Hon. Marilou McPhedran: Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.

Senator Gold, my question is a follow-up to a previous question on whether Canada will continue to refuse the standing invitation to send observers to the first meeting of states parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the TPNW, that is being hosted by Austria in June of this year. Senator Gold, last week Canada’s ambassador to the UN in New York, Bob Rae, wrote about Putin’s war against Ukraine, noting that there is a:

. . . more critical veto, and that is the possession of the means of mass destruction by a limited number of countries that affects how things actually work in the “real world”.

He continues to say:

The end of nuclear hegemony created a deadlock more profound than a raise of the hand at the Security Council, and it is that fact that lies at the heart of the current challenge in how to deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression.

Senator Gold, would you please follow up with the government and ask if Canada will join other NATO countries, including Norway, in sending observers to the Vienna first meeting of states parties to this treaty?