The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Your time has expired. Senator Housakos, are you requesting more time?

Some Hon. Senators: No.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (Duke of Edinburgh’s Own) Regiment, including their Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Gord Scharf and Honourary Colonel Dan MacKay. They are the guests of the Honourable Senator Patterson (Ontario).

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

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

Some Hon. Senators: Yes.

Some Hon. Senators: Yea.

Some Hon. Senators: Nay.

An Hon. Senator: Fact.

Hon. Marty Klyne: Honourable senators, from February 18 to March 5 of this year, Prince Edward Island hosted the 2023 Canada Winter Games. In total, there were 20 sports and 150 events during the two-week period. This was an experience of a lifetime for young athletes across Canada. Team Saskatchewan had an excellent showing. Our athletes earned 20 medals at these winter games — three more than the team earned at the last games, back in 2019.

One group of young athletes I’d like to point out is Saskatchewan’s ringette team. Ringette is one of the fastest sports played on ice. After dropping their first two games, Team Sask. fought their way back to the medal round, including a dramatic, come-from-behind win in the quarter-final against New Brunswick. As their goalie Maddy Nystrom said after the game:

Our team didn’t give up. We don’t give up. We started slow in round robin. We worked our way up and kept getting better every single game and kept pushing. We wanted to win so bad.

All of this hard work paid off in the bronze medal game, as Team Sask. won 4-3 in overtime against Team P.E.I. on a beautiful goal scored by Rylie Bryden. This was Saskatchewan’s ringette team’s first medal in 24 years, and only the second ringette medal in Saskatchewan’s history — the last was a bronze medal in 1999.

March being Women’s History Month, it is particularly exciting to see an all-female coaching staff and all-woman team succeed at the games in ringette. This says a lot about Saskatchewan’s commitment to female coaching and athletes in a sport that is played by so many female athletes in my home province.

And I’m very pleased to say that we are hosting the 2023 Canadian Ringette Championships in my hometown of Regina next month, from April 9 to 15. We’re looking forward to watching all of the great ringette talent from across Canada.

Thank you. Hiy kitatamihin.

(1420)

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of McKayla Wolfer and Rose Knetsch. They are the guests of the Honourable Senator Sorensen.

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

Senator Gold: The position of the government is that it is here to serve Canadians, is serving Canadians and will continue to serve Canadians so long as it has the confidence of the House.

The Hon. the Speaker informed the Senate that a message had been received from the House of Commons with Bill C-234, An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act.

(Bill read first time.)

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

(On motion of Senator Martin, bill placed on the Orders of the Day for second reading two days hence.)

Senator Housakos: You are absolutely right; it is a serious problem, government leader. The reality is that this government has done absolutely nothing, as I see from your answer.

All of these money-laundering operations are related to foreign interference. I have said it before, and I will say it again, this government has been completely ambivalent in addressing this particular serious issue.

In this chamber, we have Bill S-237 and Bill S-247 — calling for a foreign registry act. We’re calling to tighten up the Sergei Magnitsky law in order to go after friends and family who are doing this kind of money laundering on behalf of these regimes in our country, and your government has taken no mitigating action on this issue.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. I don’t have an answer for it, senator. I’ll have to look into it and get back to you with an answer.

Senator D. Patterson: Thank you for that response, Senator Gold.

The federal government has recognized Nunavut’s unique vulnerabilities and lack of green alternatives, so we’re vulnerable to the burdensome costs of imposing the carbon tax. They have exempted us from paying the tax on fuel for power generation and intraterritorial aviation fuel.

Would you please advocate for extending this exemption to gasoline and home heating fuel? We can’t go back to dog teams instead of snowmobiles or snow houses instead of modern homes.

Senator Gold: I will certainly share these concerns and preoccupations in the course of my discussions with the government.

Senator Cardozo: Senator Gold, you talk about the transformative changes that are taking place in the economy with the environment and with climate change. At the same time, we have soaring inflation, and we have concerns about a recession.

Is this the time to make these investments, or can they not be put off for a few years, as some would argue?

Senator Manning: Certainly. Go ahead.

[Translation]

Senator Miville-Dechêne: Yes.