Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. It is simply not the case that the welfare of Canadians with disabilities is not a priority. Quite on the contrary.

The speed with which we all saw CERB introduced was in response to a global pandemic, and we all, as parliamentarians, did our part to make sure that Canadians, including those with disabilities, received the help they needed through those early and uncertain times. The provisions and the disability benefit to which you refer are important policy matters that are under active study by the government.

Senator Saint-Germain: Thank you for the question, Senator Carignan.

I think our pre-studies are done with just as much care. Let me point out that we have been in a pandemic for over two years now. That has to have influenced government legislation, the work of the House of Commons and our own chamber’s work. I feel that these pandemic times are exceptional and make it hard to compare anything to how both houses of Parliament have operated in normal times over the past few decades.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Senator Gold, the Royal Canadian Air Force currently has 13 Cormorant search and rescue helicopters that provide search and rescue for our entire country. We recently lost one in a crash at 9 Wing Air Force Base in Gander.

In August 2019, the former Minister of National Defence announced plans to purchase at least two more Cormorants and upgrade the entire fleet of aircraft. However, a recent answer to my question on the Senate Order Paper shows that, almost three years later, there are no active plans to follow through on this promise, and the Department of National Defence is aiming to make a decision this calendar year.

Leader, why is your NDP-Liberal government again failing to provide the men and women of our air force the equipment they need to fulfill their search and rescue operations as promised in 2019?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. The government does not intend to be the long-term owner of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, and the government will divest its ownership in a way and at a time that benefits all Canadians. The government, indeed, announced that no additional public money will be spent on the project and that Trans Mountain Corporation would secure the necessary funding from third-party sources to complete the project.

I’m advised, colleagues, that the corporation has now secured third-party financing with a group of Canadian financial institutions, and this will be used to fund the project construction costs. As part of this process, the government is providing a loan guarantee to the participating financial institutions, and this is a well-known practice for projects of this size. It does not reflect any new public spending.

This project is in the national interest, and it will make Canada and the Canadian economy more sovereign and more resilient. In that regard, and in all respects, the government remains committed to having good energy projects that fit in with our climate plan.

Senator Galvez: This is now the third letter from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Canada is late submitting its twenty-first to twenty-third combined periodic report to the committee, which was due last year. Does the government plan to respond to these letters and fulfil its reporting commitments?

Senator Gagné: I completely agree. I also believe that, seeing as we have a very complex bill dealing with a quasi-constitutional law that has not been reviewed for over 30 years, along with the experience and content we’ve been able to gather from the 300 witnesses who appeared and the more than 70 briefs we received, all with very specific recommendations, I think we are in a position to have a second look when we receive the bill for the second, or even third, time.

Senator Gagné: Thank you for the question, senator.

The committee is currently studying the immigration policy, which is extremely important in the context of the bill. The bill includes an obligation to develop an immigration policy, so it’s an integral part of the bill.

As I mentioned in my speech, whenever we hear from witnesses, the immigration policy in Bill C-13 inevitably comes up, both in the questions and in the answers.

Hon. Raymonde Gagné (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate), pursuant to notice of May 18, 2022, moved:

That, when the Senate next adjourns after the adoption of this motion, it do stand adjourned until Tuesday, May 31, 2022, at 2 p.m.

Senator Gold: I thank the honourable senator for the question.

The government condemns racism in all its forms and recognizes and understands the importance of combatting systemic racism and discrimination in Canada and, indeed, has taken concrete steps over the past years to address these issues. In the last two years alone, the government has committed close to $100 million through Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, including $70 million to support community organizations across Canada addressing issues of anti-racism and multiculturalism. Budget 2022 will invest $85 million to support the work under way to launch a new anti-racism strategy and national action plan on combatting hate.

With regard to the specifics of your question, I will make inquiries with the government and hope to report back to the chamber in a timely fashion.

Hon. Brian Francis: Honourable senators, my question is for Senator Gold. Islanders who applied for Employment Insurance, or EI, during the pandemic were automatically put on to CERB without their knowledge and without confirmation of their eligibility. Now Canada Revenue Agency, or CRA, is sending letters to Islanders asking them to repay up to $2,000, which has created confusion and frustration. To us, $2,000 may not seem like a lot, but it is for Islanders struggling to make ends meet. P.E.I. has the highest inflation rate in the country, in addition to high unemployment and rising fuel costs.

Senator Gold, why is Canada Revenue Agency requesting repayments from Islanders who applied for EI but were automatically switched to CERB? That approach is not fair or reasonable, especially for those without the financial means to pay.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question, senator, and for raising this important issue. If I understand the question correctly, I have been advised that the government is working with those individuals to try to resolve these issues and to be flexible in that regard, recognizing that, again, as I have stated on many occasions in this chamber, the speed with which we properly introduced the CERB as a way to protect the largest number of Canadians did have some unforeseen and unpredicted consequences that the government continues to work to try to resolve.

Senator Gold: Again, thank you. I don’t have the specific answer, senator, but I will certainly make inquiries. I hope to have an answer in a timely fashion.

Hon. Jim Quinn: Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. Senator Gold, there is a growing concern across the wine, liquor and beer industry that next year’s automatic excise duty rate increase, which is tied to inflation, could reach or likely exceed 6%. With respect to beer alone, this would be the equivalent of some $41 million in new taxes. The potential 6% increase is due to the implementation of the automatic escalator clause that was introduced in the 2017 Budget Implementation Act, despite concerns of the Senate at the time.

Former Senator Day said it:

. . . takes away power and responsibility of parliamentarians to oversee government expenditure, to act in the interest of the people of Canada to protect the public purse.

In my view, this starts to distort the constitutional principle of no taxation without representation. By creating an administrative efficiency to avoid going before Parliament yearly to increase taxes, we are now faced with a situation of inflexibility with rising rates. This, I believe, distracts or takes away from what was intended in 2017, when inflation rates were low, and we were experiencing significantly lower interest rates.

Senator Gold, will the government repeal the escalator clause related to the excise tax on alcohol products?

Hon. Jane Cordy: Honourable senators, I am extremely pleased to speak today in recognition of National Fiddling Day, which falls on this coming Saturday. In just two days, fiddlers and music lovers will be coming together to share their enthusiasm for fiddle music right across the country.

You may recall the bill establishing this commemorative day was a passion project for our former colleague Libbe Hubley. In her remarks at second reading, Senator Hubley said:

I am convinced that fiddling is the perfect metaphor for Canada. Like Canada, it has deep classical roots but it is strong and confident enough to allow for many regional differences and nuances that give rise to a beautiful harmonic unity. . . . Like Canada, it embraces and accommodates many different styles and traditions, allowing each to thrive and flourish even while we create an entirely new sound.

Senators, it’s true. Indeed, there are styles of fiddling found across Canada, and they each influence one another to create beautiful music. For instance, my home province of Nova Scotia is no stranger to the fiddle.

Cape Breton, in particular, has its own unique style, which can be found across the Maritimes. The Mi’kmaq style is another, and it, in turn, has greatly influenced fiddling in Cape Breton and in mainland Nova Scotia. Where once Cape Breton-style fiddlers dominated, this spring, a young Mi’kmaq fiddler from Wagmatcook First Nation in Cape Breton was nominated for three and won two East Coast Music Awards. Morgan Toney is just 22 years old, but already he’s been called an “emerging fiddle sensation,” gracefully melding Mi’kmaq ancestral songs with a Celtic style. He’s one to watch on the fiddle scene.

Newfoundland has its own style as well, with Irish roots and an Acadian influence. In Quebec and Acadia, you’ll find the French-Canadian style. In Manitoba and elsewhere in the Prairies, you’ll hear the Métis style. In other areas of the West, it’s the Anglo-Canadian style — a mix of Scottish, Irish, English, German, Ukrainian and U.S. swing-style tunes. If you’ve heard Don Messer, a proud New Brunswicker, you know it already. There are as many styles and subsets of fiddling as there are artists to interpret the music.

Since fiddling can be found nearly everywhere, I encourage all senators to seek out events happening this weekend in their own provinces and territories. You will find them in pubs and Legions, on stages and even in kitchens. Have a joyous National Fiddling Day, and enjoy the toe-tapping, delightful sounds that can bring us all together. Thank you.

Hon. Salma Ataullahjan: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Week, an initiative that is celebrated in the second week of May.

As some of you may know, maternal and newborn health is an issue that is near and dear to my heart. In the past, I took the lead, as the rapporteur for the Inter-Parliamentary Union, or IPU, Committee on Democracy and Human Rights, in drafting a report on the role of parliaments in assisting women and children’s health services. I also played a critical role in a landmark resolution on the matter, and I am proud to say it was the first time a resolution of its kind was adopted by the IPU. As a result, I was named the IPU’s Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

Over the years, my work on maternal and newborn health sadly fell to the sidelines while I focused on a number of other human rights issues. It is now time to bring this issue once again to your attention.

As we finally turn to a post-pandemic future, maternal and newborn health must be an integral part of our conversations. Close to a thousand women die from preventable complications related to pregnancy or childbirth each day around the globe. This a conservative number, as we continue to lack reliable data on maternal deaths in many countries. It is also estimated that in 2020, 2.4 million newborns died worldwide. If current trends continue, it is estimated that 48 million children under the age of 5 will die between 2020 and 2030, half of them newborns.

A Globe and Mail article recently shed light on our country’s lack of standardized review of maternal deaths, even though about 50 to 85 women die each year in childbirth or in postpartum, and over half of these mothers’ babies die as well. To make matters worse, First Nations and Inuit infants die two to four times more often than non-Indigenous infants. Although we are considered a wealthy country, Canada is currently ranked thirty-ninth in the world in maternal mortality according to the World Health Organization, and I plan to speak considerably more on this issue in the future.

Honourable senators, I would like to thank former senator Asha Seth for her continued advocacy for maternal, newborn and child health. Thanks to her work in the Red Chamber, we recognize the second week of May as Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Week. Thank you.

Senator Housakos: Government leader, you’re absolutely right. This is a very serious issue, and it requires serious action. Two senior British judges stepped down from their roles with the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal in March, one of whom issued a statement saying that he:

. . . cannot continue to sit in Hong Kong without appearing to endorse an administration which has departed from values of political freedom, and freedom of expression.

Since these resignations took place earlier this year, has there been any communication between the Government of Canada and the former chief justice about her continued membership on this court? Please, government leader, don’t say that it would be inappropriate to do so, because your government had no problem reaching out to Ms. McLachlin during the SNC-Lavalin scandal.

So, yes or no, has your government been in touch with the former chief justice on this matter? If not, why not?

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. Two weeks ago, Quebec announced that it would create courts specializing in intimate partner violence cases in more than 20 cities throughout Quebec. As you know, Quebec has passed Bill 24, which will require offenders released from provincial prisons to wear electronic tracking bracelets. Furthermore, in late 2021, Quebec also adopted an intimate partner violence prevention strategy. In the past seven years, the federal government has done nothing to tackle intimate partner violence. This form of violence has been steadily increasing for the past three years.

Senator Gold, how do you explain the fact that your government has not pursued a single strategy to address intimate partner violence and violence against women?

Senator Boisvenu: Thank you for your response, Senator Gold. However, my question was not about whether the government has made investments. I know it has invested a lot in hiding women in shelters.

What is the government doing to protect women who report their attacker?

Canada now has two justice systems for women: the Quebec system that will protect women by monitoring their attackers once they leave prison, and the Canadian system that will not protect women. Does that make sense to you?

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question. As you know, the administration of justice comes under provincial jurisdiction, so of course there are different systems across Canada, since each province has the right, the privilege, the power and the jurisdiction to legislate in that regard.

The role of the federal government is complementary. It has the jurisdiction to legislate on matters of criminal law, and the systems work together. In a federal system like ours, it is normal that there are different roles and responses from different levels of government.

Senator Gold: Our committees are well known for conducting studies, not investigations. I may have misunderstood your question. The committee and the Senate are responsible for the committee mandates. I will wait for such a motion to be tabled in the Senate before deciding how I will vote, but I am sure that the committee, which has done good work in the past, will continue to do so in an open and non-partisan spirit, as the Senate must do.

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