Whistleblower Christopher Wylie once worked for the U.K.-based political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. The firm is shutting down in the wake of a scandal revealed in part by Wylie. AP Photo/Matt Dunham

The Commons ethics committee on Thursday fast-tracked and unanimously adopted an NDP motion that calls for the committee to study the privacy implications of the Cambridge Analytica–Facebook data scandal and invite whistleblower Christopher Wylie to testify before members of Parliament.

NDP MP Charlie Angus gave notice of his motion Wednesday and expected to bring it forward for debate next week. Angus, who serves as his party’s ethics critic, tweeted Thursday morning that he was “very happy” to hear his motion was supported by his Liberal and Conservative colleagues.

The move comes less than a week after reports from the New York Times and the Guardian alleged Cambridge Analytica – a U.K.-based political consulting firm that Wylie helped found – mined data and private information from the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users to help political campaigns seal electoral victories. Wylie, who has said he played a role in developing that data-harvesting method, alleged the company’s practices contributed to the success of the Trump campaign and the U.K.’s Brexit referendum.

It has since been reported that the Canadian whistleblower, who hails from Victoria, B.C., volunteered and worked for the Liberal party in several different capacities in the past and shopped a nascent form of a data harvesting techniques to the party in 2009. After The Canadian Press revealed Wylie’s company, Eunoia Technologies, was contracted by the Liberals in early 2016, the Liberal Research Bureau released more details of the $100,000 contract Wednesday afternoon.

“Preliminary work was done by Eunoia Technologies but after seeing what was offered Liberal Caucus Research Bureau decided not to move forward,” the statement readf. “At no point did Eunoia Technologies have access to any data from Liberal Caucus Research Bureau.”

The global data controversy – which has prompted an admission from Facebook’s CEO that the social media giant “made mistakes” in protecting users’ personal information – emerged as a dominant theme during question period in the House of Commons Wednesday. Opposition MPs repeatedly questioned the Liberal government on the contract awarded to Wylie and the issue of protecting online privacy.

iPolitics has reached out to Wylie to ask whether he would accept an invitation to testify before the Canadian parliamentary ethics committee. The Victoria, B.C. native said in a tweet Wednesday that he had accepted invitations to testify before the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, the U.S House Judiciary Committee and the U.K. Parliament’s Digital Skills Committee.

Angus’s motion also calls for the ethics committee to seek testimony from Facebook, Google and Amazon executives and Canada’s privacy watchdog, who launched an investigation into Facebook after receiving a complaint related to the explosive allegations about Cambridge Analytica.

In addition to studying the “privacy implications of platform monopolies,” MPs will also consider “possible national and international regulatory and legislative remedies to assure the privacy of citizens’ data and the integrity of democratic and electoral processes across the globe.”

Liberal MP Nathanial Erskine-Smith said committee members expect to finalize the witness list for the study by Tuesday.

With files from The Canadian Press

Very happy to hear my motion to study the Facebook breach in committee has passed unanimously. Thanks to my colleague @AnneMTQuach. pic.twitter.com/0sPOE8YCpW — Charlie Angus NDP (@CharlieAngusNDP) March 22, 2018