Some Hon. Senators: No.

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

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

The Hon. the Speaker informed the Senate that a message had been received from the House of Commons with Bill C-41, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to other Acts.

(Bill read first time.)

Hon. Tony Dean: Honourable senators, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the report of the Canada-United Kingdom Inter-Parliamentary Association concerning the Bilateral Visit to the United Kingdom, held in London, England and Belfast, Northern Ireland, from October 24 to 27, 2022.

[Translation]

Hon. Lucie Moncion: Honourable senators, I give notice that, at the next sitting of the Senate, I will move:

That, in light of the adoption of the Financial Policy for Senate Committees by the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration on June 1, 2023, the Senate Administrative Rules be amended in Chapter 3:05

(a)by repealing the heading before section 1, section 1, subsections 10(2) and (3) and section 11; and

(b)by replacing the heading before section 2 and subsections 2(1) and (2) with the following:

“Committee Budgets

(a) adopted by the committee;

(b) submitted by the committee to the Internal Economy Committee for its consideration; and

(c) presented to the Senate by committee report, with the budget and a report of the Internal Economy Committee attached.

(2) A budget prepared for the purposes of subsection (1) must contain a detailed estimate of the committee’s special expenses for the fiscal year.”; and

That the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel be authorized to make any necessary technical, editorial, grammatical, or other required, non-substantive changes to the Senate Administrative Rules as a result of these amendments, including the updating of cross-references and the renumbering of provisions.

[English]

Hon. David M. Wells: Honourable senators, with leave of the Senate and notwithstanding rule 5-5(j), I move that notwithstanding any provision of the Rules, previous order or usual practice, if Bill C-234, An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, is adopted at second reading, number one, it stand referred to the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry; number two, both the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources and the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance be authorized to examine and report on the subject matter of the bill — sorry, I misread that section.

That both the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources be authorized to examine and report on the subject matter of the bill; and that, number three, the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry be authorized to take into account, during its consideration of the bill, any public documents and public evidence received by either of the committees authorized to study the subject matter of the bill, as well as any report from either of those committees to the Senate on the subject matter of the bill.

Hon. Renée Dupuis: Madam Speaker, would it be possible to ask Senator Wells to repeat the motion exactly as written? We were given the first version and then told that there was a problem with the wording, yet we’re forging ahead. We’re totally confused; we don’t even know what we would be agreeing to.

[English]

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question. I’m glad that you received your answer a few short months after the question was posed. I’m not in a position to know the answer to your question, nor do I know whether the information was communicated in the context of cabinet confidence. I will certainly make inquiries, and that is all I can undertake to do at this juncture.

Hon. Salma Ataullahjan introduced Bill S-267, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (aggravating circumstance — evacuation order or emergency).

(Bill read first time.)

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, is leave granted?

[Translation]

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

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

Hon. Yuen Pau Woo: Senator Gold, last week, the Minister for Security in the United Kingdom announced that after an investigation of the so-called police stations in the U.K., no illegal activity was found at any of these stations.

When will the RCMP and the Minister of Public Safety in Canada do the same for the investigations that are ongoing with the so-called police stations in Canada, particularly in Montreal?

The Hon. the Speaker: Is leave granted, honourable senators?

The Hon. the Speaker: Leave is not granted. Someone said, “no.” Leave is not granted.

Senator Wells, on debate?

The Hon. the Speaker: Is leave granted, honourable senators?

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): My question is also for the government leader in the Senate. I recently received a delayed answer to a question I posed in March regarding the contracts given to Accenture to develop and run the Canada Emergency Business Account, or CEBA, loans program for small businesses. While The Globe and Mail reported the cost had been $143 million, the delayed answer confirmed the cost was actually over $208 million. This was never proactively disclosed to taxpayers. The answer states that Export Development Canada, or EDC, made the decision to contract out this program and to negotiate with Accenture.

Leader, how did members of the Trudeau cabinet learn that Accenture was administering the CEBA program? Did they know the truth from the start, or did they learn it through the media? Could you make inquiries and tell us what date the Minister of International Trade and the Minister of Finance, as well as their offices, became aware of Accenture’s involvement?

Some Hon. Senators: Yes.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Senator Gold, last November, when questions were first raised regarding what the Prime Minister knew about Beijing’s interference in our elections, he should have announced a public inquiry. On Friday, when his made-up Special Rapporteur finally did the right thing and announced that he would step down, the Prime Minister, again, should have announced a public inquiry. The fact that he still hasn’t done so is just another example of how entitled he feels. It shows a complete and utter lack of leadership and, indeed, borders on contempt of Parliament.

Leader, what is stopping the Prime Minister from putting an end to his cover-up, and announcing a public inquiry today?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question. First of all, the government appreciates the work that the Honourable David Johnston did in providing a report that raises important issues and provides a roadmap forward for a public process.

As Minister LeBlanc has stated publicly, the government is open and, indeed, inviting all members of the opposition to work together with him to chart a path forward in order to determine the best form of public process that will address these important issues. Echoing the words of Minister LeBlanc, as we move forward with the cooperation of all parties in the other place, I hope that the rather disturbing tone of the debate will be reduced.