The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Neil Belanger, Julia McEathron and Jeff Ferguson. They are the guests of the Honourable Senator Pate.

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

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Ammar Al-Joundi and Martin Plante. They are the guests of the Honourable Senator Patterson (Nunavut).

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

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

[Translation]

Hon. Rosemary Moodie: Honourable senators, it is a pleasure to rise and recognize an extraordinary young woman: Ms. Anthaea-Grace Patricia Dennis. You may have heard of Anthaea-Grace. She made national news last week for making history as the youngest-ever graduate of a university in Canada’s history at the age of 12 years old.

Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson: Thank you, Your Honour. Sean Boyd, the Executive Chair of the Board, is also here today from Agnico.

Honourable senators, I’ve always believed that mining is the key to generating the wealth and own-source revenues that Inuit and Nunavut as a whole need to thrive. So it’s my honour today to rise in recognition of the contributions that Agnico Eagle Mines has made to Nunavut.

Over the past 15 years, this great Canadian company has invested over $9 billion in the territory and is a major contributor to socio-economic development. Inuit organizations receive millions through negotiated Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreements, or IIBAs. Mining companies also pay millions in employment, contracting and additional initiatives or project‑based support. For instance, in 2022, Agnico Eagle paid $62 million in property taxes, royalties and IIBA commitments to the Government of Nunavut, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated and Kivalliq Inuit Association. To date, these payments amount to $245 million. Also in 2022, the company paid their 372 Inuit employees $33.6 million and spent $821 million on contracts with Inuit businesses.

Agnico is a model corporate citizen that goes above and beyond to give back to Nunavummiut, whether it’s offering $5 million toward the university, supporting literacy and mental wellness initiatives, paying its Inuit employees 75% of their base salary to stay home and safe during the COVID pandemic, sponsoring a new arena in Rankin Inlet or exploring ways to support housing. Agnico Eagle has always been a generous contributor to the communities impacted by their operations and to the territory as a whole.

When I was first appointed to this chamber in 2009, I went to the opening of Agnico’s Meadowbank mine, their first mining operation in Nunavut. I heard Jose Kusugak, the beloved late president of Nunavut Tunngavik, thanking the company for helping them break the cycle of poverty that the nearby community of Baker Lake was trapped in at the time. While visiting Baker Lake in 2018, I heard from a community member how steady employment and wealth generation for residents helped shift the focus from simply surviving to actually living. This, she said, was the reason Baker Lake has seen a revitalization of their local arts scene.

Therefore, it is my absolute pleasure to stand here today in my last year in the Senate to recognize the contributions of this great Canadian company in my territory over the past 15 years. Here is to many more years of Agnico Eagle operating in and continuing to benefit Nunavut.

Qujannamiik. Matna. Koana. Taima.

Hon. Renée Dupuis: Honourable senators, a legal giant passed away on June 8, 2023, in Quebec City. Louis LeBel was a lawyer, a jurist, an author, a teacher, and a judge who served on the Quebec Court of Appeal from 1984 to 2000 and on the Supreme Court of Canada from January 7, 2000, to November 30, 2014. He participated in deliberations on social issues that marked Quebec, Canada and the world from the second half of the 20th century until well into the 21st.

Louis LeBel was a humanitarian and a sophisticated intellectual. He was a reserved, curious and independent-minded man. His commitment to the legal community took many forms. His writings are a clear indication of his keen analytical skills, his careful use of precise terms, not just broad legal concepts, and his desire to differentiate himself though his elegant, characteristic style.

Thanks to his in-depth knowledge of Quebec civil law and common law, Justice LeBel made a unique contribution to strengthening the bijuralism that characterizes Canada’s legal regime.

In an interview that he gave shortly after he retired from the Supreme Court, Louis LeBel summarized what he was taking away from his 14 years at the Supreme Court: first, the diversity of issues; second, a considerable sense of responsibility for the future of law; and third, the seriousness of the social issues raised by some cases.

As he reaffirmed during that interview, Louis LeBel felt that the work judges do for the future of our country is serious enough that it imposes on them a cultural duty, that is, a duty to continue to learn, to avoid becoming wrapped up in the law and to understand what is happening around them.

Louis LeBel’s work made an impression on generations of law students and lawyers and will continue to influence Canadian jurisprudence.

I offer my condolences to his wife, the lawyer Louise Poudrier-LeBel, his children Paul, Catherine and François, as well as his grandchildren.

[English]

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.)

Hon. Senators: Question.

Hon. Pamela Wallin: Honourable senators, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the eighth report (interim) of the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy entitled Needed: An Innovation Strategy for the Data-Driven Economy and I move that the report be placed on the Orders of the Day for consideration at the next sitting of the Senate.

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

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

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): My question, again, is for the Liberal government leader.

Leader, Minister Mendicino wasn’t the only one who acted surprised that Paul Bernardo was moved out of maximum security. We’re now told that the Prime Minister learned of the jail transfer the day before his minister did, and the Prime Minister’s Office, or PMO, staff knew about it for months.

Under the Speaker’s Ruling, leader, I’m not allowed to call it what it is, but yesterday, your friends were quick to come to the rescue — on another point of order — to further restrict our language. I can say that the incompetent Prime Minister and his minister were “acting,” “pretending” or “putting on a sham,” and I can call them “fake,” or say that they were playing Canadians for fools, but I am not allowed to say that they lied — “lied” is the word that best describes what they did and who they are.

Leader, I’m at a loss for words; it doesn’t happen very often.

Senator Gold, when something is said that is not true, that is misleading or that is a lie, what language would you suggest that we use in this chamber?

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

The Hon. the Speaker: Are honourable senators ready for the question?

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

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

Hon. Percy Mockler, Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance, presented the following report:

Thursday, June 15, 2023

The Standing Senate Committee on National Finance has the honour to present its

TWELFTH REPORT

Your committee, to which was referred Bill C-47, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 28, 2023, has, in obedience to the order of reference of Tuesday, June 13, 2023, examined the said bill and now reports the same without amendment but with certain observations, which are appended to this report.

Respectfully submitted,

PERCY MOCKLER

Chair

(For text of observations, see today’s Journals of the Senate, p. 1839.)

Hon. Patti LaBoucane-Benson (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government response, dated June 13, 2023, to the second report of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying, entitled Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada: Choices for Canadians, tabled in the Senate on February 15, 2023.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Laura Eggerton and Keith Collins. They are the guests of the Honourable Senator McPhedran.

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

The Hon. the Speaker: Are honourable senators ready for the question?