Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. Canada continues to work with its NATO allies, on the one hand, and in its own respect to preserve Canadian sovereignty everywhere, including the North. That includes steps to increase the physical assets available to us, as well as continuing investments and research on the cyber side to ensure that all fronts are properly defended.

Hon. Leo Housakos: My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Senator Gold, your government talks a good game about the need to combat disinformation and misinformation. We especially heard a lot about that during the trucker convoy with accusations that Russia was behind much of it, but now your government has an opportunity to do something about Russian propaganda and disinformation, especially as it pertains to the invasion of Ukraine. Your government said it was banning Putin’s propaganda network Russia Today from Canadian airwaves, but the truth is your government’s order‑in‑council does no such thing. Instead, it merely asks the CRTC to conduct a hearing and issue a report and a half‑measure at best that will take all kinds of time.

Senator Gold, why won’t your government do the right thing today? What are you waiting for and why?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. The government is doing the right thing each and every day in response to the threat from Russia, whether that’s in the area of the disinformation campaign or other aspects of it. The government does the right thing by respecting its legal boundaries as far as other agencies go, CRTC being one of them. It is doing the right thing also by enlisting the cooperation of enterprise and broadcasting companies who have acted responsibly in banning RT from the airwaves.

Hon. Leo Housakos: Government leader, with all due respect, the government would be doing the right thing if it took action and quick action. Your government’s half-hearted measure in dealing with Russia Today reminds me of your government’s foot-dragging on making a decision on Huawei. Despite saying a decision was forthcoming before the 2019 election, that one was imminent, here we are and still no decision on banning Huawei. Now the company is actually gloating, government leader. Two days ago they put out a tweet announcing another business venture here in Canada with the caption: “What’s the opposite of being banned?”

Senator Gold, why is Huawei feeling so confident? Do they know something we don’t know? Senator Gold, can you please tell this chamber when your government will finally make a decision regarding Huawei.

Hon. Pierrette Ringuette: Senator Gold, I look at the calendar and I am very concerned, and I will tell you why. I’m very concerned because we are heading into March break, and that means young people, and families young and old, will be moving at high speed in every direction at the same time as most provinces are removing restrictions. My fear, my concern, is that if we don’t have these rapid tests in the next three weeks, maximum, when the March break mobility is over, I am very concerned — as a mom, as a citizen, as a grandmother — about the ability for our citizens to ascertain whether they have contracted COVID, so they can mobilize themselves to circumvent the proliferation. I am very concerned with regard to that.

With regard to this amendment, I am concerned because I feel it is unnecessary. The delay may cause a lot of health anxiety in our system. So, please, can you answer me? If we agree to this amendment, how will that delay getting these tests to our citizens? What is that delay going to cost us in health?

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question. It is an important question, and the answer is that they were very clear in committee: There is no way for them to find any statutory authority to compensate or to allow them to proceed in the absence of Bill C-10. The short answer to your question is no. The statutory authority has run out. That is why Bill C-10 is needed now.

Hon. Marilou McPhedran: Senator Gold, would you take another question?

Senator Gold: That is correct. It arrived here and we respected the notice periods. We also respected the request that it not be sent to committee and second reading not be concluded until the last week. So here we are.

Senator Tannas: Could you ask, Senator Gold, to pass along the request that when the minister is providing the after-action report on where they came from, that there be a description of how much came through intermediaries versus how many were acquired directly from the manufacturer.

Some Hon. Senators: Nay.

Some Hon. Senators: Fifteen minutes.

Hon. Raymonde Gagné (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I ask leave for the sitting to be suspended to await the pronouncement of Royal Assent.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you. It is not an unfair question, because the concern that Alberta residents and Canadians have about disruption to transportation and therefore supply chains is a legitimate and troubling one.

The Government of Canada has faith in and a commitment to the collective bargaining process and respects the right of working Canadians to exercise their constitutional rights in that regard, and also has confidence in the mediation process put into place. Therefore, it’s premature, with respect, senator, to be able to offer any timelines for the resolution of this, much less reassurances, except to say that the legal, constitutional and appropriate processes are in place in the hope of resolving this with minimal, if any, disruption to services.

Senator Simons: Thank you. After everything that has happened this year, even people like me, who absolutely believe in the right to strike, are justifiably concerned about what the impact of a strike could be, so thank you very much.

Hon. David Richards: Honourable senators, my question is for Senator Gold. I would like you to comment on this, and then I will ask a supplementary question, please.

We do not want a wider war, but with over a million refugees coming through Hungary and Poland, we are already in a wider war. We are watching a horror show unfold before our very eyes, and dismissing the urgent calls and pleas and begging for a no-fly zone reminded me of Churchill’s comment after the Munich Agreement. “You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour and you will have war.”

If you could comment, and then I will have a supplementary question.

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: Senator Gold, two days ago, I spoke to you about the public inquiry hearings that are under way on the Portapique shooting. We will be marking the sad second anniversary of this shooting two days from now. The lives of 22 innocent victims were lost, which caused a great deal of suffering to the families and the community of Portapique, in Nova Scotia.

I also asked you why the families had not been invited to participate in this inquiry concerning their loved ones, who were brutally killed. Why did the federal government ignore them?

Yesterday we heard on Radio-Canada’s ICI Nouvelle-Écosse station that not only is the Minister of Public Safety choosing to ignore them, but the RCMP is refusing to appear before the commission responsible for the public inquiry.

The lawyer for the union of RCMP officers confirmed to the commission that it will oppose testimony from officers involved in the events surrounding the tragedy out of fear of causing them trauma, when the victims’ families are the ones who are the most traumatized. What is more, this request to have the officers appear actually came from those families.

Senator Gold, the primary role of a law enforcement officer at the scene of a crime, who analyzed said scene, is to testify to the events in order to shed light on what happened during an inquiry.

Did Minister Mendicino intervene in the public inquiry to prevent the families from taking part? Will he prevent the RCMP officers from testifying?

Senator Boisvenu: Senator Gold, I would remind you that on May 22, 2020, just one month after this massacre, which was the worst in Canada’s history, Prime Minister Trudeau publicly stated that he would not commit to holding a public inquiry. All Canadians already knew that the inquiry would centre on many questions about how the RCMP managed this massacre, which took place over a period of 20 hours.

The Prime Minister urged the RCMP to conduct its investigation and mentioned that he was working closely with the Government of Nova Scotia to get answers.

Given that the Premier of Nova Scotia, Tim Houston, called on the commission to meet with the victims’ families and the union representing officers involved in the tragedy refuses to let them testify, how can the commission do its job properly without us believing that this inquiry is being manipulated by the government?

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate, who will no doubt find that I keep coming back to the same thing.

This evening, the TVA television network is going to air an investigation on Pornhub, which is owned by a Montreal-based company called MindGeek, located about a 10-minute drive away from my house. How is it that a year after the article in The New York Times and a few years after the release of troubling information, nothing has been done to help the women and children who were or still are victims of Pornhub? Are there police investigations under way or not? Is the government willing to introduce its much-talked-about online harm bill that it promised over a year ago? In short, where do things stand on this very worrisome issue, given the increased traffic on porn sites since the beginning of the pandemic?

Senator Miville-Dechêne: My supplementary question will be simpler and more direct.

One year later, we still don’t know if MindGeek is a Canadian company. This question has been asked over and over. MindGeek is based here and employs 1,000 people. It is headquartered in Luxemburg but also has servers in Cyprus. We have asked the question many times but haven’t gotten any response. A year seems a bit long, don’t you think?