The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Evelyn Ross, Senator D. Patterson’s wife; Bruce Uviluq; Patricia Ross; Jacques Faille and Rod Pelton.

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

The Hon. the Speaker informed the Senate that a message had been received from the House of Commons with Bill C-48, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (bail reform).

(Bill read first time.)

Hon. Judith G. Seidman: Honourable senators, I rise to inform the Senate that, pursuant to subsection 48(18) of the Ethics and Conflict of Interest Code for Senators, an Inquiry Report of the Senate Ethics Officer concerning Senator Michael L. MacDonald was deposited with the Clerk of the Senate on July 18, 2023.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Bruce Deacon, Senator M. Deacon’s husband.

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 Marco and Cristina Luciani Castiglia. They are the guests of the Honourable Senator Loffreda.

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

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

[English]

Hon. Tony Dean: Honourable senators, I have the honour to inform the Senate that pursuant to the orders adopted by the Senate on February 10, 2022, and June 1, 2023, the Standing Senate Committee on National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs deposited with the Clerk of the Senate on June 28, 2023, its sixth report entitled Arctic Security Under Threat: Urgent needs in a changing geopolitical and environmental landscape 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 Dean, report placed on the Orders of the Day for consideration at the next sitting of the Senate.)

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

That the following documents, which form part of the proceedings of the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration from the Second Session of the Forty‑first Parliament, be referred to the Committee so that it may then authorize their disclosure for the purposes of an adjudication under the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act:

1.email from the Honourable David Wells to the Honourable Leo Housakos dated November 30, 2015, at 11:17 a.m.; and

2.email from the Honourable George Furey, K.C., to the Honourable Leo Housakos dated November 30, 2015, at 1:55 p.m.

[English]

Hon. Brian Francis: Honourable senators, I have the honour to inform the Senate that pursuant to the orders adopted by the Senate on March 3, 2022, and June 7, 2023, the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples deposited with the Clerk of the Senate on July 19, 2023, its fourteenth report (Interim) entitled Honouring the Children Who Never Came Home: Truth, Education and Reconciliation 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 Francis, report placed on the Orders of the Day for consideration at the next sitting of the Senate.)

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

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

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 to the fifth report (interim) of the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy, entitled The State of the Canadian Economy and Inflation, tabled in the Senate on February 15, 2023.

(Pursuant to rule 12-23(4), this response and the original report are deemed referred to the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy.)

Hon. Mary Jane McCallum introduced Bill S-274, An Act to establish National Thanadelthur Day.

(Bill read first time.)

Hon. Jim Quinn introduced Bill S-273, An Act to declare the Chignecto Isthmus Dykeland System and related works to be for the general advantage of Canada.

(Bill read first time.)

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

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

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): I am not prepared to commit to you or to this chamber the advice or recommendations that I will give to the Prime Minister nor to report on the advice and recommendations that I have given to the Prime Minister. I stand by my answer.

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

That the Senate call on the Government of Canada to recognize the erasure of Afghan women and girls from public life as gender apartheid.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question and thank you for underlining the devastation to this community, and many others, that the wildfires of this summer did and continue to effect.

I certainly will take the question to the attention of the relevant minister. This chamber can rest assured that the government has done and will continue to do everything it can to help communities faced with these challenges.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, before I call Question Period, let me remind you, as was noted several times before the summer, that many senators wish to take part in Question Period. It would therefore be appreciated if questions and preambles, as well as answers, could be as concise as possible. This will allow as many colleagues as possible to participate in this important accountability exercise. Thank you so much for your cooperation on this point.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): My question, Senator Gold, concerns NSICOP, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians. Up until just a few weeks ago, leader, the Prime Minister spent the better part of a year telling us that NSICOP was the best place to investigate what he knew about Beijing’s interference in our democracy. A month ago, the Prime Minister showed us, again, how worried he is about making sure that people keep an eye on him by filling the third and final seat reserved for the Senate on this committee with a senator whom he named to the chamber — just as he did with the other two Senate seats on NSICOP. Senator Gold, why are there no Conservative senators on NSICOP?