Senator Housakos: Senator Gold, I am happy that the government thanks the commissioner for doing his work. All of Parliament thanks the commissioner for doing his work.

Now, we do not need the Prime Minister to thank the commissioner for doing his work. We need the Prime Minister to start doing his work. At the end of the day, in Parliament, we have a responsibility to ensure that ministers behave in the most ethical fashion. When they don’t, this is not kindergarten, where you show up to the principal’s office and apologize and promise not to do it again. We’re talking about taxpayers’ money and the code of ethics of this Parliament and this government.

When will this government start doing its job? Or is the real problem here that the Prime Minister can no longer hold ministers to account because he has breached the code on a couple of occasions, and it would be rather hypocritical for him to get rid of ministers for breaching a code that he has breached? Is that in itself the problem, government leader? How do we address that problem?

Hon. Leo Housakos: Clearly, we acknowledge that this government is corrupt and is unwilling to take responsibility for its egregious behaviour.

My next question, to which I hope to get an answer, has more to do with incompetence. It is a follow-up question to Senator Downe’s question, and we have asked this on a number of occasions. We have seen how the world has become more and more dangerous. We see how democracy is more at risk today than it has ever been. Foreign influence is a real problem on social media. Our institutions are being influenced, academic, political, cultural and otherwise. What is your government doing to combat foreign influence in our institutions and in our country? What are your concrete actions?

Senator Housakos: Senator Gold, it is not me calling this government corrupt. It is the Ethics Commissioner, who on a number of occasions has spoken about the Prime Minister and ministers breaching the code. For that matter, it is the former Minister of Justice, who had to resign when she tried to hold the government to account. It seems that Minister Wilson-Raybould was the only minister who was held to account because she spoke the truth and she got fired.

Back to your weak answer in regard to foreign interference and foreign influence, the truth of the matter is that this is a problem that has been festering and growing over the last two years, government leader. Up until a week ago, it has not been addressed at all by your government. We have legislation in this chamber that has been lingering, and the government has put it on ice.

The government has not taken any legislative action in order to combat foreign influence, other than a statement a couple of weeks ago by the Minister of Public Security saying that it is something that they will study and review in the new year. Your minister said that in a press conference.

Why has it taken so long for this government to take concrete action? The only promise we have received is, “We’re going to review it in the new year.” That is the question. The question is when we will see action rather than talking points.

Hon. Raymonde Gagné (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, pursuant to rule 4-13(3), I would like to inform the Senate that as we proceed with Government Business, the Senate will address the items in the following order: third reading of Bill C-32, Bill C-36 and Bill S-11; followed by all remaining items in the order that they appear on the Order Paper.

Hon. Raymonde Saint-Germain: Colleagues, I want to begin by greeting our colleague Dan Christmas’s visitors who are with us today: his three children and two grandchildren. I also want to tell them how proud they should be of their father and grandfather.

It is with a heavy heart that I rise today to pay tribute to my esteemed colleague, Senator Dan Christmas, on his last day in this chamber.

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It is indeed with a heavy heart that I speak today — heavy, because everyone who got to know Senator Christmas throughout the years can testify to the greatness of his spirit and his profoundly human character.

Dear Dan, for this, as well as for your undeniable qualities as a senator, you will be greatly missed. Since your appointment to the Senate in 2016, you have proudly represented the Mi’kmaq community as well as your province of Nova Scotia. However, we all know that your commitment to both go back far beyond your years as a senator.

Prior to your life in the Senate, you were already a leader and an organizer for the Membertou community and your people of Cape Breton Island. Indeed, they are happy to have you back full-time, and so are your three children and two grandchildren, who have many reasons to be proud of you as their dad and granddad.

If I had to describe Senator Christmas in only a few words, it would be as a man of heart and family. Due to fate, you had to make the choice to stay close to your people and fulfill your most important responsibilities — those to your family. While we are saddened to see you go, we can only admire the decision that you are formalizing today. As a very committed member of the Independent Senators Group, you have been a great pedagogue, a man of dialogue and mediation who, with a good reading of the environment, helped us work towards reconciliation and the understanding, as well as recognition, of important Indigenous issues.

Always a team player, a sound advisor and a very patient senator, it was truly a pleasure working alongside you. Please know, Senator Christmas, that you will be remembered within our group as a great connector between peoples.

As a member and Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples, you have contributed to impactful studies that are more than necessary on the difficult road to reconciliation in this country. You will have left your mark on this committee, and we will do our best to pursue your legacy, knowing full well that we have big shoes to fill.

Senator Christmas, while we understand and respect your decision, it is still a loss for the Senate. However, I would rather see it as a gain for your family and your community. Today, they regain a natural leader and a great family man. I wish you, on behalf of all of the members of the Independent Senators Group, a happy retirement from the Senate of Canada.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Hon. Patti LaBoucane-Benson: Honourable senators, I rise today on behalf of the Government Representative Office to pay humble tribute to our colleague Senator Dan Christmas, who is leaving us at the end of January. While I personally consider his departure a huge loss for this institution, I understand why he must go home, because family is everything.

Senator Christmas took his seat in this chamber six years ago this month, the first Mi’kmaq senator to be sworn into the Senate of Canada. Prior to arriving here, he served as a leader in various positions in the Mi’kmaq nation of Nova Scotia. His work included active involvement in the implementation of Mi’kmaq Aboriginal and treaty rights in his province. His accomplishments and experience with and for his community in Nova Scotia were the perfect background for his work in the Senate. He brought a sense of calm to any and all situations, and his contributions during his time here have been many.

From my perspective, his chairmanship of the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples during its study of Bill C-15, An Act respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, was pivotal. He led hours of meetings that included the testimony of dozens of witnesses. Let’s remember that UNDRIP had been adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007. It was now, finally, before our Senate committee, 14 years later, and in the middle of the pandemic.

Dan’s calmness, dignity and the respect shown to his colleagues and witnesses were infectious. It was impossible for any one of us to misbehave with him in the chair — we tried — no matter how long or how contentious those meetings were. Debates were polite, disagreements were tempered and resolutions were negotiated.

I give all the credit to Senator Christmas for steering us — and effectively steering Canada — to finally codify the objectives of UNDRIP.

On a personal note, Dan, I will miss your wisdom and quiet strength of purpose, and the Senate will miss a passionate envoy for the rights and concerns of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people.

I will conclude by quoting the man himself during his third reading speech on UNDRIP. He stated:

This matters, colleagues, so much to First Nations, Métis, Inuit, rights holders, treaty nations and most emphatically to the pursuit of true nation-to-nation relations. It matters, critically, to Canada, as it wrestles with how to move forward in peace and friendship with Indigenous peoples.

Dan, I — we — wish you peace and friendship as you move forward. Hiy hiy.

Hon. Jane Cordy: Honourable senators, it sometimes happens that we get so wrapped up in the day-to-day business of meetings, emails and telephone calls that it is easy for time to slip by. We must make a conscious effort to remember what we are here for: It is the voices and the people we are here to represent.

Senator Christmas, you have been nothing but exemplary in that position. I am so delighted to pay tribute to you today for your years of dedication to your community, and for your time here in the Senate. At the same time, I am sad that we will miss that strong Nova Scotian — well, that strong Cape Breton Membertou voice in the Senate.

Senator Christmas, you were the first Mi’kmaq senator to be appointed to the Senate. You must have felt a sense of pride, and perhaps just a little bit of pressure. Rest assured, you were more than up for the task.

Recognized for your work helping turn Membertou into one of the most successful First Nations communities in the country, Senator Christmas, you spent a lifetime advocating for Mi’kmaq Aboriginal and treaty rights in Nova Scotia. Your work did not go unnoticed. You received honorary degrees from Dalhousie University, Saint Mary’s University and Cape Breton University; an honorary diploma from Nova Scotia Community College; and you received the National Excellence in Aboriginal Leadership Award from the Aboriginal Financial Officers Association of Canada.

Senator Christmas, I saw first-hand your commitment to the issue of treaty rights when we both worked, last spring, as members of the Senate Fisheries and Oceans Committee, and studied the issue of respecting and advancing the full implementation of Mi’kmaq rights-based fisheries. Your experience, and your knowledge, was invaluable to the committee.

Senator, your voice will be missed around the committee table. After your appointment to the Senate, Senator Christmas, you were quoted as saying that you felt like an ambassador of the Mi’kmaq Nation in Ottawa, which is very true, but we were also lucky to have you as an ambassador of the Senate of Canada in Cape Breton and in Membertou.

Ottawa can sometimes feel like it is very far away from those of us living in the regions. By opening your senatorial office in Membertou, you have helped to bridge the distance between your community and the Senate. I’m sure that for members of your community, it has been extremely important to have that point of contact.

Dan, you are the epitome of strong leadership. You are not loud, but you are forceful. You are thoughtful and measured. You are fair. You listen, and you are respectful. People want to work with you.

Dan, it has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with you and to get to know you over the last six years. On behalf of the Progressive Senate Group, I wish you all the best as you embark on the next chapter of your life.

By the way, I still intend to take you up on your offer to attend the Membertou powwow as your guest. Thank you.

Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson: Honourable senators, I am pleased and honoured, on behalf of the Canadian Senators Group, to pay tribute to Senator Dan Christmas — a gentleman and a gentle man whom I have been privileged to work closely with on the Indigenous Peoples Committee during his time in the Senate.

I first met Dan Christmas in May 2014 when the Aboriginal Peoples Committee visited his beloved home community of Membertou, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, during our fact-finding study of housing on First Nations reserves. Dan described for the committee how his community had become transformed — and an economic powerhouse — by liberating themselves from the Indian Act. Membertou is the poster child for First Nations bands across the country, and Dan Christmas, alongside Chief Terry Paul, clearly played a pivotal role over many years in that astonishing and inspirational success story.

I used the term “gentleman” to describe you, my friend, which resonates in my culture, but I also respect you as one who epitomizes all that I understand is meant by the term “respected elder” amongst Indigenous peoples: respectful and knowledgeable of culture and tradition; a good listener; and a wise, kind and compassionate man.

I have the highest regard for how you chaired our Indigenous Peoples Committee. You all know the important work of our committees is done by our steering committees. At the steering committee, Dan was always prepared. He had read and studied all the briefing materials and was lightning-quick to point out the salient points and omissions. As chair, he was scrupulously neutral and fair to all, showing respect and humour and always finding ways to bring us together to find common cause that we all could share.

These were important and difficult issues that we worked on, including Bill C-15, the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, fighting and challenging the government to achieve gender equality under the Indian Act, a massive undertaking still not finished.

Senator Christmas — Dan — you have given those of us who have been privileged to work with you a shining example of what it means to be a senator and a strong voice for your Mi’kmaq people and your region. I know you are a devoted father and family man — the reason that you are leaving the Senate too early.

On behalf of the Canadian Senators Group, we wish you well on your next chapter close to home and family, knowing that you have inspired us by your example in our duties to minorities and regions of this great country. Thank you. Qujannamiik.

Hon. Yvonne Boyer: Honourable senators, I’m pleased to be here today to pay tribute to Senator Dan Christmas. We all know the impact that serving in the Senate can have on our families, especially those who must travel to Ottawa from far parts of the country. So today, I would like to begin this tribute by taking a minute to thank Senator Christmas’s children, Peter, Lacey and Gail, as well as his grandchildren, Rawlin and Arya. To them, on behalf of all senators, I say thank you for sharing your father and grandfather with us and all of Canada. His work has truly made a difference, and we are beyond fortunate to have benefitted from his wisdom and contributions for all these years.

Senator Christmas’s accomplishments during both his time in the Senate and his prior life just can’t be fit into a three-minute tribute. Through his work on legislation to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada and as chair and deputy chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples, Senator Christmas played a significant role in shaping some of the most important legislation impacting Indigenous peoples and, indeed, all of Canada. He leaves not just shoes but gigantic shoes to fill.

I would also like to take a minute to talk about Senator Christmas as a community leader — an advocate of the Mi’kmaq community of Membertou in Nova Scotia. He is so dedicated to his community and his people that he has spent his entire professional life serving them in countless different capacities. For instance, I had the opportunity to visit Membertou in July of 2019 to talk with his community about the issue of forced and coerced sterilization. As I’m sure all senators can imagine, meetings on this issue are difficult and emotional. Throughout this meeting and in the conversations afterwards, I was able to see just how connected he was with his community and the respect and admiration he gave them and that he, in turn, received from them.

Senator Christmas will be remembered for many things, but for me, I will remember how, more than anything else, he was always there for his community and ready to tackle the tough questions and help in any way that he could.

Now, after serving his nation and indeed all First Nations, Métis and Inuit across Canada, he can go back to focusing on the most important job of all, and that is being a father and a grandfather. Chi-Meegwetch, my friend. I wish you well.

Hon. Colin Deacon: Honourable senators, I rise to pay tribute to this chamber’s first Mi’kmaw senator, Senator Dan Christmas. Senator Christmas once reminded us of where he had come from and described his focus:

As an Indigenous Senator, I can tell you that realizing true reconciliation is a key component to Senate modernization and an increasingly independent Upper Chamber. For many of us, beginning real, frank, and open dialogue about the critical and destructive laws, conventions and institutions in Canada’s history is essential to reconciliation between Canada and Indigenous peoples.

Senator Christmas knows of what he speaks. His home community of Membertou struggled to overcome the destructive constraints of the Indian Act and other systemic barriers. Their success was thanks to the fact that Senator Christmas, together with Membertou’s other entrepreneurial community leaders, dared to opt out of the Indian Act and create their own self-governance and regulatory capabilities. The opportunity created by Membertou’s leadership is often said to be a miracle. It was not a miracle. It was a product of leadership committed to adaptability, perseverance and accountability.

Here are just three examples from a countless list: First, to initially encourage major corporations to build facilities and services in their community, Membertou did the hard work of becoming ISO quality management certified. This foresight and overcoming the complex challenge of achieving this certification demonstrated the leadership’s commitment to hold themselves accountable to global standards.

Second, just over 100 years ago, the people of Membertou were expelled from their ancestral land on the Sydney Harbour called the Kings Road Reserve due to the efforts of a member of Parliament. Remarkably, the community bought back their land in a commercial real estate transaction in 2016. I marvel at the perseverance and strategic brilliance that resulted in the community reacquiring its ancestral home.

Third, with the support of an innovative charity called Oceans North, Membertou is now leading the net-zero transformation of the fisheries sector. They recognized that about 70% of the inshore lobster fleet works within 20 kilometres of the shore and so can be powered by battery electric systems. Membertou is demonstrating climate leadership by being adaptable.

Colleagues, we have been honoured to listen to, learn from and work with a key architect and enabler of this remarkable transformation.

Senator Christmas, your adaptability, perseverance, and accountability inspires us all, as does your graciousness, humility, and deep humanity. You’ve left a mark on us all. I want to sincerely thank you for your persistent dedication to entrepreneurship and excellence. I look forward to continuing to learn from you. You’re right, Senator Christmas. It’s about the children and the world we leave them. Wela’lin, Dan. Wela’lioq.

Hon. Kim Pate: Thank you for the privilege and responsibility of allowing me to rise to express my profound admiration, appreciation, respect, awe, love and gratitude to and for our dear colleague and my beloved seatmate.

One month ago we celebrated one of your most recent recognitions, the awarding of your fifth honorary doctorate by Queen’s University. Today, we have the challenging and somewhat heartbreaking task of honouring you as you take your leave of this place to which you have contributed your outstanding and unparalleled First Nations leadership and your countless contributions with and for Indigenous peoples that has always been rooted in the context of kindness, compassion and love, and always in such a calm, quiet, caring manner and so wisely.

When I first visited Membertou First Nation, it was with your cousin Junior Marshall, and the community was struggling on the brink of bankruptcy. Dan’s leadership — your leadership — has been well recognized, as we just heard from so many, as the driving force in helping Membertou flourish into a thriving and vibrant community.

When I had the privilege of last visiting Membertou, you were incredibly and so characteristically generous and took the time to show me around and introduce me to the many folks who so warmly greeted their Senator Dan, whether in your home, Senate office at the mall, the cultural centre, anywhere and everywhere we ventured into the community.

Sitting beside you here and with you in the Indigenous Peoples Committee, I have learned and grown thanks to your brilliant interventions, quiet but oh-so-clear leadership, calm diplomacy and effective advocacy. I love how you are always guided by immense kindness, seemingly endless compassion and patience and your very generous heart.

You are the epitome of inspirational leadership, coalition building and courageous advocacy as all your life you have worked tirelessly to address the persistent challenges that too many face in the hands of discriminatory attitudes and systems that persist.

I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to meet your beloved and so lovely and talented Dozay and your equally talented and fabulous children and precious grandchildren. Thank you for joining us here today, Peter, Lacey, Rawlin, Arya, Gail and wee Wastow. We owe you, all of your family and community, an immense debt of appreciation for sharing your spectacular tata’t and umijgamijl with us for these last six years. We will miss him, his profound wisdom, his clear, kind, patient and thoughtful ideas and the incredible example and inspiration he is to each and all of us. Wela’lin, chi-meegwetch, thank you.

Hon. Mary Coyle: Honourable senators, family, friends of our retiring colleague, we gather today to celebrate Canada’s first Mi’kmaq senator, the honourable, formidable and highly lovable Dan Christmas. Recently, while discussing Senator Christmas with Al Fleming, the word “gravitas” came to my mind. Gravitas was one of the ancient Roman virtues that denotes seriousness, dignity and importance and connotes restraint and moral rigour. It conveys a sense of responsibility and commitment to the task and in Ancient Rome was appreciated as an ideal characteristic in leaders.

Colleagues, Senator Dan Christmas, the intelligent, humble, kind and highly effective leader from Membertou in Unama’ki, embodies gravitas and inspires each one of us to be better people and to undertake our responsibilities, as he does, with wisdom and care.

In his 2017 Father Greg MacLeod Lecture, Dan said:

Perhaps the greatest thing I’ve learned is that to be an effective parliamentarian means having to speak truth to power.

Not by bellowing from a high horse, or prescribing from a position of power and entitlement . . . but by working diligently to provoke meaningful and pragmatic dialogue — not necessarily to dictate a litany of complaints about what is wrong but rather working with others to determine options for the right way forward.

Colleagues, Senator Dan Christmas came to us having had a successful career as a change maker and he heightened that trajectory here in Canada’s upper chamber, contributing to positive change through his roles as Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples; ushering into law Bill C-15, the foundational UNDRIP act; his effective sponsorship of Bill C-68, modernizing the Fisheries Act; his important work on the Mi’kmaq moderate livelihood fishery and many other contributions.

For us, Senator Christmas has a guide, a hand extended, helping to point us in the right direction.

In June 2021, remarking on the tragic discovery of the 215 unmarked graves in Kamloops, Dan said:

Today, Canada is a nation awash in a tidal wave of tears, and we must let them flow. Our people, my people and yes, your people . . . are steeped in grief and sorrow. We mourn our lost babies, our lost angels, our lost culture, our lost freedoms, the disassociation from our lands and traditions and the way that we must endlessly struggle to convince Canada to understand, to appreciate and to embrace who we are and to what we continue to aspire.

Senator Dan Christmas, you are, in Mi’kmaq, Kepmi-de’lmut Nikan-es — a highly respected leader. My friend Dan, your legacy is vast. We all thank you. I’m honoured to know you and I wish you and your beautiful family every happiness. Wela’lin, Dan.

Hon. Dan Christmas: What can I say? I wish to thank you, my friends and colleagues, for your many kind words about my time here in the Senate. One of the great benefits of serving in the Senate is the opportunity to meet and to work with so many senators from all parts of Canada, from all walks of life. Each of you is so gifted and talented in so many ways with a multitude of backgrounds and experiences that you are all truly a valuable asset for this great nation.

Before I go on, I would like to take a moment to explain to you my decision to leave the Senate well before my mandatory retirement date.

Three years ago, as was mentioned, my dear wife, Dozay, began her journey to the spirit world. I had at that time seriously considered resigning from the Senate. I had become the single parent of a 9-year-old girl and Wastow the dog. It was unthinkable for me not to be at home during her growing-up years.

However, a dear friend counselled me to take some time to think about it. As it turned out, a few months later COVID happened and we began hybrid sittings. It allowed me to be at home with my daughter and continue my work as a senator at the same time.

Of course, I knew that at some point in-person sittings would resume and then I would have to make that decision. I made that decision a few months ago. But I want to assure you, my dear colleagues, that my decision to resign had nothing to do with the work of the Senate or the opportunity to work with all of you. If my personal circumstances had been otherwise, I would have been very happy to continue to work with you.

Please don’t think that my decision to be with my family is a difficult or challenging one. It is not. There is nothing more rewarding or satisfying in my life than being a father for my three children and a grandfather to my two grandchildren. I thoroughly enjoy being with them, and I look forward to raising my youngest daughter to adulthood.

One of the high points during my time in the Senate was being a member of the Aboriginal Peoples Committee, now called the Indigenous Peoples Committee, and the Fisheries and Oceans Committee. I had the pleasure of working with some outstanding chairpersons: first, former senator Lillian Dyck and, now, my friend and dear colleague Senator Brian Francis at the Indigenous Peoples Committee, and Senator Fabian Manning at the Fisheries and Oceans Committee. I can’t thank each of them enough for their leadership, hard work and their strong sense of fairness. Wela’lioq.

I especially enjoyed working with the Indigenous Peoples Committee. We had the pleasure of working with two outstanding analysts from the Library of Parliament, Sara Fryer and Brittany Collier. The committee had several clerks over the years, but when I assumed the chair in 2020, and Andrea Mugny was appointed as our new clerk, both of us learned on the job together rather quickly. Somehow, we managed to keep our heads above water. I certainly believe that Andrea will be a rising star in the Senate of Canada.

I also enjoyed being a member of the Indigenous Senators Working Group, which was first brought together by former senator Murray Sinclair back in 2018. I want to honour those who preceded me: Senators Patrick Brazeau and Sandra Lovelace Nicholas, and former senators Charlie Watt, Lillian Dyck and Murray Sinclair. I wish to thank the current members: Senators Marty Klyne, Dawn Anderson, Patti Laboucane-Benson, Mary Jane McCallum, Yvonne Boyer, Brian Francis and Michelle Audette. Unfortunately, we lost Senator Josée Forest-Niesing last year.

I thoroughly enjoyed our meetings and our many discussions during those meetings. I will certainly miss them very much.

I also want to express my deep appreciation to my two Mi’kmaq brothers here in Ottawa, Senator Brian Francis and MP Jaime Battiste. They always had my back, and they never hesitated to help when I needed their help — and believe me, I needed it. They are true brothers in every sense of the word. Wela’lioq.

I also appreciated my time with the Independent Senators Group. I joined when the group was first being formed by the late Honourable Elaine McCoy in 2016. Since then, I have also had the pleasure of working with two excellent facilitators, Senator Yuen Pau Woo and Senator Raymonde Saint-Germain. Thank you, colleagues, for allowing me to be part of your group.

I also want to acknowledge my staff who were with me from the very beginning: Alan Fleming, who was more like a brother to me; Carol Pereira, who managed my Ottawa office incredibly well; Karina Matthews-Denny, who looked after our Membertou office; and Rosalie Francis from Sipekne’katik, who provided sound legal advice along the way. How can I thank each of you enough? A senator is only as good as his or her staff. You certainly enabled me to do the best job that I could. Wela’lioq. You are all amazing people.

And how can I thank my family enough for allowing me to do this work? I do not need to explain to you the incredible personal sacrifices that are made to serve as a senator: the long hours, the endless meetings, the many hours of travel and the weeks that we spend away from our loved ones. It is our families who bear the burden of our absences from home.

I lost my wife while I served here. I owe so much to my family: my son Peter; my daughters Lacey and Gail; and my two grandchildren Rawlin and Arya. I worked here with the time that I borrowed from their lives. I can’t repay them for all that they have given me over these six years. The last three years were especially difficult for them and for me, but we made it and we are still very close. I look forward to the next part of our family journey, whatever that may be.

Colleagues, going forward, I wish nothing but the best for each of you. You will always be in my thoughts and prayers. I will continue to check on you from time to time to see how things are going. It is, and has been, the highlight of my life and career to have served with you in this place.

May our Creator bless each and every one of you. Wela’lioq.

Hon. Leo Housakos: My question is for the government leader. Last week, I asked you a question about “Justinflation.” In your answer, you quoted Scotiabank, which says, according to you, that your government did not create “Justinflation.”

Allow me to quote the report in question, which is by economists Jean-François Perreault and René Lalonde. They state that “. . . it is also abundantly clear that pandemic support measures could have been rolled back more rapidly at the global level.” They go on to say, “. . . the inflation outcome suggests that consolidation should have occurred at a more rapid pace.”

According to these economists, it is clear that the Trudeau government did not end COVID measures quickly enough and that the inflationary spiral we’re in is a direct result of their delayed response.

Senator Gold, when will you finally admit that “Justinflation” was created by the Trudeau government?

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question. Every time you ask this question, I remind you that the Canadian economy is doing well, very well even, compared to other G7 developed countries. Furthermore, our standing in the financial sector, according to the organizations that evaluate our creditworthiness is very solid. I will repeat that the government did what any government must do when faced with an almost existential crisis for the economy and the lives of Canadians during this pandemic. The government will continue to do what is required to help Canadians.

Senator Housakos: Senator Gold, clearly, you’re saying that you are proud of how your government has managed public finances, but the fact is that it’s been catastrophic, based on the results. We are facing record-high inflation.

The Scotiabank report that you love so much is entitled Policy Missteps Taking Their Toll: Scotiabank’s Forecast Tables. Senator Gold, who do you think was in charge when those very serious policy missteps were taken?

Senator Gold: Again, thank you for the question and the suggestion. I will add that to my inquiries.

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Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question, Senator Woo, and for underlining the impact that this is having on the Chinese Canadian community.

Regrettably, as we know, there is a real concern about Chinese interference in our institutions. It has been underlined by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians and by others, and, indeed, investigations are under way. It is gratifying to know that there is no evidence that the elections that have been recently held were anything but fair.

The concern you express is a real one. I know that investigations are under way, and in that regard, I’m not aware of the steps the government may be taking or considering to provide some assurance or comfort to those in the Chinese Canadian community who are feeling under the spotlight or under attack. Canadians should rest assured that the government is seriously investigating allegations, and at such time as those investigations are completed, more facts will be disclosed.