Hon. Claude Carignan: Honourable senators, I see that this item is at its fifteenth day, and I am not prepared to speak to it. Therefore, with leave of the Senate and notwithstanding Rule 4-15(3), I move adjournment of the debate for the remainder of my time.

(On motion of Senator Carignan, debate adjourned.)

[English]

On the Order:

Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator Klyne, seconded by the Honourable Senator Harder, P.C., for the second reading of Bill S-241, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (great apes, elephants and certain other animals).

The Hon. the Speaker: I hear a no. Extra time is not granted.

(On motion of Senator Martin, debate adjourned.)

Hon. Tony Loffreda: Thank you, minister, for being with us today. Could you elaborate further on these important issues? I noted in your progress report on Canada’s Rural Economic Development Strategy, released in August 2021, that one of your key priorities is to help address housing pressures by building or renovating over 9,000 units of affordable housing in rural and Indigenous communities.

Could you provide us with an update on this initiative and elaborate further? I might also add that home affordability is obviously a significant issue, but home accessibility and availability are equally important. How is the government helping address some of the real estate pressures and challenges in rural communities? Does your agency have targeted measures or policies in place to encourage new Canadians, immigrants and refugees to consider rural communities as a place to call home?

Some Hon. Senators: No.

Senator Plett: Can you explain how you square that box when this renowned expert is saying the opposite of what you and whomever you talked to are saying?

The Hon. the Speaker: I’m sorry, Senator Kutcher, but your time has expired. Are you asking for more time?

Hon. Claude Carignan: Minister, as Question Period progresses, you are putting more and more pressure on the senators who are coming up next to ask great questions.

My question is based on your mandate letter, which includes the following commitment:

Support the Minister of Public Services and Procurement in ensuring that Canada Post better reaches Canadians in rural and remote areas.

Minister, can you tell us specifically how much money Canada Post has spent in 2021 on its strategy to improve postal services in rural communities, and how many post offices have been opened or renovated in rural communities as a result of your strategy?

[English]

Senator Dupuis: Thank you, Senator Clement, for your question. You interpreted the last paragraph of my intervention quite well, when I said that I invite the members of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs to carefully review the contents of the bill. It is 169 pages long, if memory serves, and it has 642 clauses. One of the important elements that we must examine is the degree of buy-in from both the common law and the civil law practitioners, the members of professional associations such as the bar or notary associations. We know that consultations were held in 2017 on this fourth harmonization act and that the process was initiated some years ago. I believe that we must do this work, and I invite the committee to undertake it.

(On motion of Senator Carignan, debate adjourned.)

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, we welcome today the Honourable Gudie Hutchings, P.C., M.P., Minister of Rural Economic Development, to ask questions relating to her ministerial responsibilities.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Minister, I noted that your colleague MP Blois, who is the National Liberal Rural Caucus chair, was an advocate for making rural fire stations eligible to apply for funding from the Canada Community-Building Fund, or CCBF.

Infrastructure Canada’s website has numbers available to the public on the allocated funds from the CCBF by the province and territory. Rural volunteer fire departments are crucial in so many communities.

My question, minister, is very specific: Since this fund was amended earlier this year to include fire halls, can you please share with us how successful this addition is and how many rural fire halls have applied and succeeded in receiving funds?

Hon. Gudie Hutchings, P.C., M.P., Minister of Rural Economic Development: Thank you, all. It was my first visit to the beautiful Red Chamber. Thank you for the work you do, and I look forward to our paths crossing. If I don’t see you all again, from my family to yours, happy holidays.

Hon. Jane Cordy: Thank you very much for being here with us today, minister.

My question has to do with the increasingly limited transportation options for rural Canadians. Commuter air routes, regional bus lines and even national bus companies are reducing services or stopping altogether, and rail services are limited or non-existent in rural areas. The pandemic has accelerated the shrinking of these services, but the fact is that these services were disappearing long before the pandemic.

Minister, what are you doing to ensure that rural Canadians have convenient, affordable and reliable access to what are essential services?

The Hon. the Speaker informed the Senate that a message had been received from the House of Commons with Bill C-29, An Act to provide for the establishment of a national council for reconciliation.

(Bill read first time.)

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Just a couple of notes. Senator, we are told that it is urgent to pass this bill. You alluded to that today. But, senator, are you aware that on the day this bill passes into law not a single roadside zoo will be closed because of it? Every animal currently in a roadside zoo is grandfathered — or any zoo is grandfathered — and indeed will be left to die under the deplorable conditions that people are referring to.

But while it will be doing nothing for the animals in roadside zoos today, the bill will do immediate harm to the great conservation work done by 18 zoos that are fully accredited by Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums by restricting their ability to breed and creating a chill over possibly losing their animals. You and others have alluded to elephants and other animals needing social activities. They will be left to die in the places where they are. They will not be allowed to breed. To do something to prevent a social animal’s breeding is a whole lot crueller than having them there.

I’m not suggesting it not go to committee, but can you explain to me what the rush is when it will do nothing to prevent any of these zoos from having the animals they already have?

Hon. Senators: Agreed.

(At 4:33 p.m., the Senate was continued until Tuesday, December 6, 2022, at 2 p.m.)

Appendix—Senators List

Senator Clement: Senator, I very much appreciated your reminder of all the historical steps that led to this unique characteristic of our legal system. In your circles, how are civil law practitioners reacting to this harmonization work in general? Are they reacting favourably, or should we expect something else?

Hon. Gudie Hutchings, P.C., M.P., Minister of Rural Economic Development: Thank you, Senator Marshall. It is wonderful to be here today. I am a true and proud Newfoundlander and Labradorian.

I will agree to disagree with the province on the price on pollution, because I saw first-hand the cost of not acting on pollution when we all saw Hurricane Fiona hit Atlantic Canada and Îles de la Madeleine. As you know, my riding is the southern part of the province that was devastated by that.

When you talk to people about the price of not acting on pollution and the carbon footprint, people in my riding will say, “Please, we have to do more.”

The price on pollution that we will put through now will see the average Newfoundlander and Labradorian family of four receive over $1,300, and they will pay in about $700, so they will be better off in the long run.

We have had many other programs, as well: We have increased the Guaranteed Income Supplement, or GIS, and we have the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability Grant for people wanting to transition off of oil heat. We have now come out with $10-a-day daycare. We are doing so much to help people in these challenging times.

I will not sugar-coat it: These are challenging times for folks. We have come out of a pandemic that has been devastating to people, and that has affected supply chains. We’re impacted by the war in Ukraine.

Again, though, people look at their day-to-day lives, and it is having an impact, but I can tell you that Canada’s foundation is strong. We will get through this together.

Hon. Robert Black: Minister Hutchings, thank you for appearing in the Red Chamber today. We know that mental health challenges affect people of all ages, education, income levels and culture. In any given year, one in five Canadians will personally experience a mental health problem or illness.

We also know that rural communities often have issues accessing many services, including health care. In many cases, mental health-related services and supports in rural communities are less comprehensive, less available and less accessible than in urban areas.

Certainly, I look at issues through an agricultural and rural lens. I would like to take the opportunity to highlight the fact that according to statistics from the Ontario branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association, 68% of farmers are more susceptible than the general population to chronic stress, which can lead to physical and mental illnesses; 58% of farmers meet the classifications for anxiety; and 45% of farmers report high stress.

Many Canadians work in rural and agriculture-adjacent sectors. Minister, can you highlight what steps your government has taken to address the lack of access to mental health services in rural Canada?

Hon. Robert Black: In the last Parliament, I met with representatives for the former minister of infrastructure and communities to discuss the fact that rural communities do not have the same access to public transit as their urban counterparts. In that meeting, I highlighted several initiatives in my home province of Ontario, including Wellington County’s RIDE WELL and Simcoe County’s LINX.

Minister, I think that you will agree that the lack of viable transportation options makes it difficult for youth and adults alike to take advantage of many opportunities. Transportation services are not only imperative for rural communities to thrive, but they also support the mobile labour force. Through your ministerial mandate letter, the Prime Minister asks that you contribute to the development of rural transit solutions.

With that in mind, could you please advise what this government has done and will do to ensure that Canadians living in rural communities have access to reliable and affordable transportation options?