Review

Nathalie Drouin, Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council and National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the Prime Minister, prepares to appear before the Special Committee on the Canada–People’s Republic of China Relationship, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on April 29, 2024. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang

The government’s years-long timeline to dismiss two scientists from Canada’s top-security lab in Winnipeg for their undisclosed ties to China deserves a review, the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister told MPs.

“It’s always easy to look at what happened in the past with our retrospective lens and see how easy it was,” Nathalie Drouin, who also serves as deputy Privy Council clerk, said in her April 29 testimony before the House of Commons special committee on the Canada-China relationship.