Senator Gold: I will add that to my list of questions to ask the government. Thank you.

[English]

Hon. Mobina S. B. Jaffer: Honourable senators, my question is also to the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Senator, I asked you part of this question yesterday. I want to quote what the Prime Minister said in 2015 when he clearly stated:

Canada’s diversity is our great and unique strength. We are the one country in the world that has figured out how to be strong, not in spite of our differences but because of them. So, the prime minister of this country has a responsibility to bring people together in this country, not to divide us by pandering to some people’s fears.

Leader, yesterday you said that the Prime Minister will intervene at the appropriate time. Do you have an idea of what is meant by an “appropriate” time?

Senator Jaffer: Senator Gold, you said — fairly — that the government is looking at the legal proceedings. Legal proceedings cost a lot of money. The Cities of Toronto and Brampton have stepped up to help civil liberties — Sikh and Muslim organizations — to fight this in court. Is the Prime Minister also going to support them financially? Because otherwise it’s an uneven balance. To fight a government is very difficult, as you know. Will the Prime Minister support those groups to make sure they can fight the case equally?

Senator Quinn: Senator Gold, can you give some assurance that you will submit to those decision makers on who will attend by requesting the Port Saint John to be in attendance?

Hon. Percy Mockler: Honourable senators, my question to the Leader of the Government in the Senate is concerning the two billion trees to be planted. In January, the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated that this program would cost $5.7 billion. Given that Natural Resources Canada, or NRCAN, and the government said very little progress has been made on this program to date, and that you have just had to rework your original plans, is this still projected, as per the government, that it would cost $3.16 billion? Who is right?

Senator Mockler: Leader, a lot of questions are unanswered. I’m asking you if you could relay this to the government and inform Canadians and the industry that creates many hundreds of thousands of jobs: Given that Atlantic Canada is a leader in tree planting, that it does not lose significant amounts of forest to fire and pests, that this is a 30% increase in tree planting levels across Canada and that this effort will require investments to seed and nursery production, how is the government factoring the value that Atlantic Canada can bring to this program? What is this government proposing in terms of how to allocate these funds to Atlantic Canada given the different tenure systems across the country that have impacts on industrial interests, private landowners and Crown land?

Senator Gold: Thank you. That is a very good set of questions. I will certainly make inquiries and be pleased to report back when I get an answer.

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. The Government of Canada is confident that the measures they have put in place — as have been outlined and will continue to be made public in the months to come leading up to the next budget — are the right measures to protect the Canadian economy from the vicissitudes and the forces buffeting it from around the world, as well as to provide a strong platform for Canada’s recovery.

[Translation]

Senator Tannas: Thank you. I agree. It’s time. We need to commit to ourselves, and maybe that’s the Christmas feeling we get out of this — that we commit to ourselves that when we do not have our backs to the wall, we will soberly and carefully come up with a proposal for that kind of statement and that kind of interaction with the House of Commons, such that we really do break this incredible cycle we’re in; being forced to surrender our job for time.

Hon. Leo Housakos (Acting Leader of the Opposition): Would Senator Tannas take a question?

Senator Tannas: Indeed.

Senator Tannas: I will.

Senator White: Thank you for the question, senator. My perspective is that I don’t necessarily believe the legislation is going to improve upon the tools policing needs, but if we are going to go there and say the role of health care workers and public health officials is so important that we will take care of them in a better and different way, then we ought to protect them from the intimidation we have seen them receive at their homes.

At the end of the day, I’m not sure it will help, but if we think it will help, then we should actually go as far as we can.

Senator Tannas: I must be running out of time, but yes, I will.

[Translation]

Senator Simons: Would the senator take another question?

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, when shall this bill be read the third time?

Hon. Hassan Yussuff: Honourable senators, with leave of the Senate and notwithstanding rule 5-5(b), I move that the bill be read the third time now.

The Hon. the Speaker: Senator White, would you take a question?

Hon. Diane Bellemare: Would the honourable senator take a question?