Hon. Victor Oh: Honourable senators, I rise today to commemorate the sixteenth anniversary of the redress of the Chinese head tax and the Chinese Exclusion Act. On June 22, 2006, the Right Honourable Stephen Harper stood before the House of Commons and apologized on behalf of the Government of Canada for these discriminatory laws toward Chinese immigrants. This was an important moment in our history. A moment when grave injustices were recognized and efforts were made to redress and support the healing of those most directly impacted.

It was after the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the late 19th century that the Canadian government established the Chinese head tax, which was soon followed by the Chinese Exclusion Act.

During these dark times in our nation’s history, we imposed a head tax and strict regulations to deter Chinese newcomers to Canada. Chinese families became fractured and indebted, and poverty was rampant. This was the only law in our country’s history to force a tax based solely on where someone was from.

As Prime Minister Harper said during his apology 16 years ago:

We have the collective responsibility to build a country based firmly on the notion of equality of opportunity, regardless of one’s race or ethnic origin.

This, I believe, is the Canada we all strive for. Although we have collectively experienced peaks and valleys in our pursuit of racial equality, I know we have come a long way toward being a more inclusive nation, and I am optimistic for our future.

Colleagues, in closing, I remind you that Canada would not be the vibrant and prosperous country it is today if it were not for the contributions of the Chinese immigrant community.

On this anniversary, I ask that we all reflect upon the many difficulties Chinese immigrants faced while paving the way for a more tolerant and accepting future. Thank you, xie xie.

Hon. Brent Cotter: Honourable senators, I wish that I were delivering these remarks, at least the beginning of the remarks, on a day other than a day when we are acknowledging Senator Boisvenu’s suffering for the loss of his daughter.

I want to speak today a little in the context of being a father. Today, a few days after Father’s Day, I am humbled to be grateful. My son Rob and my daughter Kelly, whom you have just met, each in their own way, are heroes to me. I’m reminded of a famous line from a Wordsworth poem, “The child is father to the man,” and in its literal interpretation it surely applies to me.

The main focus of my statement today is the subject of people with disabilities from the specific to the general. Many of us — as well as our friends, sons, daughters, parents, people we love — live with disabilities.

One is my daughter Kelly. Kelly lives at Glenora Farm outside of Duncan, a wonderful, welcoming living community. She is not only my daughter, but also my friend and an inspiration to me. In fact, Kelly and her friend Carmen Sutherland are heroes. They face the challenges in their lives, challenges that most of us neither experience nor think about, with courage and optimism. Their commitment to others similarly situated or even more challenged is incredibly uplifting to me, and I am confident that many of you have similar experiences and inspirations.

It is also important to note that many of our loved ones who have disabilities are well supported by us, our families and communities, financially and emotionally. We are not in need of public intervention to help ensure that their lives are fulfilling ones.

This is not the case for many others with disabilities. Indeed, a disproportionate percentage of people with disabilities live in impoverished circumstances and have much less support in their lives than those close to us. The continuation of these circumstances for the most vulnerable of our citizens does us no honour. And it is to this, as much as to any other initiative we will be considering in the coming period of time, that I hope we will turn our minds.

Many of you in this chamber have committed your energies, influence and financial resources in support of people with disabilities. For example, earlier today, at his own expense, the Usher of the Black Rod acquired and presented 25 decorative pillows — some of you have seen these before — to pages and others as an expression of his appreciation for their work on our behalf this past year.

I am hopeful that our energy and influence will continue among us all when, at some point in time, we get to deliberate on a more comprehensive commitment to people with disabilities, the disability benefit bill. This is not a speech about the bill. That will come in the course of time. But I do hope that from time to time in the coming weeks and months, as we enjoy summers of joy and fulfillment in this great country, we give thought to the ways in which we can enrich the lives of those less fortunate than us and open our hearts to their needs. Thank you.

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

Leader, the answers provided by you and Minister Blair yesterday, that no pressure was put on RCMP Commissioner Lucki, are difficult to believe because we’ve all heard it before.

The very morning the SNC-Lavalin scandal broke in February 2019, the Prime Minister stood before Canadians and said the allegations in The Globe and Mail are false. It wasn’t long before we found out that those allegations were true. The Prime Minister told a powerful woman what he wanted to happen in order to advance his political agenda, regardless of rules, laws or propriety. Minister Wilson-Raybould said no and was fired.

Now we have the same situation, leader, but Commissioner Lucki saw what happened when a woman says no to the Prime Minister. In fact, several women have been tossed aside over the years, and she did as she was asked.

As I said yesterday, Lia Scanlan, the RCMP’s former director of strategic communications in Halifax, said in her own testimony, “. . . we have a commissioner that does not push back.”

Leader, who is the Gerald Butts in this situation? Who in the Prime Minister’s Office spoke with Commissioner Lucki about an active police investigation?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. As I responded yesterday, and as the minister and commissioner responded, there was no interference in the investigation.

Senator Plett: Of course, the question was about who spoke to the commissioner about an active police investigation. The question wasn’t about interference. We all know that the Prime Minister says that people feel things differently. When he gropes somebody, they experience it differently than when somebody else does.

The government denies it pressured Commissioner Lucki and she denies she pressured the Nova Scotia RCMP. I will go back to the SNC-Lavalin scandal because it’s the same pattern, leader. Jody Wilson-Raybould received a call from the former clerk of the Privy Council telling her the Prime Minister is in that kind of mood. If someone hears their boss is in a mood, they get the message pretty quick.

When Commissioner Lucki hears the Prime Minister and Minister Blair ask for information on an active investigation to help advance their legislation, she gets the message. The Nova Scotia RCMP officials certainly got the message from Commissioner Lucki according to their own words in documents released Tuesday.

Leader, aside from what you’re saying, do you agree that this needs to be investigated further?

Senator Gold: No, I do not.

[Translation]

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: Senator Gold, I would encourage you to read the order-in-council that created that commission. The government’s role is not independent. It is a stakeholder in the commission, as the order states.

I would like to address another issue that also affects the victims of Portapique. Now I understand why the Minister of Justice has not yet appointed an ombudsman for victims of crime. It’s because he is afraid that by having an ombudsman in place, these victims will file official complaints.

Here is my question. We have been waiting for nine months for the ombudsman to be appointed. We waited 11 months in 2017. Will the Minister of Justice appoint the ombudsman before June 30, 2022?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. I cannot accept the premise of the specific question, so I will focus on the question. I am told that the government has launched an appointment process for a new Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, and the work to fill the position is ongoing.

In the meantime, senator, the office remains accessible to victims of crime across Canada requesting their services.

On March 29, 2022, the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights began its study of the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights. Victims’ rights remain a priority for the government. Significant policy and programmatic investments and various law reforms have been introduced since 2015 to address the needs and concerns of victims and survivors of crime.

Hon. Jean-Guy Dagenais: My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Leader, friends of your Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, agree that the aviation industry’s carbon emissions are responsible for 5% to 6% of global warming and that pollution generated by global aviation increases 3% to 4% per year.

The government that you represent never ceases to amaze me with its inconsistent and illogical decisions, as I will explain.

Leader, I would like to know why the Trudeau government will spend no less than $64 million to host, next October, COP15, the United Nations conference on biodiversity, which was to be held in China. It will turn 12,000 to 15,000 environmentalists into global polluters, who are coming from 190 different countries to see Canadian achievements in biodiversity, which could easily be presented on digital platforms.

How can anyone justify such a contradiction on the part of environmentalists, who are shirking their responsibilities in the fight against greenhouse gas emissions?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question.

The world we’re living in demands that we find a balance between the necessary — existential, even — fight against climate change and the fact that life goes on, and that includes travel to major international conferences.

We should be proud that our country can welcome experts from around the world to share their knowledge and help us move forward. We also recognize that this is not the world of Starfleet Enterprise and people can’t just say, “Beam me up.” This includes us, as well, since we travel to do our jobs here. Our work comes at a cost and with environmental consequences.

Canada is a leader in the fight against climate change and it is entirely appropriate for us to host such a gathering of experts.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question, in which there are a lot of assertions and conclusions. It was made clear that Minister Mendicino’s remarks were not properly interpreted. It is the position of the government, as it was my position in speaking to the invocation of the act, that it was necessary. It was made clear by the advice that was taken from all quarters that the tools that only the Emergencies Act allowed were necessary to address a serious challenge to our national security and economy.

Senator Batters: Senator Gold, when former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould stood up for the rule of law against the wishes of Prime Minister Trudeau, she was not celebrated by your government as a strong woman doing what was right; she was summarily demoted and then booted from the Liberal caucus.

Meanwhile, someone like Marco Mendicino — whose dedication to the facts comes second to his service to the Prime Minister — rises up the ranks from parliamentary secretary to minister.

Senator Gold, since Minister Mendicino won’t do the right thing and resign, when will the fake feminist Prime Minister fire this man?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): The government is very aware, as we all are, of the impact of inflation and the rising cost of living on Canadians, whether it’s in gas prices or food, and I’ve spoken to this many times. The rise in gas prices is caused by several geopolitical events in Europe, as we all know.

The Government of Canada, while it is working on further measures to improve the overall cost of living affordability, it’s also clear when we see the situation in which we’re living that it is equally important — indeed urgent — that there is a transition to cleaner energy and electric vehicles, as we all know.

The government is working with our international partners to ensure the protection of the world energy supply chain. For the moment, the government has not committed to providing tax breaks at the pump at this juncture.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Yes, I will.

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: consideration of Motion No. 53, followed by third reading of Bill C-19, followed by second reading of Bill C-28, followed by all remaining items in the order that they appear on the Order Paper.

[English]

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate), pursuant to notice of June 22, 2022, moved:

That, notwithstanding any provision of the Rules, previous order or usual practice:

1.if the Senate receives a message from the House of Commons with Bill C-28, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (self-induced extreme intoxication), the bill be placed on the Orders of the Day for second reading on June 23, 2022;

2.if, before this order is adopted, the message on the bill had been received and the bill placed on the Orders of the Day for second reading at a date later than June 23, 2022, it be brought forward to June 23, 2022, and dealt with on that day;

3.all proceedings on the bill be completed on June 23, 2022, and, for greater certainty:

(i)if the bill is adopted at second reading on that day it be taken up at third reading forthwith;

(ii)the Senate not adjourn until the bill has been disposed of; and

(iii)no debate on the bill be adjourned;

4.a senator may only speak once to the bill, whether this is at second or third reading, or on another proceeding, and during this speech all senators have a maximum of 10 minutes to speak, except for the leaders and facilitators, who have a maximum of 30 minutes each, and the sponsor and critic, who have a maximum of 45 minutes each;

5.at 9 p.m. on Thursday, June 23, 2022, if the bill has not been disposed of at third reading, the Speaker interrupt any proceedings then before the Senate to put all questions necessary to dispose of the bill at all remaining stages, without further debate or amendment, only recognizing, if necessary, the sponsor to move the motion for second or third reading, as the case may be; and

6.if a standing vote is requested in relation to any question necessary to dispose of the bill under this order, the vote not be deferred, and the bells ring for only 15 minutes; and

That:

1.the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs be authorized to examine and report on the matter of self-induced intoxication, including self-induced extreme intoxication, in the context of criminal law, including in relation to section 33.1 of the Criminal Code;

2.the committee be authorized to take into consideration any report relating to this matter and to the subject matter of Bill C-28 made by the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights;

3.the committee submit its final report to the Senate no later than March 10, 2023; and

4.when the final report is submitted to the Senate, the Senate request that the government provide a complete and detailed response within 120 calendar days, with the response, or failure to provide a response, being dealt with pursuant to the provisions of rules 12-24(3) to (5).

He said: Honourable senators, I do not intend to participate in the debate. Thank you.

Senator Plett: Thank you, Senator Patterson, for that speech. Let me say at the outset about your analogy of David and Goliath that David was never a minority; he had God on his side. Nevertheless, Senator Patterson, my question really is this: I felt the other day when we passed four government motions in a matter of an hour that I needed to leave and go take a shower.

I suggested to the Leader of the Government in the Senate here a few minutes ago that I needed to wash my mouth with soap after supporting the government. So I take no great pride and pleasure in supporting what I believe has certainly been, even in this particular bill, a shirking of responsibility.

There is a difference here, in my opinion, and I will get to my question immediately. The difference is that this, in my opinion, was not precipitated by the government. It was precipitated by the Supreme Court of Canada. They struck something down. They forced the government to do something and, quite frankly, they forced the government to do something, in my opinion, in too much of a hurry. This is not like a campaign promise that was made two years ago and then two years pass before they come forward with the bill.

Senator Patterson, you alluded to having a couple of suggestions, and they were certainly thought out, about the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee having a quick meeting or having a second Committee of the Whole. What would have been the purpose, other than we would have heard some people?

We really didn’t have the time to do anything about it, other than what we have done now — voting on a bill, hopefully passing the bill, then having the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee do a study, sending a report to the government, having the government respond in a certain period of time and hopefully correct something that indeed is flawed. What could we have done better with the path that you possibly suggested?

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, I rise to speak to Bill C-19, “Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No. 1.” It feels good to be on the right side of the angels again on this speech.

It actually wasn’t a bad experience, Senator Gold, to vote with you. We should try that more often.

Honourable senators, I will not be long on this, I assure you.

Senator Marshall gave an absolutely crackerjack, excellent rundown of the many problems with this bill in her excellent speech. There are many problems, and I think she outlined almost all of them. Thank you, Senator Marshall. She says there are still some to go. She should have briefed me, because I would have pointed the rest out.

I want to take a few minutes to draw your attention to some important observations, because I know you will want to know about them. The bill we are about to vote on stands as a stark example of the incompetence that has dogged this government for the last seven years. You may have missed it in the crush of business recently, but this legislation came to us from the other place after being amended in 64 different places, including the deletion of 51 clauses. This is unprecedented for a budget implementation act.

This is a 440-page omnibus bill crammed with many measures that should never be in a BIA, as noted by a number of senators. For a while, this government was able to use COVID as a “get out of jail free” card. Their repeated claims that they needed to rush legislation through without adequate oversight and study were made under the shadow of a global pandemic and parliamentarians had little choice but to comply for the sake of public health and economic stability.

Honourable senators, those days are gone. The government can no longer shield itself from its own incompetence by claiming that it is because of the pandemic. The crisis of scrambling to make policy in the midst of an unforeseen global pandemic is behind us. Yet the only evidence that this government has succeeded in moving on this is the fact that they have added chaos to incompetence.

Every direction in which you turn today, you see this government scrambling to contain the consequences of its incompetence which is bursting through the cracks like a dam about to let go.

We have a Minister of Foreign Affairs whose department thinks it’s a great idea to send a representative to a party at the Russian embassy. As Russian shells bomb residential neighbourhoods in Ukraine, killing women and children, disrupting global food supplies and threatening world peace, Minister Joly’s deputy chief of protocol, Yasemin Heinbecker, joined the festivities at the embassy here in Ottawa. This is incompetence.

Over at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, there is a backlog of more than 2.2 million immigration applications, and Minister Fraser has no clue how to fix it — none. Meanwhile, the government promised to help 40,000 Afghans immigrate to Canada. To date, only 10,565 applications have been approved. There is nothing but chaos in this department.

Then there is the debacle of trying to fly anywhere from Canada and finding nothing but chaos at the airports. The transport minister has no solutions to offer and just blames it on out-of-practice travellers. Colleagues, you and I have been travelling. We’re not out of practice, and the same chaos affects us as it does anyone else. I don’t know who is out of practice here.

Go to a passport office. Chaos ensues there as well. People are camping out and lining up all day long to try to get their passports processed, only to be turned away and told to try again tomorrow. The government is clueless, and Minister Gould has no solution for the mess.

Minister Freeland has out-of-control inflation, colleagues, a budget that is beyond balancing and a debt load that threatens to crush future generations. There is no plan to rein in spending or inflation, which, as you know, now sits at 7.7% — the highest since 1983.

Who was in government in 1983? What was the name of that prime minister?

Under Minister Hussen’s oversight as the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, the cost of homes has skyrocketed to a place where home ownership is now out of reach for an entire generation. Their only solution? Well, they have none. Chaos reigns.

Meanwhile, Minister Guilbeault has released new emissions targets which everyone knows the government will never hit and which the media has described as hinging on “hopes and miracles.”

Minister Mendicino, whose nose is getting longer by the day, is scrambling to explain why he misled Canadians by saying police forces asked the government to invoke the Emergencies Act. And Minister Blair, colleagues, is shovelling as fast as he can to explain why Commissioner Lucki promised to use the mass murders in Nova Scotia to advance Liberal government policy.

Minister Rodriguez is trying to do what no one in any other democratic country has tried to do: control the internet. While Minister Sajjan is just trying to be the first in line at the airports. This is what this government has brought us this session: incompetence and chaos. And in the midst of it all, in the final days of the sitting, the Prime Minister leads by example by jetting off to some faraway land. No one knows where. No sense of responsibility. No sense of urgency. No sense at all; just incompetence. Fiddling while Ottawa is burning.

What did they do today? What’s their business before they leave? Bringing in another hybrid motion forever, because there just might be another pandemic on the horizon. This has worked so well; let’s bring in another one. Let’s add another $2 or $3 trillion to the debt.

Colleagues, we are about to vote on Bill C-19. This bill does not deserve our support or your support. There is, however, a silver lining here, colleagues. There is hope. The Conservative Party of Canada will have a leadership vote on September 10. Our 700,000 members will be electing a leader. There is hope. The saviour is coming. Let’s just wait. He will be there.

In the meantime, let’s do the right thing — let’s throw this budget in the garbage. Let’s show the Prime Minister we are independent. Every one of us, we are independent. Some are Conservative independents, some Liberal independents or relative independents or — I still can’t understand how you can call yourself Canadian Senators. Canadian Senators are indeed the only independent senators group. Colleagues, let’s show our independence. Let’s vote down this budget that does not deserve our vote. Thank you, colleagues.

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: All those in favour of the motion, who are present in the chamber, please say “yea.”