The Hon. the Speaker: Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?

Hon. Patti LaBoucane-Benson (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): 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, the evening suspension provided for in rule 3-3(1) be for only one hour today, starting at 6 p.m.

Hon. Stan Kutcher: Honourable senators, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the report of the Canada-China Legislative Association and the Canada-Japan Inter-Parliamentary Group concerning the Forty-third General Assembly of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from November 20 to 25, 2022.

Hon. Senators: Question.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question and for the offer, as the son of an English teacher, to school you.

I think the best advice I could give would be to listen to the very impressive speech of the former leader of the Conservative Party, Mr. Erin O’Toole, which he delivered in the chamber, because he reminded all of us parliamentarians — and he included himself in that, to his great credit — that both the language of debate and the way in which more attention is being paid to creating video clips in order to serve the algorithms for “likes” are debasing our politics and endangering the things to which we should all be responsibly attentive.

Hon. Rosa Galvez: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.

Senator Gold, the clean investment tax credits set out in budget 2023 seek to reduce our emissions while creating more clean energy, which we will need to meet the Net Zero Accelerator target before 2050.

That being said, the government failed to make one essential climate technology eligible for its series of investment tax credits, namely, the production of renewable biogas from organic waste.

In 2019, I wrote a report for Quebec that shows how biogas can transform greenhouse gas emissions from our farms and domestic solid waste into a source of clean energy.

Canada is not currently using this technology to its full potential. Municipalities and farmers need support to develop these important technologies, so that they can be competitive in terms of investments. When will the government include renewable biogas in its tax credit regime for investments in clean technology?

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: My question is for Senator Gold. I too want to talk about the Bernardo case, which has sparked a lot of outrage across the country and among victims’ groups.

Yesterday, Minister Mendicino used the word “victim” more times in one hour than his government ever did in eight years. The minister never talked about victims before the Bernardo case. Suddenly, victims of crime are his top priority. He even issued a directive to his department to ensure that victims’ rights are central to Correctional Service Canada’s decisions.

For the past eight years, I have been asking the Government Representative in the Senate why victims’ rights are not being respected. He mentioned a directive, but that directive existed in 2015. The act that created the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights is a federal act, which means that all federal institutions must abide by it.

Senator Gold, why is Minister Mendicino now using victims for his own ends? Why did he not respect families? Most importantly, why did he not tell the truth?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Once again, thank you for your commitment to victims’ rights.

As I stated, and you did point that out, the minister made these decisions to ensure that the relevant information is communicated, not just to him personally, but also to victims. It is a step in the right direction and I hope it will yield results.

Hon. Ratna Omidvar: Senator Gold, I have a question for you, and it is about immigration. A study by the Desjardins group has determined that planned large-scale immigration — planned by the government; I support it; you know that — will lead to higher real GDP growth at the national level and in all Canadian provinces. At the same time, the impact on per capita real GDP growth is more mixed, depending on where immigrants settle and possibly how quickly they are able to use their education and qualifications in the employment market. However, there is a real knock-on effect on housing. The current supply of housing is insufficient. This will lead to increased pressure in housing prices, and the impact will be felt across the country.

Senator Gold, my question to you is this: What is the government planning to do to increase the housing supply in Canada for Canadians and immigrants?

Hon. Jean-Guy Dagenais: My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.

When it comes to making appointments, the Prime Minister obviously lacks the political acumen to get them right.

The list is long and disturbing. It includes a Governor General who doesn’t speak both of Canada’s official languages, a unilingual anglophone Lieutenant Governor in New Brunswick, the only bilingual province, a minister’s sister-in-law as the interim Ethics Commissioner, a Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia who made controversial remarks about secularism in Quebec, and a Special Rapporteur who didn’t complete his mandate because his credibility was tarnished by his ties to the Prime Minister’s family, ties he couldn’t ignore.

Does the Prime Minister act alone in his bubble when it comes to making appointments, or does he have advisers? If so, don’t you think it’s time he replaced them with more competent people?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question. It’s an important one. It’s clear that Canada is facing a supply shortage, as highlighted by the recent report of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, or CMHC.

I have said this on many occasions, and I won’t belabour the point; I’m going to answer your question directly. As reported as recently as today in The Globe and Mail, the housing problem in Canada is a function of so many things that are outside the scope of any one government or even all governments. My answer is that the government is doing its part in the hope it will assist in the face of market forces and demographic forces that are beyond its control.

Look, it’s hard for Canadians to find affordable places to live in their communities. That’s really obvious. What you could call the “financialization” of the housing market has exacerbated this problem, the way in which housing has been used as an investment vehicle. That’s why the government has introduced a variety of measures that will put us on path. We hope to double the number of homes built in Canada over the next decade, to rapidly increase the supply of affordable housing and to help ensure that homes are used to house families, not simply as investment vehicles. It launched a $4-billion Housing Accelerator Fund to speed up construction and help create 100,000 new units; provided $4 billion for the new Urban, Rural and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy; and made the largest investment in co-op housing in 30 years, in the amount of $1.5 billion.

This is what the federal government is doing and it hopes that others, governments and private sector, will contribute as well.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): As I have already noted, the government made transformational investments in Budget 2023 to build Canada’s clean economy and to fight climate change. With respect to your question, I will bring it to the attention of the appropriate minister.

[English]

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

Look, the appointment process varies depending on the position and the process in place. Here in the Senate, we are eagerly awaiting appointments to fill the seats. This particular process involves a board consisting of members appointed by the federal government and members appointed by the provinces.

For judicial appointments, the process is under way and judges are being appointed. As I have said several times, yes, there are vacancies, but the Minister of Justice and the Government of Canada have appointed more than 600 judges since 2015 and are still going.

With respect to other vacancies, the process is designed to find qualified individuals and is always based on merit. These processes might seem slow, but they do make it possible to find the best people to serve the needs of Canadians.

Hon. Andrew Cardozo: I note that some professions, such as engineering — due to the enormous lack of people — are beginning to make their standards more flexible in terms of newcomers.

I want to ask you about francophone immigrants.

[Translation]

As you may know, our Official Languages Committee proposed a bold policy for listening to francophone immigrants.

[English]

What is the federal government doing in terms of attracting francophone immigrants, both in Quebec and in the rest of Canada?

[Translation]

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question, senator.

As for the federal government’s approach for all of Canada, as I mentioned, the program I referred to includes a measure aimed at promoting francophone immigration outside Quebec.

As far as Quebec is concerned, it gets a say — quite a bit of say, actually — in who settles there. It’s a well-known fact that the Quebec government emphasizes the ability to speak French, or to learn French quickly, to ensure that immigrants to Quebec integrate fully into Quebec society.

[English]

Hon. Leo Housakos: Senator Gold, the default setting of the members of your cabinet, including the Prime Minister, is always to claim that they weren’t briefed, they didn’t receive an email or they just weren’t told. Are these familiar lines? Mr. Trudeau said it about MP Han Dong when he claimed ignorance — we now know that’s not true. Mr. Blair said it about the threats against MP Chong’s family. Ms. Joly said it about her staffers going to a garden party at the Russian embassy. Mr. Sajjan said it about the fall of Kabul, claiming he had too many emails, and he couldn’t possibly read all of those emails. Of course, that isn’t fitting on the part of that minister; that is complete incompetence.

Mr. Mendicino has said it on numerous occasions — most recently about the non-existent closure of illegal police stations being operated in Canada by Beijing, and now about the transfer of Paul Bernardo out of a maximum-security prison.

We have two options in front of us, government leader, and there is not a third option. Either the minister knew that the information he was giving to the House and the Canadian public was wrong, and he was intentionally misleading everyone, or he has absolutely no handle on his office, and his staff is running completely amok because of zero leadership on behalf of the minister.

Either way, this is my question for you: Where is the ministerial responsibility? If he won’t do the right thing and resign, why won’t the Prime Minister — your leader and the leader of this country — do the right thing and hold the minister to account?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. Let me begin more broadly: We know that there is a problem with information flow from various sources, such as the intelligence sources, into the government and to ministers. This was underlined and made clear in the report of the Special Rapporteur, the Honourable David Johnston. Indeed, this is also a problem that Minister Mendicino has acknowledged with regard to the Paul Bernardo affair. It was an error made in the Office of the Minister of Public Safety. As the minister said yesterday, he has taken steps to address this mistake internally.

With regard to your statement about Minister Blair, he has said clearly that he was not aware of the information regarding Member of Parliament Chong, and that he found out about it for the first time in The Globe and Mail. The minister has stated that clearly and unequivocally.

Witnesses have pointed out the shortcomings that exist in the structure of how we share intelligence — it’s clear that this needs to be reviewed. I fully expect that this will be one of the items that the next step of the public process will address once all parties agree on both a mandate and a way forward. This is important and is being taken seriously — I hope — by all members of Parliament, as it should. Canadians deserve to be kept safe, and we deserve to fix the problems that may exist in the way information is transmitted.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. It’s a complex one, and I’ll try to be brief in my response.

You’re right to point out that in many areas, the issue is not the need for people or jobs, but the fact that the credentials that allow them to practise their chosen professions are regulated either by the provinces or by agencies under the authority of the provinces.

Consider health care, for example: The government does not have the jurisdiction to legislate with regard to health care, but it has an important role to play, as we all know. In this regard, through the Foreign Credential Recognition Program, Budget 2022 provided funding of $150 million over five years, with $30 million ongoing, to help up to 11,000 internationally trained health care professionals per year find work in their field. That is one small, important example, though it’s modest.

In other respects, the government and relevant ministers are in contact with their representatives in the provinces and territories in order to encourage them to adapt their particular rules to facilitate the accreditation of workers — in any field — in their provinces and territories. We’ve seen some very promising results of provincial initiatives in the Atlantic regions — I don’t have the list in front of me — but those conversations continue.

Again, the government will do its part, and will work with the provinces and territories, in the hope that we can have a more seamless, robust and generous approach to welcoming the professionals, who are trained elsewhere, to make their contribution here in Canada.

Hon. Andrew Cardozo: I want to return to the question of immigration, and my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. You talked about the cost of immigration, but we have a situation where we have lots of jobs without people, and people without jobs. A certain amount of that occurs in the provincial jurisdiction, where colleges of various professions are not allowing the employment of people who don’t have Canadian education and certification. When is the federal government going to ease the entry of immigrants and professionals to be able to work here? One has to think of the medical field where there are lots of people who can’t find family doctors and nurses — yet, in fact, there are a number of immigrants who are doctors and nurses who can’t become employed.

Hon. Patti LaBoucane-Benson (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate), pursuant to notice of June 14, 2023, moved:

That the Senate approve the reappointment of Heather Powell Lank as Parliamentary Librarian.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I have the honour to inform the Senate that a message has been received from the House of Commons which reads as follows:

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

EXTRACT, —

That a message be sent to the Senate to acquaint Their Honours that, in relation to Bill C-22, An Act to reduce poverty and to support the financial security of persons with disabilities by establishing the Canada disability benefit and making a consequential amendment to the Income Tax Act, the House:

agrees with amendments 1, 4 and 5 made by the Senate;

agrees with the Senate proposal to make any necessary consequential changes to the numbering of provisions and cross-references resulting from the amendments to the bill;

respectfully disagrees with amendment 2 because it raises significant constitutional concerns by seeking to regulate the insurance industry specifically or contracting generally, both of which fall within provincial jurisdiction;

proposes that amendment 3 be amended to read as follows:

“New clause 10.1, page 4: Add the following after line 5:

“Appeals

10.1 Subject to regulations, a person, or any other person acting on their behalf, may appeal to a body identified in regulations made under paragraph 11(1)(i) in respect of any decision

(a) relating to the person’s ineligibility for a Canada disability benefit;

(b) relating to the amount of a Canada disability benefit that the person has received or will receive; or

(c) prescribed by the regulations.””.

ATTEST

Eric Janse

Acting Clerk of the House of Commons

Honourable senators, when shall this message be taken into consideration?

(On motion of Senator Gold, message placed on the Orders of the Day for consideration at the next sitting of the Senate.)