Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): At least we agree that the CBC is the propaganda arm of the government. Thank you for clarifying that. I hope the CBC takes note.

Leader, I don’t believe the Prime Minister has ever seen a credit card bill in his life. He certainly doesn’t know how high interest rates can be. I’m sure he didn’t use his credit card when he was in Jamaica. If he did, he would not have suggested that Canadians rack up more credit card debt, as he did in a recent town hall in Moncton. As the prime minister who has added more debt than any other prime minister, Prime Minister Trudeau is in no position to tell Canadians how to manage their daily finances responsibly. He has never had to worry about his own personal finances, and that thinking applies to how he runs our country.

Leader, according to last month’s budget, the Trudeau government has no path to balance, ever. At least credit card companies tell consumers how long it will take for us to pay off our debt. Why won’t the Prime Minister do the same?

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question; it’s an interesting one. The Prime Minister, and in this particular case the appropriate minister, has been very public. He’s on social media and on broadcasting networks. If people don’t watch CBC or CTV, or they get their news elsewhere, it’s available on those platforms as well.

The government has been clear for a long time about the importance of this bill. Three parties put this issue in their electoral platform, and they represent a majority of the House of Commons. I’m not sure what else the government should be doing with this.

Certainly, by way of a communications strategy, when the bill receives Royal Assent, as I hope it will sooner rather than later, and the next steps of the process unfold, that will be another occasion for the government and the CRTC to communicate to interested stakeholders about how they can continue to be engaged in the process.