Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you. The problem facing young Canadians seeking to enter or stay in the housing market is a very real one, and it is exacerbated, to be sure, by the necessity of interest rates rising to address inflation, a concern that has been raised, properly so, in this chamber many times, even if the government and the opposition disagree as to the causes or even how to describe it.

That said, the Government of Canada, and not merely in the provisions of Bill C-31, which we will receive, but in other measures, is taking steps to assist Canadians in meeting the challenge, whether in acquiring or renting homes.

I’ve mentioned all of these in the chamber before, so in the interest of brevity, I will give you the top lines: provisions to provide financing for the building of new housing stock to create a greater supply, support for those seeking to rent and so on. The Government of Canada is committed to helping Canadians get through this period, and that’s why it has introduced measures such as in Bill C-31 and other bills to assist Canadians.

Senator Plett: Well, leader, you say that the government and the opposition have differences of opinion, and you’re certainly right there. I guess the main thing is that we have statistics and facts on our side.

Regardless of what your government says, regardless of your opinion, the facts indicate that housing is only becoming less affordable for the average household. This is during your government’s tenure. In fact, a report released by the Parliamentary Budget Officer just this morning indicates that the gap between the national average house price and what an average household could afford has increased from 45% in December 2021 to 67% in August 2022.

Leader, this NDP-Liberal government has had six years — well, I guess the NDP hasn’t been part of the government for six years, but it has been part of it for at least the last year — to fix the issue of housing affordability and has failed to develop a plan that works.

When will you stop doubling down on a failing system that hurts Canadians and continues to let supply lag far behind demand?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I have the honour to table the answers to the following oral questions:

Response to the oral question asked in the Senate on December 14, 2021, by the Honourable Senator Marshall, concerning the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security — National Defence.

Response to the oral question asked in the Senate on December 14, 2021, by the Honourable Senator Marshall, concerning the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security — Public Services and Procurement Canada.

Response to the oral question asked in the Senate on December 14, 2021, by the Honourable Senator Marshall, concerning the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security — Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

(Response to question raised by the Honourable Elizabeth Marshall on December 14, 2021)

The Communications Security Establishment’s Supplementary Estimates B 2021-22 included funding to enhance the reliability and security of Government of Canada information technology networks ($15.6M). This funding will enhance and expand the Government of Canada’s existing network. It will also improve the robustness and capacity of the Government of Canada’s connections to the internet and to cloud service providers while providing the security posture (i.e., monitoring and defence capabilities) required to protect Government of Canada data and applications.

In light of the networks upgrade that Shared Services Canada will implement via the Secure Cloud Enablement and Defence project, the Communications Security Establishment will invest $15.6M to upgrade the processing capabilities of our infrastructure in order to maintain our level of cyber defence services, as well as investing now in order to be able to absorb expecting growth in Government of Canada traffic.

(Response to question raised by the Honourable Elizabeth Marshall on December 14, 2021)

SSC’s Supplementary Estimates (B) 2021-22 included funding to enhance the reliability and security of Government of Canada information technology networks. The funding is for the Secure Cloud Enablement and Defence Evolution and the Departmental Connectivity and Monitoring initiative to enhance the reliability and security of Government of Canada information technology networks ($44.0 million). This funding will support the Secure Cloud to Ground operational activities and thereby support Shared Services Canada in delivering up to PROTECTED B secure cloud connectivity to partner departments, which is only one of the numerous cybersecurity projects within SSC’s project portfolio.

(Response to question raised by the Honourable Elizabeth Marshall on December 14, 2021)

The Government of Canada works continuously to enhance cyber security in Canada by preventing attacks through robust security measures, identifying cyber threats and vulnerabilities, and by preparing for and responding to all kinds of cyber incidents to better protect Canada and Canadians.

On 10 December 2021, Apache (the vendor of the software in question) released a Security Advisory highlighting a critical remote code execution vulnerability in Log4j, a widely deployed logging utility used in a variety of consumer and enterprise services, websites, applications, and Operational Technology (OT) products.

As part of the response to this global security vulnerability, some GC organizations proactively took their online services offline to allow the time to assess the impact and take mitigating steps to prevent potential exploitation. All services are now available.

There has been no indication that GC systems have been compromised because of this vulnerability.

The Hon. the Speaker informed the Senate that a message had been received from the House of Commons returning Bill S-206, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (disclosure of information by jurors), and acquainting the Senate that they had passed this bill without amendment.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.

[English]

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of the family of the Honourable Senator Shugart: his spouse, Linda, and his daughter, Heather.

On behalf of all honourable senators, I welcome you to the Senate of Canada.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, when shall this bill be read the second time?

(On motion of Senator Moncion, bill placed on the Orders of the Day for second reading two days hence.)

[English]