Minister Says He Was Taken Aback After Learning Deadly Viruses Were Shipped From Winnipeg Lab to Wuhan

Minister Says He Was Taken Aback After Learning Deadly Viruses Were Shipped From Winnipeg Lab to Wuhan
Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc speaks in the Foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on March 20, 2024. The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby
Andrew Chen
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After learning that samples of deadly Ebola and Nipah viruses had been sent from Canada’s top-security lab in Winnipeg to China, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said his reaction was similar to that of an MP who expressed incredulity upon learning of the move.

“I’m really concerned about the March 2019 incident where [Winnipeg lab scientists Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng] were implicated in a shipment of live Ebola in Hanipah [Nipah] viruses on a commercial Air Canada flight. How the hell did that happen?” NDP MP Charlie Angus asked during a House of Commons Canada-China committee meeting on April 15.