Senator Carignan: Leader, an old sage in provincial politics in Quebec once said that in politics, if you can’t be trusted, you’re toast. With that in mind, before the Prime Minister becomes burnt toast, don’t you think it’s time he created a public commission of inquiry?

Senator Gold: Well, there was a question at the end, was there not? I am proud to work as the Government Representative, and to serve the Senate in that capacity, and I will continue to do my best.

[Translation]

The Hon. the Speaker: Thank you, Senator Plett.

I understand that a number of senators have been complaining of headaches and other discomfiture with this odour that we can all smell while we are here in the chamber. I understand it is not just in the chamber, but it is in other parts of the building as well.

The Black Rod has just left to check with our security people to see if there are complaints coming in from other areas.

I understand there is little or nothing we can do about the actual odour right now. In fairness to our colleagues, especially those who are not here because of this particular problem, we should suspend to a five-minute bell and ask the leadership if they can get together and discuss this to see if they can come to any kind of an agreement with respect to what we do for the rest of the day, whether we continue, suspend or adjourn until tomorrow.

We will suspend. There will be a five-minute bell to reconvene. I would ask the leadership of the various groups and caucuses if they would convene and discuss the matter.

Thank you very much, colleagues.

(The sitting of the Senate was suspended.)

[Translation]

(The sitting of the Senate was resumed.)

(1520)

Hon. Raymonde Gagné (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, with leave of the Senate and notwithstanding rule 5-13(2), I move:

That the Senate do now adjourn.

Hon. Senators: Agreed.

(At 3:25 p.m., the Senate was continued until tomorrow at 2 p.m.)

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, we were all shocked and saddened to learn of the tragedy in Amqui, Quebec, on March 13, which left three people dead and eight others injured.

Our thoughts are with their friends and families as we express our condolences for those lost and our hopes for a full recovery by the injured.

Honourable senators, please join me in rising for a minute of silence in memory of those who did not survive this tragic incident.

(Honourable senators then stood in silent tribute.)

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Fire Chief Ken McMullen of Red Deer, Alberta. He is the guest of the Honourable Senator Sorensen.

On behalf of all honourable senators, I welcome you to the Senate of Canada.

Hon. Claude Carignan: My question is for the proud Government Representative in the Senate.

Leader, The Globe and Mail recently published an open letter from an employee of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS, who identified himself as the newspaper’s source, justifying why he had shared the information with The Globe and Mail, after the Canadian authorities failed to take the necessary measures to counter Chinese interference, even though he implored them to do so. Apparently, the government knew about this interference, but did nothing.

Leader, can you confirm when the Prime Minister was briefed by CSIS agents?

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, we were all deeply saddened and shocked by the recent news of two police officers being killed on duty. Constable Travis Jordan and Constable Brett Ryan of the Edmonton Police Service were both killed early last Thursday, March 16. We offer our condolences to their families, friends and fellow officers. I would ask you to rise for a minute of silence in their memory.

(Honourable senators then stood in silent tribute.)

[Translation]

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): I would have had to have been in this position a lot longer to have the answer to your question at my fingertips. I certainly don’t have the answer. I will endeavour to find out who might have the answer and report back when I do get an answer.

Senator C. Deacon: Thank you very much, Senator Gold. Perhaps you could also add on to that the number of deputy ministers that have decided within their departments to prioritize the use of the Competition Bureau’s Competition Assessment Toolkit that has been made specifically for policy-makers and have reached out to the Competition Bureau’s competition promotion unit. Thank you.

Hon. Colin Deacon: Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative.

Senator Gold, there’s been good news that hopefully signals the prioritization of competition policy in Canada. This includes Budget 2022’s down payment of amendments to the Competition Act and an increase in the Competition Bureau’s budget, as well as Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s ongoing consultation on the future of competition policy and the recent appointments of two competition law experts to top positions at the CRTC — the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

This last point is the focus of my question. Anti-competitive regulations programs and policies exist across all departments and agencies from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to Transport Canada, from the CRTC to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, or OSFI. As we all know, intention is important, but capacity to implement is paramount. Therefore, outside of the Competition Bureau itself, what is the federal government’s competition policy expertise? How many of the 336,000 federal public servants have had competition policy training and are responsible for the development of pro-competitive policies in their departments?

Hon. Patricia Bovey: Senator Gold, lately we’ve heard the idea from government that people could take the Canadian Oath of Citizenship by signing a document online without attending either an in-person or virtual citizenship ceremony. The negative concerns I have heard about this idea are legion, so much so that I attended a live citizenship ceremony again last Thursday. It was truly moving to hear all in the room take the oath, to witness the individual certificate presentations and see the photos — all very important aspects of the event that would be missed by merely signing an online form at home. Can you assure this chamber, all Canadians and those applying for citizenship that this idea of cutting out citizenship ceremonies in favour of a self-administered online oath will be quashed?

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Hon. Elizabeth Marshall: I have a follow-up question. Perhaps you can also check on this.

While announcing policy commitments is helpful, actually executing the policy is the real challenge. I’m thinking specifically of all the problems the department encountered in the area of military procurement over the last several years. Given the challenges encountered in implementing the existing policy, what changes have the government undertaken to successfully implement the new policy, which they should release very shortly?

Hon. Elizabeth Marshall: My question is also for Senator Gold, and it’s on the Department of National Defence.

Senator Gold, last year’s budget announced the defence policy review to allow Canada to update its existing 2017 defence policy, entitled Strong, Secure, Engaged: Canada’s Defence Policy, with the stated goal of supporting its broader international priorities in a changing global environment. That was a full year ago.

We’ve just finished our study in the National Finance Committee of Supplementary Estimates (C), and we began our study of the Main Estimates this morning. It would be very helpful if we had that updated policy. Can you tell us what has happened to this update and when we can expect it?

Hon. Tony Loffreda: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. Senator Gold, many are calling on the government to further investigate emergency COVID benefits and subsidy amounts paid to Canadians who may have inadvertently received money they were ineligible for. In her fall report, the Auditor General refers to some $32 billion in total payments, including $15.5 billion for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy.

I appreciate that the CRA — the Canada Revenue Agency — does not agree with some of the Auditor General’s findings, but the point remains that the agency needs a plan of action to verify the millions of benefit applications it received. As the Parliamentary Budget Officer, or PBO, told our National Finance Committee:

. . . the CRA doesn’t deem it worthy, appropriate or worth the effort to go after an alleged $15 billion in potential overpayments . . . .

Can you assure us that the government is committed to recovering what could be millions or even billions of dollars that may have gone to ineligible candidates?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. During the pandemic, as you all know, the government took very decisive and unprecedented action to help Canadians get through this crisis, to save lives and help our economy, and it worked. But it was clear from the beginning, as I have said on many occasions, that the CRA would begin verifications once the time was right and once it had the required data to do so. Indeed, as you alluded to, verifications have begun and assessments are being made and continue to be made as to where the efforts of the CRA should be focused.

It will take some time to complete this work. The government does not accept the numbers that the Auditor General put forward in terms of the magnitude of the problem, but there was a problem, of course. In that regard, fraud will not be tolerated. The CRA will continue to use all of its tools to identify and recover the amounts that were disbursed to ineligible recipients.

Hon. Pamela Wallin: Senator Gold, Canada Post is apparently again polling on closing rural post offices to deal with revenue shortfalls. They’re even polling on how to redefine “rural” to get around their existing moratorium on closures. Post offices are vital in rural Canada, where internet is already iffy and everything from flyers to Amazon orders go to the post office. I drive 22 kilometres to get my mail. Hours are restricted, the cost of mailing is higher than the birthday gift I’m sending and the post office is competing with struggling local newspapers — and actually killing some — by putting advertising directly in our mailboxes. Can you please assure us that we will stop compensating bad business practices at Canada Post on the backs of rural Canadians?

Hon. Jean-Guy Dagenais: Honourable senators, I rise today to mark, in my own way, the fact that our colleague, the Honourable Senator Larry Smith, will be inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

It is a rare honour to become a Canadian football legend. I say “rare” even though Senator Smith is the second member of this chamber to be awarded this honour. The other is the late Senator David Braley, who was also from Montreal and who owned the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Toronto Argonauts, and the BC Lions.

Senator Smith is being inducted into the Hall of Fame in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Canadian professional football 50 years after he first donned the Montreal Alouettes uniform in 1972. Larry Smith played for nine consecutive seasons during which the team won the Grey Cup twice, once in 1974 and again in 1977. I must say here that, at the time, our colleague was playing for one of the greatest coaches in Canadian and American football in the 1980s and 1990s, Marv Levy.

After serving as the commissioner of the CFL for five years, from 1992 to 1997, Senator Smith went on to serve as president of the Montreal Alouettes, not once but twice. The first time was from 1997 to 2001, when he basically had to save the CFL. After a brief stint as the president and publisher of the Montreal Gazette, he returned and served as team president a second time from 2004 to 2010 and won the Grey Cup in 2009 and 2010.

If there is still a professional football team in Montreal, it is no doubt thanks to Senator Smith’s reputation and talent as a manager and communicator. Under his watch, the Alouettes played sold-out games for 10 years. That was such an accomplishment that, even today, when the Alouettes aren’t doing well, Larry Smith’s name often comes up in the news as the one who could potentially save the franchise, which was just purchased by businessman Pierre-Karl Péladeau.

In all honesty, both the Alouettes and The Gazette could use a man of Larry Smith’s calibre to help them survive today.

It is fair to say that this is a very well-deserved honour for Senator Smith. He has dedicated more than 30 years to bringing professional football to life and promoting it in Montreal, Quebec and Canada.

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate our friend, Senator Larry Smith.

Hip hip hooray!