Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question.

As I stated yesterday, the Prime Minister stated clearly and categorically that he was not briefed by CSIS with regard to the coercion threatened against the family of member of Parliament Michael Chong; the Prime Minister said it clearly and definitively. He said that he learned about it from The Globe and Mail story, and that is what the Prime Minister has said to all Canadians — I believe his words stand for themselves and should be taken as true.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Dave Blair, a retired constable of the Ontario Provincial Police. He is the guest of the Honourable Senator Boniface.

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

Hon. Peter M. Boehm: Honourable senators, I give notice that, at the next sitting of the Senate, I will move:

That the twenty-sixth report of the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade entitled Cultural Diplomacy at the Front Stage of Canada’s Foreign Policy, tabled in the Senate on June 11, 2019, during the First Session of the Forty-second Parliament, be placed on the Orders of the Day under the rubric Other Business, Reports of Committees – Other, for consideration at the next sitting.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Dave Blair, a retired constable of the Ontario Provincial Police. He is the guest of the Honourable Senator Boniface.

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

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question.

Here is the government’s position. The government does a lot in many areas to help women who are the victims of family and intimate partner violence and also to ensure, through bills, that victims’ rights are better protected and respected. That includes the measures set out in Bill S-12, which we are going to debate and examine more closely as of next week.

The budgetary decisions that a government has to make to address the many demands and challenges it is facing have nothing to do with this government’s respect for and commitment toward victims of violence.

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: Senator Gold, on April 29, we learned from Radio-Canada that your government plans to cut $145 million in funding for the Regroupement des maisons pour femmes victimes de violence conjugale in September.

I spoke to the managers of this network of women’s shelters, and they told me that many shelters across the country will have to close their doors or drastically reduce the number of women they take in.

Senator Gold, given that the number of women who were murdered by an intimate partner rose by 20% in Canada between 2019 and 2022, do you think that this decision on the part of your government shows respect for women who are the victims of violence, yes or no?

Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson: Senator Gold, since July of 2012, Transport Canada has made it mandatory for vessels of 300 tons and above to report via the Arctic Canada Traffic Zone, or NORDREG, to the Canadian Coast Guard to improve our awareness of ships in Canadian waters to enhance maritime domain awareness. However, a March 8, 2023, letter from the Nunavut Association of Municipalities, or NAM, to former Joint Task Force North commander retired Colonel Pierre Leblanc stated, “. . . we continue to see more ship activities in northern waters, many unannounced.” A 40% increase has been noted in recent years.

In a recent letter to me, Colonel Leblanc raised several reasons for lowering the tonnage requirement to 15 tonnes and above. These reasons include stopping illegal fishing, increased maritime domain awareness, responding to Inuit communities upset by super yachts arriving unannounced and so forth.

My question, Senator Gold, is this: Will your government consider lowering the reporting requirements to 15 tonnes in response to Inuit Nunavut municipalities and defence experts? It can be done by a stroke of the regulatory pen.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you, Senator Patterson, for your question and for bringing this to my attention. I was not aware of the correspondence.

I would be happy to inquire on this matter, and then perhaps you and I could meet. You could brief me further so that my inquiries with the government will be that much more productive. If it would be helpful to arrange a meeting with the responsible ministry officials, you know my office is always happy to do that for you or for any other senator on a matter of this importance.

Senator D. Patterson: Thank you for that answer, Senator Gold. The sixth Auditor General of Canada flagged that the long‑standing issues include incomplete surveillance and insufficient data about vessel traffic in Canada’s Arctic waters. The need for better Arctic surveillance was also echoed in the House of Commons National Defence Committee’s April 2023 report A Secure and Sovereign Arctic.

Senator Gold, would you agree that, especially given the current geopolitical realities resulting from the Ukraine war and China’s description of itself as a near-Arctic state, Canada should make better efforts to protect its Arctic and improve its maritime domain awareness overall?

Hon. Pierre J. Dalphond: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.

[English]

Senator Gold, the budget bill proposes to amend section 41 of the Canada Post Corporation Act. The amendment aims to ensure the constitutionality of inspections of Canada Post parcels by Canada Post inspectors. This is an amendment that will likely fix the problem raised by the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador last year in the Gorman decision.

However, the amendment does not authorize inspectors to open letters that are being delivered by Canada Post even if they have grounds to suspect the presence of dangerous products such as fentanyl. As I said before, traffickers of fentanyl use Canada Post letters as their preferred means of delivery.

Will the government consider amending Division 30 of the budget bill to allow for the inspection of letters by Canada Post inspectors who have reasonable grounds to suspect the presence of fentanyl?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. AI technology has enormous potential but also enormous risk, and must be used responsibly and regulated appropriately.

With regard to one aspect of your question, Minister Champagne is already actively engaged with leading experts in the field as well as with counterparts in other jurisdictions. Among many aspects of this, Canadians have to have confidence that the regulation is appropriate and that their data and privacy is being respected.

You referred, senator, to Bill C-27. This is an important piece — not the only piece, but an important piece — in addressing the challenges that AI technology poses. This will ensure that Canadians have first-class privacy and data protection and that companies respect those rules, otherwise facing consequences. On the matter of AI, this bill will also put in guardrails to ensure that AI is built and deployed responsibly as well as provide penalties for non-compliance.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you, senator, for your question and for your engagement on this important issue. As you correctly pointed out, the amendment to which you refer was a direct response to a very specific issue, and, indeed, the amendment already reflects Canada Post’s usual practice of only inspecting parcels if there’s reason to suspect prohibited material may be inside. In that regard, the amendment does not change the day-to-day practices, though it does respond to the issue of constitutionality.

That said, in the opinion of the government, a broader reform of how mail is handled and inspected requires careful study and likely more changes than simply one provision in the Budget Implementation Act.

In that regard, I would be very happy to facilitate a meeting between you and the minister to discuss this matter further. I’m just not aware at this juncture and at this stage in the legislative process as to whether your suggestion is one that can be entertained. But it certainly merits discussion. I’d be happy to facilitate that.

Hon. Stan Kutcher: Senator Gold, alarms are being sounded globally about the hugely potential disruptive — and not in a good way — impacts of generative artificial intelligence, or AI, on the health of individuals and populations, democratic processes and institutions, work and economic development, arts and culture and pretty much every aspect of human behaviour. This does not even contemplate the damage that can be realized if so-called poison data spills into the AI universe. If the disinformation deluge we see in current social media is an example, we should be prepared to see this in AI as well.

My question is this: In the face of activities under way in the United States, which include an AI Bill of Rights and an Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework that reports directly to the White House, and while Bill C-27 awaits committee study in the other place, what is the Canadian government doing now to manage the impact of AI here in Canada?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question, and for mentioning this aspect of Canada’s responsibilities with regard to human rights violations and Canadian companies.

I’m not aware of what the office of the ombudsperson is doing. I’ll make inquiries and report back.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): The government is not trying to keep anything. The government is engaged on all fronts with regard to its relationships, in this case with China — in a responsible and prudent way.

Colleagues, this government is committed to ensuring that our infrastructure and our institutions are free from interference from foreign or nefarious actors of any origin. Our relationships with China are complex. The saga of the two Michaels shows how vulnerable Canadians who reside in China or are doing business in China, or companies doing business in China, are to coercive measures.

What the government is doing very often needs to be done both diplomatically and carefully. That’s what the government is doing.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Leader, many incidents have occurred under the Trudeau government that underscored the Prime Minister’s shockingly poor judgment and lack of leadership in regard to the dictatorship in Beijing. One of those was his government’s reluctance, for years, to ban Huawei from our 5G infrastructure.

Senator Gold, for over two years — since March 30, 2021 — I’ve had a written question on the Senate’s Order Paper asking for information about the contracts given by the Trudeau government to Huawei since 2016.

For over two and a half years — since October 2020 — I’ve had a question on the Order Paper asking for details about the government’s 5G security review.

Leader, why doesn’t the Trudeau government want to answer my questions? What are you trying to keep from us?

Hon. Judith G. Seidman: My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

In June 2021, Health Canada made a proposal for regulatory changes to vaping flavours, and opened a consultation for input. In their press release, Health Canada noted:

Research shows that flavoured vaping products are highly appealing to youth, and that youth are especially susceptible to the negative effects of nicotine — including altered brain development, which can cause challenges with memory and concentration.

Data from the 2021 Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey shows that fruit flavours are the most used flavours among young people aged 15 to 19.

In a post published on March 12, 2023, Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada lamented:

More than 600 days after federal officials last gave any sign that they intend to finalize these regulations, it now seems prudent to conclude that the flavour ban has been left to die on the vine.

Senator Gold, has the federal government simply given up on banning flavoured vaping products?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. The short answer is that I don’t know the current status of this, and I will make inquiries.

One can happily celebrate the decrease, and it’s a marked one, of people of all ages — but certainly young people — smoking or burning tobacco to inhale it. One should be — and is — concerned about the rise in nicotine-infused vape products, along with the addiction that inevitably entails.

I’ll make inquiries, senator. I hope to have an answer as quickly as I can.

Hon. Salma Ataullahjan: My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

Senator Gold, last Thursday I asked about the unacceptable wait time for visitor visas for Pakistan, which was 638 days. Yesterday, I heard from community members that it has gone up this week to 802 days — this is inhumane.

Leader, that means that family members have to wait for almost two years to be able to visit their loved ones. What is being done to reduce the wait time for visas?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): The government has deployed significant efforts and resources to speed up the process, which is unacceptably long for far too many applicants and their families.

The government is processing these applications faster than it did before the pandemic; it’s an average — plus or minus — of 200,000 per month over time. This was made possible by digitizing certain processes and hiring new employees.

The figures that you cite are of great concern. I will make further inquiries, senator. We all hope that the situation improves. I hope to have an answer in that regard soon.