Senator Gold: Thank you. I did make inquiries and, no, I have not received a response back. Therefore I am not in a position to answer the question, but I will add it to my follow-up.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): In order to answer both aspects of your question, I will have to make inquiries and will report back.

Senator Martin: Leader, with respect to the credit card swipe fees consultations that I mentioned, small businesses are still waiting to hear when the next round will begin, as announced in the budget. Over a month ago, on May 14, the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers stated:

. . . there has been a deafening silence from the government as to when this additional consultation will be taking place and what it will be addressing.

Leader, when I asked you about this last month, you said you would make inquiries and report back. What response did you receive if you’ve received any? Will your government launch these consultations as soon as possible?

Senator Gold: I will certainly make inquiries, because this is the first I have heard of this. Forgive me for not being familiar with or a regular reader of this newspaper.

Again, I will have to make inquiries before I can make any comments, including a response to your last question.

Senator Gold: I will certainly make inquiries as to the specific question with which you ended your comments.

Again, I will repeat: This is an unacceptable situation. The government is doing what it can. It is devoting the resources it has to resolve it. One hopes that the situation will improve such that Canadians can travel abroad, or receive their passports for whatever purposes they need them, as quickly as possible.