Senator Dalphond: Yes, of course, with trepidation given that the question is from the bill’s sponsor.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.

Senator Martin: Last summer it was the C.D. Howe Institute that issued a report which found that Canada was lagging behind other OECD countries for attracting investment. Researchers wrote:

Business investment is so weak that capital per member of the labour force is falling, and the implications for incomes and competitiveness are ominous.

William B.P. Robson writes:

Investment per available worker lower in Canada than abroad tells us that businesses see less opportunity in Canada, and prefigures weaker growth in Canadian earnings and living standards than in other OECD countries.

Senator Gold, do you agree with all the experts who say that Canada, under Justin Trudeau, is no longer attractive to foreign investors? And what is your government’s plan to correct this?

Senator Dalphond: Bijuralism is a rather Quebec-specific concept. When I was in university, we did not have the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms yet, but we had a lot of discussions about bijuralism and the need to harmonize federal laws with Quebec’s civil law. My professor, André Morel, wrote many articles on the subject.

When the federal harmonization policy was adopted in 1991 or 1993, but before bilingual drafting was introduced, a separate civil law unit was created at the Department of Justice. I believe that happened in 1991. It was a good sign. A deputy minister for civil law was appointed. I believe it was Justice Anne-Marie Trahan. When the bijuralism policy was announced in 1995, it was welcomed in Quebec. I attended many law faculty lectures, and I must confess that I own the three-volume collection published by the Department of Justice on lexicology, history and bijuralism.

Not enough people realize what Canada contributes. As a bijural federation, it is something of a rarity internationally. Our contribution, not only to common law in French and civil law in English, but to bijuralism at the same time, is entirely unique, in my opinion. In that sense, in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada, I think we can be proud. We are participating in two of the world’s great legal traditions, which is also fantastic. I hope that answers your question.

(1530)

[English]

Senator Dalphond: If the Senate agrees.

Senator Kutcher: Thank you very much, Senator Gold. Sadly, we are all aware of the number of panels and reports that have happened before with little action resulting from them. I’m hopeful that it won’t be the same with this one.

But that same report lamented Canada’s inadequate and globally lacking investment in fundamental research; we are way behind. It recommended:

That the Government of Canada review and increase its investments in fundamental research through increases to the budgets of the three granting councils.

Thousands of scientists from across Canada have called for a doubling of the funding for the Tri-Council. Will the Government of Canada heed those calls and provide that essential funding for the upcoming budget, or will we continue to languish behind other countries?

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): My question to Senator Gold this afternoon is in regard to the unbelievable debt that our government is accumulating on behalf of all taxpayers.

Last month, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, or PBO, released a report containing a risk scenario analysis “to help parliamentarians gauge potential economic and fiscal implications of central banks over-tightening monetary policy.” Under the PBO’s risk scenario analysis, they estimated that public debt charges could reach $53.4 billion in 2024-25. That, Senator Gold, would be an increase of 118% over the debt charges of 2021-22. To put that number in perspective, debt charges basically equal, in two years, what we will spend on our entire defence and on services to Indigenous and northern communities.

Senator Gold, what is your government’s long-term plan to pay the interest costs for this pile of Justin Trudeau-Jagmeet Singh debt? Will you cut services to vulnerable Canadians? Will you raise taxes? Or will you continue with the spiral of unending deficits?

Senator Plett: I’m surprised how you take solace in the fact that it is not all your fault. Maybe it isn’t all your fault, but certainly a good percentage of it is your fault, and when I say “you,” I mean the Liberal-NDP government. The whole economic plan of the Trudeau-Freeland team was to fuel Canada’s growth with cheap debt. The budget, Senator Gold, again, was to balance itself.

Government leader, the party is now over. The Bank of Canada raised interest rates today for the seventh time this year. Sadly, it will be future generations — your grandchildren, my grandchildren and our great-grandchildren — who will suffer the consequences of your government’s failed economic policies — your government.

Senator Gold, when is the federal budget going to balance itself?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question.

The government takes seriously any allegation of foreign interference in our system.

The government relies on a rigorous screening system for all partners and all initiatives, including procurement processes. I’m told the government is aware of the allegations regarding the contract that you just mentioned with Sinclair Technologies. As the Prime Minister said, the government looked into the allegations, and it will take all the necessary measures to ensure the integrity of our critical infrastructure.

I’m also told that Minister Mendicino has instructed his senior officials to review the details of that contract carefully in order to reassess the process under which it was awarded.

Senator Gold: However, it is not my understanding that the services to which you refer on the website include medical assistance in dying. I’m assured that providing advice pertaining to medical assistance in dying is absolutely not a Veterans Affairs Canada service. You didn’t say it in so many words, Senator Plett, but you implied it, so I’m glad for the opportunity to correct the record.

Colleagues, this is a serious matter. I’d like to finish my answer. I understand the minister has directed the department to conduct a full investigation, which is ongoing, to ensure that all front-line staff are trained to deal with any issues, including issues around medical assistance in dying, or MAID, and to ensure that this never happens again. The government is taking all necessary steps to make sure that no veteran ever has to go through this again.

Senator Plett: Let me repeat what Senator Batters alluded to: Who is going to get fired, Senator Gold? Something happened here. Somebody dropped the ball, Senator Gold. You can say all you want that this will never happen again. But it is happening — over, and over, and over again. The lives of our veterans mean nothing to this government. They have put their lives on the line for you and me, Senator Gold. How can this even happen, Senator Gold, not once or twice, but on four occasions — four times — with more cases expected to come forward.

Minister MacAulay’s mandate letter said the following:

Your top priority is to ensure that services and benefits necessary for the physical, mental and economic wellbeing of Veterans and their families are easily accessible, responsive, and available in a timely manner.

Obviously, this is rhetoric. These are only words. The reality — let me finish — is quite different, Senator Gold. Under the Trudeau government, we have seen wait times increased, veterans brought to court and now assisted suicide offered to our courageous veterans.

Senator Gold, shuffling ministers out of this portfolio has not been successful for your government. At what point will our veterans get the respect and the services that they need and died for?

An Hon. Senator: Let him finish!

Senator Gold: What happened was unacceptable. The government is doing what it can to find out what happened, and through what agency it happened, meaning by what person or persons it happened. It may very well have been only one person, but I’m not affirming that because the investigation is under way.

This government cares deeply about its veterans. It is committed to their well-being. Indeed, they put themselves on the line for all of us. It is simply repugnant for the Leader of the Opposition in this chamber to suggest otherwise. The government considers what happened unacceptable. It is not a service offered by Veterans Affairs. It was an example of someone doing something that should not have been done. When the investigation is completed, I have every confidence this government will take the appropriate action.

[Translation]

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Senator Gold, the opposition’s question made me think of the debate on medical assistance in dying. I had serious reservations about expanding eligibility to medical assistance in dying to people suffering from mental illness only.

In the past few weeks and days, people have been speaking out against this change, which is set to take effect in mid-March. Some are saying that we are not ready, and it’s not just anybody.

[English]

It includes the Association of Chairs of Psychiatry in Canada, which includes the heads of psychiatry departments at all 17 medical schools.

[Translation]

Are you going to postpone the implementation of this change?

Hon. Colin Deacon: Honourable senators, as some of you know, I had a fabulous time at university. Clearly, you remember. It was so fabulous, in fact, that at the end of my first year the dean of agricultural science at the University of Guelph encouraged me to reassess my commitment. I did, and I soon found that I was far better-suited to the practical challenges of the working world.

However, not having a post-secondary degree increasingly required that I create my own employment; that’s how I stumbled onto the path of entrepreneurship. Learning how to turn ideas into businesses — and discovering the countless potholes on the road to success — have taught me the importance of tenacity, risk taking, creativity and resilience.

Entrepreneurship demands that you reflexively turn your problems into opportunities. We live in a world where this characteristic has increasingly become an essential skill. That is why I love learning about programs that train the next generation of entrepreneurs, programs that prove to teenagers that they are capable of creating exciting opportunities and teaching them how to avoid the many potholes that I always seemed to hit.

Take Shad Canada, for example, a national entrepreneurship program for Grade 10 and Grade 11 students that operates at 22 post-secondary institutions across Canada. Shad empowers participants to focus on a real problem, a problem that they’ve seen in their lives or on the news. The Shad staff coach each team of students as they devise innovative real-life solutions with the support of subject-matter experts. There’s nothing hypothetical here.

Bethany Deshpande, a Shad alum who is now the Halifax-based CEO of an ag-tech company called SomaDetect, told me about her experiences at Shad and how they continue to guide her and shape the corporate culture, innovation and success of her company. Bethany powerfully reflected on her experience at Shad saying, “I don’t know who I would be if I hadn’t gone.”

Another example is Outward Bound, a program that equips youth for the future through adventures in nature, testing them physically and mentally. The program empowers students to accomplish things they would never have thought possible, and it does so at a critical age. It creates confidence that enables youth to become a powerful force in the world.

Colleagues, as a consequence of climate change, our generation is delivering an unprecedented challenge to future generations. Investing in programs that strengthen the entrepreneurial culture in Canada will help produce many more creative problem solvers who embrace risk, challenge the status quo and think outside the box.

Thank you, colleagues.

Hon. Patricia Bovey: Honourable senators, climate change is dramatic and devastating — the East Coast hurricane; B.C.’s heat dome and floods; the North’s faster-than-predicted ice and permafrost melt. COP 27 and COP 15’s panels and discussions have illuminated — and will continue to illuminate — the resulting humanitarian crises.

UNESCO world heritage sites are in peril or already damaged by drought, acid rain, fire and floods — Egypt’s pyramids, Easter Island’s monolith statues, Peru’s Machu Picchu and our own national historic sites such as the Fortress of Louisbourg, Prince of Wales Fort in northern Manitoba and Dawson City in Yukon.

Artists have raised the alarms for decades. Look at Ed Burtynsky’s and Roberta Bondar’s works in our own foyer, or Emily Carr’s 1930s paintings of British Columbia clear-cuts. So what role can culture play in addressing this crisis? Colleagues, museums have a responsibility with their collections and education mandates and exhibitions to expand awareness. They can for climate change too. Remember, families go to museums together; they do not go to school together.

I think, too, that institutions can easily reduce their footprints. Some already have. Discussions are now under way as to what positive effects may be achieved by slight relaxations of required gallery temperature and humidity levels.

I believe scientists and artists have been 20 years ahead of society in collaborations on a number of issues from health to education to engineering and more, so why not for climate change solutions?

At the end of COP 27, culture and heritage finally was able to meet on site. Held at the Egyptian Pavilion to a full house and chaired by Princess Dana of Jordan, ministers from Jordan, Egypt, Tonga and the U.K.’s National Trust all participated. It was electric and really well received.

Colleagues, this issue affects us all — our cultures, heritages, traditions and livelihoods — but it is beyond us alone to deal with it. Culture has not been at the table. Culture must be in and at the table, and be part of the brainstorming and solutions. Their creative approaches will contribute to solutions to this global crisis. If they can’t be at the table, they won’t be at the table if they continue to be allowed to be isolated in their silos.

To us all, culture and wider society, I say, please, let’s look for creative solutions. Thank you.

Hon. Mohamed-Iqbal Ravalia: Honourable senators, I rise today to recognize the outstanding career of Craig Pollett, CEO of Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador, as he is set to retire at the end of December.

Formed in 1951, Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador, or MNL, represents the interests of the growing number of municipal councils in the province, representing nearly 90% of the provincial population.

Throughout Craig’s 21 years of service, MNL has supported small town and urban constituencies to further enable them to respond to the ever-evolving issues raised by residents.

With the support of the hundreds of municipal leaders, including the board of directors of MNL, Craig has enriched the landscape of municipal governance. He has developed MNL into a leading organization for research and advocacy. MNL engages directly with municipalities, including by facilitating workshops and hosting an annual symposium to explore the pressing issues that communities are faced with, such as changing climate and an aging population.

Craig has taken steps to strengthen the municipal legislative framework to give councils more and clearer authority to respond to residents’ concerns. He has strategized how to achieve long‑term sustainability for the province by exploring regionalization. He continues to advocate for governments to amend their waste water systems effluent regulations to allow hundreds of communities to come into compliance. Honourable senators, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, has recognized MNL’s regional economic development work as a best practice.

Craig gives his deepest thanks to his family for their support, specifically his parents, Earl and Ruth Pollett, his partner, Gail, and his children, Grace and Abby.

Colleagues, healthy and sustainable communities are the building blocks of a prosperous province and country. Please join me in thanking Craig for his tremendous accomplishments, and for directly helping to support our vibrant communities that we all know and love on our beautiful rock of Newfoundland and Labrador. We wish you all the best in your next chapter, sir.

Thank you, wela’lioq.

Hon. Fabian Manning: Honourable senators, may I please present Chapter 68 of “Telling Our Story.”

In today’s modern world full of every type of technology one can think of, where nearly everyone owns a smartphone with built-in Google Maps support combined with a GPS in their vehicle, it is difficult to imagine how someone would become totally lost and have no idea where they are at any given moment.

With that said, it is nearly downright impossible for us to imagine what it must be like to be adrift on the Atlantic Ocean for 48 days with no way of communicating with your family and friends. Well, this is a story of exactly that, which took place in 1929.

Job Barbour was born in the fishing community of Newtown in 1898. He began sailing as a boy, and at the very young age of 21, he became master of a vessel for the first time. For many years, he sailed the treacherous waters off Newfoundland’s northeast coast, carrying provisions from St. John’s to many isolated outports dotting our rugged coastline.

In the late fall of 1929, aboard his three-masted schooner, the Neptune II, Captain Barbour and his crew delivered a load of salt cod and cod oil to the city of St. John’s. On November 29, they began their return journey with a load of cargo that included apples, oranges and raisins for the general store in Newtown, Bonavista Bay. Captain Barbour was very familiar with the 100‑mile route, which under normal circumstances would usually take just a couple of days, but Mother Nature had other plans. By early the next morning on November 30, the winds had reached hurricane strength and the Neptune II, her crew and passengers were driven off course — way off course. They were about to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

In a 1979 CBC interview, at the age of 81, Captain Barbour said:

Like living demons hungry for our lives the seas rushed over our bulwarks and swept the deck fore and aft. They fascinated you almost as they approached. The water seemed to be all colours of the rainbow when coming on in its mad and crested cumulus. I never thought till then that seas could run so high. They looked like huge icebergs that had suddenly been liquefied and driven by some demon of the sea to rush on and crush us to death.

And he went on to say:

. . . I could see the look of anguish that covered Mrs. Humphries’ face. No doubt she thought that it would be her last moment of life.

During the voyage, the high winds and rough seas battered the schooner and left, among other things, crew members injured and passenger Mrs. Humphries incredibly ill to the point that conversations were had of what would be done if she passed away at sea. Water casks were tainted with salt water, leaving it unfit for drinking. The wheelhouse was washed overboard, and the binnacle was smashed to pieces. With the rough seas, the crew was unable to reach the supplies that were lashed down in the hull of the schooner. To add to all that, the compass light went out. These were just some of the issues that the captain and crew had to deal with, but as Captain Barbour once said:

Newfoundland seamen are noted for their ingenuity and when the real thing is gone or won’t work they try to make something that will do.

It was this ingenuity, coupled with their resilience and bravery, that allowed the Neptune II to remain afloat. On January 16, 1930, 48 days after departing the harbour in St. John’s, Newfoundland, the battered vessel was spotted off the coast of Scotland. A steamer, the Hesperus, attached a tow line and brought the schooner and her crew to safety.

Back home, the families had begun to accept the fact that they may never see their loved ones again, so it must have been quite the sense of relief when Captain Barbour’s mother received a telegram which read, “Arrived safely Tobermory, Scotland. All well. Job K. Barbour.”

Captain Job Barbour committed his story to paper in 1932 when Forty-Eight Days Adrift was published in London, England. Newfoundland’s own Breakwater Books revived the story and published it in 1981 and again in 1983, with a reprinting in 2001. It remains a very popular book, which continues to tell the incredible story of Newfoundlanders’ courage, resilience and humanity and their ability to beat the odds.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): I think this government and all governments, provincial and territorial, recognize the importance of modernizing our regulatory framework and making it more efficient and effective for businesses to do their business, to grow and emerge while at the same time making sure that the measures in place to save Canadians, whether it is in the areas of fraud or consumer products, remain vigorous and in place. This government, in its areas of jurisdiction, has embarked upon — and we had an example of it in this chamber not that long ago — measures to modernize regulatory frameworks within many areas of legislation.

Of course, the regulation of businesses is a matter of provincial jurisdiction, and each province has its responsibility as well to ease the regulatory burden where appropriate on individuals and businesses.