Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Leader, I want to follow up on my question to you from yesterday about your government’s reluctance to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, as a terrorist entity, which you deflected very similarly to what your colleague, Minister Joly, did on Monday. Leader, your government’s foot-dragging on this is truly puzzling especially when you consider that in 2012 the previous government listed Iran as a state supporter of terror.

Senator Gold, why then is the main terror arm of the state not fully sanctioned and listed as a terrorist entity?

Hon. Gwen Boniface: Honourable senators, I give notice that, two days hence:

I will call the attention of the Senate to intimate partner violence, especially in rural areas across Canada, in response to the coroner’s inquest conducted in Renfrew County, Ontario.

Hon. Raymonde Gagné (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, pursuant to the order adopted December 7, 2021, I would like to inform the Senate that Question Period with the Honourable David Lametti, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, will take place on Wednesday, October 5, 2022, at 3 p.m.

On the Order:

Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator Gold, P.C., seconded by the Honourable Senator LaBoucane-Benson:

That the following Address be presented to Her Excellency the Governor General of Canada:

To Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary May Simon, Chancellor and Principal Companion of the Order of Canada, Chancellor and Commander of the Order of Military Merit, Chancellor and Commander of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY:

We, Her Majesty’s most loyal and dutiful subjects, the Senate of Canada in Parliament assembled, beg leave to offer our humble thanks to Your Excellency for the gracious Speech which Your Excellency has addressed to both Houses of Parliament.

Hon. Marty Klyne: Honourable Senators, my remarks today follow Senator Harder’s comments of May 11 in this chamber toward a plan for sustainable, inclusive and shared prosperity across Canada. Senator Harder focused on the federal government’s Budget 2022 while highlighting ideas from the Senate Prosperity Action Group’s report last fall. One such idea is a prosperity council, an independent body to support and facilitate federal-provincial collaboration.

As a senator for Saskatchewan and a business person, today I will focus on the need for greater federal-provincial and Indigenous collaboration in Canada on energy, the environment and economic reconciliation. I’ll discuss Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson’s June proposal for regional energy and resource tables, followed by the National Indigenous Economic Strategy announced in June by a coalition of Indigenous organizations. I will close by highlighting ways that a prosperity council, as discussed by Senator Harder, could further collaboration and enhance shared prosperity in our federation.

At the outset, in considering Canada’s economic landscape, I acknowledge the need to control inflation, a global problem with complex causes, including the war in Ukraine. The Bank of Canada plays the key role domestically of managing inflation by adjusting its key policy interest rate. The Senate and our country’s business community respect the independence of that public institution. However, in acknowledging the need to address inflation through monetary policy, I do not think history will remember inflation as the major economic issue of our time; that will be climate change.

This summer, heat waves and flooding pushed people and nations to the edge. It’s not hard to find examples both globally and within Canada. Our hearts go out to the people of Pakistan following the flooding of one third of their country with an estimated 16 million children affected. With climate change contributing to severe weather, Atlantic Canada has faced devastating storms like Hurricane Fiona. Western Canada has experienced extreme drought and dangerously high temperatures. Future generations may view this period as humanity’s last opportunity to avert the worst consequences of climate change.

The Canadian government and Parliament have taken some action but not enough to lower emissions or demonstrate global leadership. Our window of time is closing relatively fast. The good news is that Canada has the resources to help the world achieve a successful transition to net zero. For example, our mining industry finds a generational opportunity with critical minerals such as those used in batteries. We have huge opportunities in lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, copper and rare-earth elements. An energy transition is not possible without such critical minerals; demand for lithium and cobalt is expected to increase by 4,000% by 2050.

In my province, the Saskatchewan Research Council and Vital Metals Inc. are two organizations developing rare earths processing facilities in Saskatoon, the first of their kind to be built in North America. Canada can generate incredible prosperity while helping save the environment, and we can continue to supply the free world with oil and gas during the transition. This can be a win-win, but only if we are serious about turning the tide on climate change.

My province shares rising temperatures with the rest of Canada’s provinces and territories. We also share inflation, taxes, equalization, diversity and the Canadian Constitution. However, we don’t always share political views when it comes to policy objectives and spending, recognizing that this is democracy — government by the people, under the rule of law.

There are many other factors that make Saskatchewan unique. Like every other region in Canada, Saskatchewan has its own unique strengths to build on, competitive advantages to cultivate and challenges to face head-on. That said, as a federation we are collectively much stronger and more globally competitive, with huge potential to advance prosperity, especially when senior levels of government, industry and Indigenous nations consult with each other and collaborate.

Based on my experience in business, regional economic development and Parliament — and considering the challenges and values we share across Canada — collaborative leadership will serve us best. One thing I have learned over the decades about economic development projects — specifically the sizable ones — is that the federal government will not do it alone, and the provinces can’t do it alone.

I’ve also come to believe that advance consultation and collaboration between the federal government and provinces and territories has become paramount in moving the agenda forward, and the many challenges we face as a federation require a whole‑of-nation approach.

For example, a consultative and collaborative approach between the federal government and Saskatchewan should benefit Saskatchewan at its proposed regional energy and resource table, which is an ideal location for Saskatchewan to define our future in a changing economy and ideally collaborate with the federal government to identify and accelerate a common list of the top two or four key economic growth priorities to tackle and take on together. Active consultation, collaboration and building on common ground could deliver success in three related areas that are vital and of mutual interest to Saskatchewan and Canada’s prosperity and well-being: energy, the environment and economic reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

While Saskatchewanians have spirited conversations about autonomy, we should not miss our chance to capitalize on opportunities and build on our reputation for hard work, innovation and patriotism. Saskatchewan has always found ways to simplify complex situations for others by devising made-in-Saskatchewan solutions. We have what the world wants, and we can deliver, working with partners across the country. In polarized times, the centre of Canadian federalism can and must hold, including respect for federal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous jurisdictions, public institutions and Charter values.

Mindful of this necessity, what can collaboration achieve for provinces in our country? One achievement already under way is affordable child care, further to the 2021 federal-provincial agreement. That agreement will give many kids a better start in life and help many parents better balance family, business and social pursuits. This example of collaborative leadership is a credit to both orders of government and a model for how to approach other challenges.

On the subject of energy and the environment, on June 1, federal Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson — who grew up, studied and worked in Saskatchewan — launched the first Regional Energy and Resource Tables. This is a constructive effort to bring together the federal and provincial governments, Indigenous peoples, business leaders, industry groups, unions and others to advance key priorities in the natural resources sector.

In July, Minister Wilkinson highlighted many emerging opportunities in his remarks to the Regina & District Chamber of Commerce and the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce. The Regional Tables initiative involves commencing a phased approach to working-level discussions with provinces. I do expect that when it’s Saskatchewan’s turn, we will embrace this conversation and take our rightful seat at the table to define our future in a changing economy and collaborate with the federal government to identify and accelerate a common list of the top two or four key economic growth priorities to take on together.

Saskatchewan has much to contribute to a greener economy. Our areas of strength include carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies, including the Petroleum Technology Research Centre at the University of Regina; flood and drought mitigation through the proposed expansion of Lake Diefenbaker irrigation, concurrently leading to sustainable agriculture and food processing, setting the table for a burgeoning and incrementally new agri-food sector and, hence, food security; Protein Industries Canada, our plant protein supercluster; Soileos, a new, sustainable, non-polluting and climate-positive micronutrient fertilizer that assists farmers in boosting their yield while at the same time returning carbon to their soil and reducing the need for nitrogen fertilizer in future years; biofuels, including aviation fuel; critical minerals, including uranium from the world’s largest high-grade deposits to fuel regional and other reactors; and small modular reactors.

On that point, SaskPower is currently studying the Estevan and Elbow areas as potential sites for small modular reactors. As an energy leader in the country, Saskatchewan already has the know-how to guide a transition. Many skills and areas of expertise will transfer. Saskatchewanians welcome opportunities to leverage our strengths and create future prosperity while contributing to Canada’s scientifically grounded environmental goals — a just and fair transition.

Speaking of “just and fair,” all these efforts can and must support economic reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. When I speak of the need for collaborative leadership, we know that Indigenous people have often faced one-sided and coerced agreements, exclusion from business and violations of their rights over land and resources.

On June 6, 2022, a coalition of more than 25 Indigenous organizations unveiled a new National Indigenous Economic Strategy with four strategic pathways: people, lands, infrastructure and finance. Their 107 Calls to Economic Prosperity can provide new energy and guidance to discussions between jurisdictions, and should be considered in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP, action plan.

In both the public and private sectors, Canadians’ fundamental responsibility to recognize Indigenous rights and eliminate barriers will unlock capacity and growth, benefiting everyone. One helpful resource is RBC’s June report entitled 92 to Zero: How economic reconciliation can power Canada’s climate goals.

For example, the report notes that achieving net zero:

. . . will rely heavily on vital sources of capital held by Indigenous nations. RBC estimates Canada needs roughly $2 trillion in capital over the next 25 years, much of it from Indigenous sources—or unlocked by Indigenous partnerships, including ownership.

The report outlines four sources of capital held by Indigenous nations. They are: natural capital, including 56% of advanced critical mineral projects, 35% of top solar sites and 44% of wind sites; financial capital, meaning the growing wealth of Indigenous nations, including an estimated $120 billion of trust assets and outstanding land and other claims; intellectual capital, incorporating Indigenous knowledge and traditional values; and human capital, including young Indigenous leaders, entrepreneurs and Indigenous members of the workforce.

On the last point, we have a massive skills shortage in this country in science, technology, engineering and math. The Indigenous population is growing at twice the rate of the non‑Indigenous population. If Indigenous youth are given fair opportunities to gain these skills, they can make valued contributions to our future prosperity. They just need that chance.

In developing the Senate Prosperity Action Group’s report last year, we heard about economic reconciliation from representatives of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, the National Indigenous Economic Development Board, the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association, Cando, Coastal First Nations and the University of Saskatchewan.

We heard that Indigenous-owned businesses currently contribute an estimated $32 billion to the Canadian economy, and Indigenous business leaders have set an ambitious goal of a $100 billion performance target. Let’s make it happen.

The Senate Prosperity Action Group has aimed to contribute ideas towards inclusive and sustainable prosperity. I close by highlighting one idea that could assist in jurisdictional collaboration. To that end, I repeat Senator Harder’s call to create a new prosperity council. This was a key recommendation of our report with the goal of creating a neutral and independent body to coordinate and support federal-provincial engagement. A prosperity council could help by publishing research, convening meetings, promoting dialogue among governments and stakeholders, studying policy options and opportunities and measuring objectives. An immediate goal could be implementing free interprovincial trade further to the 2017 Canadian Free Trade Agreement.

Interprovincial free trade was a goal identified in Budget 2022. According to the International Monetary Fund, Canada could increase our GDP per capita by 4% through a free flow of interprovincial goods. What are we waiting for?

Canadian businesses can also demonstrate to Canadians that working together has huge benefits. Our country shouldn’t be so polarized. We need to push back against partisan incentives aimed at avoiding federal-provincial collaboration.

The Senate can help lower the temperature and maintain focus on Canadians’ shared values and interests. We have a lot more in common than the voices of partisanship suggest.

Let’s work together to succeed together, including in Saskatchewan and across the country. I invite senators to join debate, and let’s look for opportunities to make a difference.

Thank you, Hiy kitatamîhin.

(On motion of Senator Gagné, debate adjourned.)

Hon. Pat Duncan: Honourable senators, I note that this item is at Day 14. I move that further debate be adjourned until the next sitting of the Senate.

(On motion of Senator Duncan, debate adjourned.)

On the Order:

Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator McCallum, seconded by the Honourable Senator Dean:

That the Senate of Canada:

(a)acknowledge that racism, in all its forms, was a cornerstone upon which the residential school system was created;

(b)acknowledge that racism, discrimination and abuse were rampant within the residential school system;

(c)acknowledge that the residential school system, created for the malevolent purpose of assimilation, has had profound and continuing negative impacts on Indigenous lives, cultures and languages; and

(d)apologize unreservedly for Canada’s role in the establishment of the residential school system, as well as its resulting adverse impacts, the effects of which are still seen and felt by countless Indigenous peoples and communities today.

Hon. Mary Coyle: Honourable senators, as we gather here today in Canada’s upper chamber, on the lands of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people — on the eve of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation — I rise to add my voice in support of Senator McCallum’s Motion No. 10 and to encourage us to vote in favour of this important motion today.

To remind us, the motion reads:

That the Senate of Canada:

(a)acknowledge that racism, in all its forms, was a cornerstone upon which the residential school system was created;

(b)acknowledge that racism, discrimination and abuse were rampant within the residential school system;

(c)acknowledge that the residential school system, created for the malevolent purpose of assimilation, has had profound and continuing negative impacts on Indigenous lives, cultures and languages; and

(d)apologize unreservedly for Canada’s role in the establishment of the residential school system, as well as its resulting adverse impacts, the effects of which are still seen and felt by countless Indigenous peoples and communities today.

Senator McCallum’s motion is asking us — my fellow senators — to admit, to acknowledge and to apologize.

Colleagues, the evidence is clear. In this very chamber, we have all heard Senator McCallum recount her own excruciatingly painful experiences of residential school. Colleagues, in her speech introducing this motion almost a year ago, Senator McCallum quoted James Minton, who said:

We must be acutely aware that the crimes of residential school systems cannot be reduced to the injuries [experienced] by surviving individuals—for residential schools systems were not aimed at individuals, but rather at peoples . . . .

Colleagues, in 1879 — just 12 years after our chamber was established — Nicholas Flood Davin was sent by the Canadian government to investigate Indian education in the U.S.

Soon after, his report recommended boarding schools as a way to reduce “the influence of the wigwam” and as the best option for Indians “to be merged and lost” within the nation.

In their article “Genocidal carcerality and Indian residential schools in Canada,” Andrew Woolford and James Gacek state about Davin’s report:

Soon after his report, several government-sponsored boarding schools opened.

From this time, until the last Canadian residential school closed in 1996, 150,000 children passed through these schools, often spending ten months a year from as young as four or five years of age to as old as eighteen or nineteen. While in residence, they faced an assimilative education that taught them to despise their Indigenous identities . . . . The schools were administered by Christian denominations, namely Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, and Presbyterian. They were spaces of horrifying physical and sexual violence, where children spent half of their days in lessons and the other half working to offset the costs of their education . . . . Conditions at the schools were defined by poor nutrition, insufficient clothing, inadequate medical care, as well as crowding and poor ventilation. Thus, the schools were often deadly environments. The [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] of Canada —

— led by our former colleague the Honourable Murray Sinclair —

— estimates that at minimum 6000 children perished while attending residential schools. Many others left the schools with a feeling of detachment and loss, unable to fit into the white world into which they were supposed to be assimilated, but also unable to return to their home communities since they no longer felt connected to their cultures. Entire generations of Indigenous children went without the experience of familial socialisation, cultural education, and a strong sense of community attachment. The reverberations of this experience continue today, with high levels of physical and sexual violence, substance abuse, health and mental health challenges, and other indicators of marginalisation present within many Indigenous communities and connected to cycles of violence that began in the residential schools.

Our colleague Senator Brian Francis reminded us in his speech sponsoring Bill C-5 — which helped create the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action No. 80 — that the actions of creating and operating the residential schools were:

. . . based on racist assumptions about the intellectual and cultural inferiority of Indigenous people and their ways of knowing and being.

The efforts of the residential schools to assimilate, convert and civilize Indigenous children through brutal means had the intention of “killing the Indian in the child.”

Colleagues, while preparing myself to participate in our special Arctic Committee’s visit to that region in 2018, I spoke with people who were working in the school system in Nunavik in northern Quebec.

I will never forget what one of the senior educators told me about the ongoing impact of the residential school system there. She said that the residential schools were no longer needed to kill the Indian in the child; in fact, their devastatingly harmful legacy is now causing the children to kill themselves in such large and tragic numbers.

Colleagues, in Statistics Canada’s 2019 report on suicide rates among Indigenous peoples in Canada, the suicide rate among First Nations people was three times higher than that of non‑Indigenous people.

The suicide rate among Métis people was twice as high as that of non-Indigenous people. And the suicide rate among Inuit people is nine times higher than that of non-Indigenous people in our country.

Colleagues, I could read you the many achingly painful personal testimonies of residential school survivors recorded through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

I could cite many articles on the intergenerational trauma experienced by the descendants of residential school survivors. I could cite the sorry numbers on Indigenous language loss. I could talk about the ongoing racist treatment and mistreatment of Indigenous Canadians in our health care system.

But I believe the evidence before us is so overpoweringly clear that racism is the basis on which the residential school system was established and operated — and that the manifestations of its horrific impacts on Indigenous people and their communities further fuels that very racism today, as well as exacerbates and perpetuates the harms and human rights abuses they experience.

Honourable colleagues, now let’s turn back to the motion before us, asking us to admit to, to acknowledge and to apologize for this tragic and unjust racist reality of residential schools and their harms.

Colleagues, our very chamber would have been complicit in approving these laws, policies and programs — and complicit in not protecting the children, the families and the communities who were harmed. The residential school system was a cruel and, sadly, effective instrument of genocide.

As one very small step toward reconciliation on this day — the eve of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation — honourable colleagues, let’s admit and acknowledge the truth about residential schools, as articulated in this motion. And let’s respectfully apologize as representatives of our respective provinces and territories, and collectively as the Senate of Canada.

Colleagues, let’s take this step toward rebuilding trust and toward healing our important relationships with Indigenous peoples and communities across Canada.

Thank you, Senator McCallum, for your initiative and for providing all of us with the opportunity to do the right thing.

Wela’lioq, thank you.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I have the honour to inform the Senate that the Clerk of the Senate has received a certificate from the Registrar General of Canada showing that Ian Douglas Shugart has been summoned to the Senate.

Senator Dupuis: Senator Gold, in that same report from April 2022, the Commissioner concludes that the department incorporated Gender-based Analysis Plus when designing these programs and has collected related data from project proponents, but it hasn’t systematically evaluated or reported on the results. This makes it difficult to track the extent to which programs are making progress, or not, on the government’s equality commitments.

Does the department intend to address this oversight in Gender-based Analysis Plus in the projects it funds? When and how will the department conduct the evaluation? How do the projects it funds help achieve this government’s commitment and when will it report on them?

Senator Gold: Thank you for the supplementary question.

I will have to do some digging and get back to you about several aspects of your question.

To the important issue of GBA+, I’ve been assured that Infrastructure Canada would work with project proponents to report on the parameters relating to gender, diversity and inclusion and to improve measurement and reporting of these parameters in the design of future programs.

As I said, I will endeavour to get answers to the other aspects to your question.

[English]

Hon. Marty Klyne: Senator Gold, the environment minister’s mandate letter includes creating a Canada water agency, or CWA. We’ve seen many issues facing Canadians around fresh water, including drought, floods and water advisories affecting thousands. According to the ministry’s discussion paper, the CWA would provide Canadians with:

. . . a central point of contact for federal freshwater-related questions and an integrated picture of federal freshwater programs and services.

This initiative is an important response to the clear need to manage our freshwater resources, including around climate change and food security.

Senator Gold, can you please update us on the status of this file?

Hon. Leo Housakos: Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Senator Gold, this question actually comes from Justin in Ottawa. His question is specifically about Employment Insurance, or EI, premiums, which Justin from Ottawa describes as a direct payroll tax, a tax that your government will be raising in a few months at a time when Canadians can ill afford another tax increase. He asks: “Why the Prime Minister chose to raise EI premiums — a direct payroll tax — for him and every other Canadian?”

Of course, government leader, that was Justin Trudeau in 2013 in the House of Commons. In 2022, Mr. Trudeau is trying to claim this isn’t a tax increase, but I digress.

My question, Senator Gold, is why is the Prime Minister raising taxes for Canadians who are already struggling to make ends meet as a result of his fiscal mismanagement?

Hon. Jean-Guy Dagenais: My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

Senator Gold, after seven years in power, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have shown the depths of the incompetence in managing services to the public. Let me elaborate.

The issuing of passports has been a complete failure. When someone wants to renew their Nexus card, your government has been recommending for the past two years that they go to the Americans, because the Canadian offices are closed. Welcoming immigrants has been nothing but empty rhetoric. Meanwhile, smugglers continue to enter without a problem at Roxham Road. Now, police chiefs believe that organized crime groups have taken over the production of medical cannabis and that Health Canada has lost control of the licences granted. That’s another well-documented failure. When and how will your government sort out the mess of licences issued without background checks?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your comments and question. I’ll try to answer your last question as I’ve already addressed the other issues several times.

As I explained in the chamber a few days ago, problems with the cultivation of cannabis, the revelations about who has obtained licences and the involvement of organized crime are concerns for the government. It is working with its provincial partners and police to address this serious and real problem. Thank you for the question.

Senator Dagenais: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police believes that the criminal production of cannabis is the same or greater than it was before cannabis was legalized in 2017. Do you acknowledge that Prime Minister Trudeau was mistaken to believe that he would put a stop to organized crime by legalizing cannabis?

Senator Gold: I disagree. The data clearly show a movement among cannabis consumers from legal and illegal sources. It will take some time before this crucial change in consumption habits is fully realized. That said, the Government of Canada is proud of its legislation to decriminalize cannabis for those who consume it for personal reasons.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): The program included in Bill C-31, which is still in the other place, is, as everyone knows, a first step to allocating money in the short term to families who are suffering in the current economic climate. It is not a dental plan. It is very clear that the federal government is working directly with its provincial counterparts in health care. There is an ongoing conversation about the amount of money they give to the provinces. That conversation will likely continue for the rest of our lives.

That being said, during the next steps, this chamber can rest assured that the federal government will work closely with its provincial counterparts to ensure that the program respects the needs of Canadians as well as constitutional jurisdictions.

Senator Gold: The clear and direct answer to both questions is that the bill will be sent to us soon, I hope, and that we will have the opportunity to study it and to put questions directly to those in charge of drafting and implementing the bill.

[English]

Hon. Jane Cordy: Honourable senators, I’m pleased to join the other leaders in welcoming Senator Shugart as the newest member of the Red Chamber.

As others have already mentioned, Senator Shugart, you have dedicated your career to public service, demonstrating your commitment to Canadians, as well as to the institutions of government.

Most recently, your work as Clerk of the Privy Council tested your abilities to face new challenges. Specifically, you led the public service’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, while also addressing heightened calls to tackle systemic racism in our institutions. In your 28th Annual Report to the Prime Minister on the Public Service of Canada, you wrote, “Our country needs deep reflection on who we are and who we want to be.” On this — the eve of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation — it feels particularly meaningful.

Though some of us joined the Senate as complete novices, you do have the advantage of already intimately understanding the mechanisms of government. Indeed, you have even appeared as a witness in committee, both in the other place and here in the Senate. I’m sure that those senators who once had the opportunity to question you will now join me in welcoming you to the other side of the table.

As a former teacher, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that you earned another title this month, in addition to that of senator, and that is professor or teacher. I am certain that students at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy will be well served by your wisdom and your expertise.

Senator Shugart, through your lifelong devotion to public service, you are already well aware of some of the challenges you will face in this chamber. Though we are all here to make this country a better place for everyone, we may not always agree on how best to achieve that. Similarly, as we continue to modernize this institution, the same concept holds true. I believe that our work will always be enhanced by this need to balance those often-competing voices. It is clear that your commitment to diversity and inclusion, as well as your decades of knowledge and experience, will certainly serve you well in your new role as a senator.

It is always exciting to see what one’s next chapter in life will be, and I am pleased that yours will allow you to continue your service to Canadians. I look forward to working with you and, on behalf of the Progressive Senate Group, I would like to officially welcome you to the Senate of Canada.

Hon. Senators: Agreed.

(Motion agreed to.)

(At 4:03 p.m., the Senate was continued until Tuesday, October 4, 2022, at 2 p.m.)