The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Anil Kaul. He is the guest of the Honourable Senator Deacon (Ontario).

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

The Hon. the Speaker informed the Senate that a message had been received from the House of Commons with Bill C-24, An Act for granting to Her Majesty certain sums of money for the federal public administration for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.

(Bill read first time.)

The Hon. the Speaker informed the Senate that a message had been received from the House of Commons with Bill C-25, An Act for granting to Her Majesty certain sums of money for the federal public administration for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.

(Bill read first time.)

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, my question is again for the leader, Senator Gold.

Senator Gold, during the debate just a few days ago and the motions to pre-study Bill C-11 and Bill C-13, you and Senator Gagné assured the Senate that we would have all the necessary time to study these bills, that there was no rush for the government to adopt these two bills.

On Monday, the Standing Committee on Official Languages of the House of Commons held its first meeting on Bill C-13. The very first MP who had the floor, Liberal Francis Drouin, tabled a time allocation motion to limit debate on the bill. Debate had not even started. No witnesses had been heard, and the government moved closure before any debate started. Thankfully, the left arm of the government didn’t agree with the right arm of the government, so the NDP voted against this time allocation. Two left arms, two left feet.

Senator Gold, if Bill C-13 does not have to be rushed, why did your government try to close the debate in the House committee before the debate even started?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. First of all, what I’ve said in this chamber on many occasions — and I’ll say it again — is not that these bills are not important, but that the Senate will and that the government respects that the Senate will take the time that it chooses to properly study bills.

Why the government may have moved time allocation in the other place might have something to do with the degree of obstruction that has characterized this Parliament for some time, and I think the best answer is the short one in this regard.

Senator Gold: The leadership in this place and the Senate has made it clear that they demand — and properly so — proper time to study bills. I have no control over the will of the Senate, but I respect that.

I wish the same respect would be shown to the words that I have pronounced publicly and in private on an ongoing basis. What knowledge I may or may not have of parliamentary strategy or government’s intentions are things that no responsible parliamentarian would inquire of as those with experience — and indeed those who have more recently arrived — would understand it would be an inappropriate breach of confidence.

Senator Gold: The government has respect for the PBO Office. As I said, I’m not aware of the situation which you brought to my attention and I’ll certainly look into it.

[Translation]

Hon. Chantal Petitclerc: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.

Senator Gold, gender-based analysis plus, or GBA+, is an essential tool that the government introduced in 1995 in the development of its policies, programs and legislation. That said, as far back as 2009 and again in 2015, the then auditors general identified barriers to its implementation.

Just last week, the Auditor General noted that the previously identified and still unresolved problem of collecting and using disaggregated data explains why so little progress has been made in fully integrating GBA+.

Senator Gold, can you explain why these gaps in disaggregated data collection persist? As you can appreciate, without that data, it is difficult to effectively address systemic inequalities.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): I thank the honourable senator for her question. While progress has been made, there is still much to be done to identify gaps and continue removing barriers. The Government of Canada remains committed to this issue. One step has been to address the gaps in disaggregated data, as traditional institutions have historically limited access to vulnerable populations.

As a reminder, the government applies GBA+ throughout the life cycle of an initiative, from policy development to implementation.

I note that the 2021 budget provides $11 million over five years for gender-based violence research and knowledge mobilization. This funding is intended to support the important data collection and research work being done by organizations on the ground to better serve under-represented groups. This research is the foundation of GBA+.

Senator Petitclerc: Senator Gold, in our role as legislators, it is important for us to have access to all the tools we need to do our work in a thorough and professional manner.

Would it be possible to provide us, on a regular basis, automatically or systematically, even a summary of the comparative analyses conducted as part of the development of government bills every time they are brought to our attention?

Hon. Tony Loffreda: Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. Senator Gold, last week the Auditor General released four performance audit reports, one of which focused on access to benefits for hard-to-reach populations. Ms. Hogan found that the Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada, or ESDC, had an incomplete picture of potentially eligible people who were not receiving benefits, and the departments did not know whether most of their targeted outreach activities had helped to increase benefit take-up rates for hard-to-reach populations.

Can you share with Canadians what the government is doing to increase the number of hard-to-reach individuals who are eligible for government-funded benefits? Although it’s only two years old, can you tell us if Service Canada’s Reaching All Canadians initiative is reaping any benefits and showing early signs of success?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Senator, thank you for the question. The government welcomes the recommendations of the Auditor General and acknowledges, frankly, that there is more work to be done.

Barriers keeping at-risk Canadians from accessing benefits include lack of awareness, lack of cultural awareness, service design, accessibility and others. To address these barriers, ESDC developed a strategy structured around four key components: simplification, direct reach, inclusion, and promotion and awareness. This strategy includes client-centric solutions to connect with at-risk Canadians where they live, similar to the successful Indigenous Outreach initiative that obtained funding in 2018 to reach remote and northern Indigenous communities that have been historically underserved. I’m also advised that the CRA continues to support and build trust with hard-to-reach and vulnerable communities across the country. For example, free tax clinics and outreach programs serve approximately 600,000 people a year.

With respect to your question regarding the Reaching All Canadians initiative, I’m advised that the government is presently seeking to strengthen this initiative to respond to the findings in the audit. I have been assured that the government will continue to develop programs and processes to ensure that all Canadians — especially marginalized and underserved people — are able to access services, benefits and support.

Senator Loffreda: Thank you for the answer, Senator Gold. It’s reassuring.

As Ms. Hogan said, the government needs to find out what the barriers that prevent hard-to-reach populations from accessing these programs are and then tailor its outreach programs instead of repeating the same recipe over and over again in the hopes that it will generate more buy-in.

I know the government acknowledged the responsibility to help Canadians receive their benefits, and to that effect it allocated $18 million in 2021 to ESDC and CRA for targeted outreach activities. Is the government able to provide us with an update on how this money was spent, and how many Canadians it helped obtain benefits they otherwise would have likely not received or applied for?

Hon. Brian Francis: Thank you for the important question, Senator Tannas. The short answer is yes. The Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples is committed to increasing transparency and accountability surrounding the federal implementation of past legislation, including An Act respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which, as you noted, requires that an action plan be developed by June 2023. However, due to a limited number of meetings, this and other work has been deferred to the fall.

Please allow me to give you an overview of what we have done to date and what we hope to do next. This year, the Aboriginal Peoples Committee drew attention to the priorities and needs of Indigenous women and girls. We did so by reviewing the federal implementation of the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which was released three years ago last Friday, as well as An Act to amend the Indian Act in response to the Superior Court of Quebec decision in Descheneaux c. Canada, which claimed to remove all gender-based discrimination in the Indian Act relating to registration. We hope to table reports on these two important topics this month.

In the fall, the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples intends to review the federal implementation of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls with a targeted study. In addition, we will focus on An Act respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, An Act respecting cannabis and to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, An Act respecting Indigenous languages and An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families.

In the fall, we will invite Minister Lametti, and others, to appear during public meetings to provide updates on each of these laws.

Honourable senators, allow me to thank the members of the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples, including Senators Christmas and Patterson, who are in steering, for their hard work over the past months.

I hope in September we will be able to meet twice a week to make serious progress towards our ambitious and urgent agenda. Thank you, Senator Tannas, again for the question.

Senator Housakos: Government leader, do you recognize that the average Canadian family in Canada will be spending $1,000 more this year than they did last year for food, for milk, for eggs, for bread — essential elements needed for parents to feed their children? I appreciate that for the Prime Minister and his cabinet and maybe parliamentarians $1,000 isn’t that much, but for your average Canadian family that is a substantial burden to carry.

In this country, we have been facing 30-year high inflation rates. We are currently in a situation where fruits and meats are 10% more costly than they were exactly a year ago. That’s the reality, government leader, and your government has taken actions that are making food more expensive for farmers to produce, including the carbon tax and the tariff on fertilizer imports. At a time of record inflation, when many Canadians are forced to choose between buying food and paying their bills, why are your policies that are making food even more expensive for Canadians something your government is still embracing and holding dear to?

Hon. Leo Housakos: Honourable senators, my question is for the government leader in the Senate. Yesterday, the NDP-Liberal government had an opportunity to make life more affordable for Canadians by supporting a motion from the official opposition in the other place. The motion put forward concrete actions that would help Canadians dealing with record food, fuel and housing inflation immediately — not next year, but right now.

Of course, your government voted against it. Government leader, I’ve raised the cost of living crisis with you many times and I haven’t gotten the sense that your government understands the desperation that many families feel right across Canada.

Leader, does your government still believe that inflation is transitory? Is that why you won’t cut taxes on gas or/and the mandates? Was your refusal to support yesterday’s motion strictly a partisan decision, or was it ideological? What is it with your government?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I know it’s not a tradition in this place, as it is in my community, to answer a question with a question, but I might leave unstated the questions I might have posed to you about the motivations behind the motion to which you refer.

The government is aware and cares about the cost of living for Canadians and continues to focus on making life better and more affordable for Canadians. That there are differences in policy approaches between the party of which you’re a part and the current government is part of democratic politics. This government will continue to work in the best interests of Canadians as they face the real challenge of increases in the cost of living that we’re all experiencing.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, some day, maybe this government will show us that they care instead of just telling us that they do. My question, once again, is for the government leader in the Senate.

Too many Canadians are having to choose between buying groceries and filling up their gas tank to go to work. Every time your NDP-Liberal government says record gas prices are a global phenomenon and washes their hands of doing anything to help Canadians, they make life more and more unaffordable for families. Our out-of-touch Prime Minister has no idea how much Canadians are struggling right now. He probably hasn’t filled his tank, maybe, ever.

Other countries have taken action to help reduce energy costs for their citizens. For example, last week, the German government implemented a fuel tax cut for consumers.

Leader, gas prices in your city of Montreal hit a record of $2.23 per litre this week. How do you justify your government’s inaction? I know they care. You’ve told us they care, so they must care. How do you justify your government’s inaction for Canadians trying to get to work every day?

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

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

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