An MP who left the Conservatives to join the Liberals is casting doubt on reports of human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region, asking an expert during a parliamentary committee today whether she’d seen forced labour with her own eyes.

Michael Ma crossed the floor to the Liberals in December and joined Prime Minister Mark Carney’s caucus and his trip to Beijing in January.

The House industry committee is examining a decision Carney made during that trip to lower Canadian restrictions on Chinese electric vehicles and clear some of those cars for sale in Canada.

Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa, told the committee Chinese vehicles are made with products that come from slave labour by the Uyghur minority.

Ma repeatedly asked her whether she has personally witnessed forced labour in Xinjiang and suggested this was “hearsay,” prompting outrage from Conservatives on the committee.

Ma’s office says he will release a statement shortly and the Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond when asked whether Ottawa no longer believes Beijing uses slave labour in Xinjiang.