The Hon. the Speaker: Moved by the Honourable Senator Wells that further debate be adjourned until the next sitting of the Senate.

If you are opposed to the motion, please say, “no.”

Hon. David M. Wells: I move the adjournment of Motion No. 50 in my name.

Senator Bellemare: May I ask you another question?

[English]

Senator Marwah: Absolutely.

[Translation]

Hon. Salma Ataullahjan, pursuant to notice of February 24, 2022, moved:

That the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights, in accordance with rule 12-7(14), be authorized to examine and report on such issues as may arise from time to time relating to human rights generally; and

That the committee submit its final report to the Senate no later than June 12, 2025.

Senator Batters: From a FTE standpoint, where are we at right now? How much from the full-time equivalent standard have we increased or decreased over the last couple of years, being as we’ve had a pandemic for those two years as well?

Senator Marwah: Thank you, senator, for that question. I think last year there was an increase of six FTEs and this year there another six, of which three were for the Indigenous youth program and another three for staffing, one for communications officer that was brought back hoping that we will be full in service. There is a parliamentary. There is one staff in legal and one other staff that I don’t recall exactly what it was; 6.6 last year and 3 for administration this year.

(Response to question raised by the Honourable Peter Harder on November 30, 2021)

Canada recognizes that there continues to be great need and high demand globally for safe, efficacious and WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccines. Canada is prioritizing sharing doses via the COVAX Facility to ensure efficient distribution and to maximize impact. COVAX provides a one-stop mechanism that weighs global needs and priorities based on access, epidemiological concerns, and absorption capacity.

COVAX uses a transparent equitable allocation framework to determine where doses are sent. The delivery schedule is dependent on the agreement between COVAX and partner organizations, manufacturers, and recipient countries. In the majority of cases, doses donated by Canada to COVAX are delivered directly to recipient countries from manufacturers.

Canada is working closely with COVAX to finalize donation agreements as quickly as possible and to confirm with manufacturers when doses will be available for delivery.

Canada has ensured complementary financing to cover the ancillary costs for all doses donated through COVAX. These funds cover the freight, syringes, diluent, and indemnity and liability costs associated with these doses. Canada is one of only three countries to ensure full funding of ancillary requirements for donated doses.

(Response to question raised by the Honourable René Cormier on December 1, 2021)

Canada has been a strong supporter of AIDS programming globally over the past two decades. The Government of Canada is providing $930.4 million between 2020 and 2022 to support the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and $20 million in core funding to UNAIDS between 2017 and 2022.

With the support of donors like Canada, tremendous results have been achieved, while more still must be done. Thanks to efforts led by the Global Fund, new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women have dropped by 41% since 2010 in the 13 priority countries where the HIV burden is highest. In addition, the global rollout of HIV treatment over the past decade has saved millions of lives: UNAIDS estimates that 16.6 million AIDS-related deaths have been averted over the last two decades.

Canada continues to promote and defend the comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights of those most at risk of HIV, including key populations. Canada remains committed to end AIDS by 2030 and is proud to be hosting the 24th International Conference on AIDS in Montreal in July.

(Response to question raised by the Honourable Marty Klyne on December 14, 2021)

Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is an area of significant opportunity for Canada. It is an essential part of the transition towards a prosperous net-zero future, and will help key sectors compete in a low-carbon global economy.

The advancement of the CCUS industry in Canada will facilitate the creation and retention of jobs in a variety of existing industries and emerging sectors, including heavy industries (such as cement and steel), oil and gas, forestry, electricity, and hydrogen. As such, these jobs will be distributed across the entire country, and draw upon many of the skill sets that are currently commonplace in those sectors.

Through Budget 2021, the Government of Canada committed to providing $319 million to support research, development and demonstrations that would improve the commercial viability of CCUS technologies. This will help Canada achieve its goal of net zero by 2050, while being a global supplier of choice for cleaner energy and innovative new technologies.

The scale-up required in the deployment and adoption of the CCUS technologies will increase high-value employment opportunities in engineering and research, design, and development, and jobs supporting project construction, operations and maintenance.

(Response to question raised by the Honourable Peter Harder on December 16, 2021)

Canada has been a leading international donor to end the acute phase of the pandemic. Canada has committed over $1.3 billion for the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, a critical international partnership to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments and vaccines which the Prime Minister has championed alongside other world leaders since May 2020. Canada is among the top five donors to the ACT Accelerator to date and remains committed to continuing to support this important global initiative in 2022.

The mandate letter for the Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada outlines the government’s commitment to reinforce international efforts to ensure that people around the world have access to health interventions to fight COVID-19, including by donating at least 200 million vaccine doses to vulnerable populations around the world through COVAX by the end of 2022 and providing additional funding for enhanced testing and vaccine production capacity in developing countries.

Hon. Denise Batters: I have a question as well, if Senator Marwah —

Senator Marwah: Yes.

Senator Lankin: Thank you again for that answer.

As I move forward at what things might look like — and that’s what you are hedging bets on because we don’t know — there’s been a lot of talk among senators in various settings including potentially in the Rules Committee. We look at committee structures and mandates and things like that, that there may be a virtual opportunity that is with us forever or maybe only for committee hearings. There’s a lot of talk. It would seem to me to be a desire. Maybe we need the conversation to look at what our work will look like even if we are able to come back to full sittings. I would ask you to turn your mind to that.

With respect to the shortage of translators, this is a very significant and somewhat out-of-our-control problem. However, it’s not my original idea. Another senator in discussion has raised the possibility of looking at the potential of funding an interpreters program to train and graduate interpreters to come up into the Senate? This is a budget we’re talking about and not actuals. There may be some savings through the pandemic time that could be put into that for a period of time to try to increase the supply that is available to us here in the Senate.

(1720)

Is that something you would take under advisement and perhaps look at?

Senator Marwah: Thank you, senator. I would point out that we have invested in additional capacity, both in terms of translation and in the booths that you see — and with additional capacity with the House. We share this with the House of Commons. But in terms of having permanent funding and a solution, I’m not sure how much that would cost. I’ll certainly have someone take a look at it.

(On motion of Senator Wells, debate adjourned.)

On the Order:

Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator Galvez, seconded by the Honourable Senator Forest:

That the Senate of Canada recognize that:

(a)climate change is an urgent crisis that requires an immediate and ambitious response;

(b)human activity is unequivocally warming the atmosphere, ocean and land at an unprecedented pace, and is provoking weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe, including in the Arctic, which is warming at more than twice the global rate;

(c)failure to address climate change is resulting in catastrophic consequences especially for Canadian youth, Indigenous Peoples and future generations; and

(d)climate change is negatively impacting the health and safety of Canadians, and the financial stability of Canada;

That the Senate declare that Canada is in a national climate emergency which requires that Canada uphold its international commitments with respect to climate change and increase its climate action in line with the Paris Agreement’s objective of holding global warming well below two degrees Celsius and pursuing efforts to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius; and

That the Senate commit to action on mitigation and adaptation in response to the climate emergency and that it consider this urgency for action while undertaking its parliamentary business.

Hon. David M. Wells: Could we could go back to Motion No. 50? I misunderstood the question, and I didn’t hear it very clearly. Perhaps it was because of your mask. I would like to adjourn that.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, Senator Wells is seeking leave to revert to Motion No. 50. If you are opposed to leave, please say no.

The Hon. the Speaker: I hear a no.

Senator Wells: Speaker, it’s because I didn’t hear you. I’m not asking to revert. It was mumbled and muffled in the speech because of the mask.

Senator Batters: What sort of total FTEs for Senate Administration then would there be?

Senator Marwah: I don’t have the total. I’ll gladly get that for you.

Hon. Steven Guilbeault, P.C., M.P., Minister of Environment and Climate Change: Thank you for the question. I don’t think I insinuated in any way that was the case. Companies are free to develop the projects they think will be beneficial for them and their clients.

We have specific processes as to how this gets done in Canada, including new and improved impact assessment and public consultation processes. I imagine that once the project is ready, it will be submitted for environmental impact assessment and public consultation to Environment and Climate Change Canada. To my knowledge, this project hasn’t, but I can check with the department. If it has, I’m not familiar with it.

The Hon. the Speaker: I hear a no. The amendment is defeated.

(Motion in amendment of the Honourable Senator Patterson negatived.)

On the Order:

Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator Cordy, seconded by the Honourable Senator Dalphond, for the third reading of Bill C-12, An Act to amend the Old Age Security Act (Guaranteed Income Supplement).

Hon. Steven Guilbeault, P.C., M.P., Minister of Environment and Climate Change: Thank you, senator. I want to say right off the bat that I completely agree with the answer my colleague, the Minister of Natural Resources, gave.

I’m sure you’re aware that there is just one liquefied natural gas terminal being built at this time, and it’s on the West Coast. This project will probably take two years to complete. There is no other project at the construction, approval or environmental assessment phases, nor anything else. This does not mean that we can’t help our European colleagues in other ways, and that’s what the Minister of Natural Resources and I are working on right now with the members of our team. We’ve had a number of conversations with our colleagues in Europe.

I remind you that even the President of the European Commission said two days ago that the solution to overcoming their dependence on Russian oil and gas is adopting renewable energy, clean technology and hydrogen. Canada has a significant role to play when it comes to biomass. Even in Europe, they can clearly see that fossil fuels are not the future. The future is clean technology and renewable energy.

[English]

Hon. Lucie Moncion: I rise on a point of order. You said that the motion was adopted, but then you went back on the decision because two senators rose. Since you had already made the decision, may I know why we are reversing course?

[English]

Hon. Frances Lankin: Thank you to Senator Marwah for that report.

One of the things that we know is a real challenge right now, even if we do come back to more regular in-person sittings, is to handle the committee work to allow for a continuation of people participating virtually online.

There are a few different issues. We are short on committee clerks, and we face a shortage of both space and resource allocation, the technical ability and translators back up to full committee sittings twice a week.

I’m very concerned about this. There’s work that we can’t get to in terms of Senate studies because, of course, our first priority is government legislation and then private legislation and then studies.

This is what I was going to call you and talk to you about. I’ll just put it to you now. Could you tell us how the Internal Economy Committee is looking at this issue and what your plans are to progress, by allowing us to return to a full suite of the work opportunities, including some of that being done virtually? Thank you.

Senator Marwah: Thank you, senator, for that question.

The historical choke pattern has been because of lack of translation capacity and translators to do that work. Hence why that’s been really the biggest constraint so far. On the committee clerks, the issue has always been how temporary or permanent is the situation we are in.

If we assume that it’s going to be this way for the next couple of years, perhaps it’s worthwhile investing in additional staff. If we assume we’re going to go back to normal sometime later this year, which seems kind of overkill. That’s a dilemma that we’re always in — how permanent is the situation we’re in? If we find out the situation is going to be hybrid and this way for the balance of this year, then perhaps Internal Economy will have to look at it.

The Hon. the Speaker: I know, Senator Wells. But you’ll have to ask for the indulgence of the chamber to go back because we have already moved on to other items.

I don’t think it’s an unreasonable request if you didn’t understand what I was saying. I will ask again.

Senator Wells was unable to clearly understand what I was saying when we went through Motion No. 50. He’s asking for leave to revert to Motion No. 50 so he can adjourn the motion rather than just have it stand.

If you are opposed to leave, please say no.