The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Mr. Marvin Fletcher, Senator Boyer’s husband.

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

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. The Trudeau government has not created the housing crisis. It’s doing its part — along with provinces and municipalities — to address it. Indeed, the most recent announcement about the reduction of the GST is already encouraging developers to build more homes, as has been recently reported by the press.

With regard to immigration, it is regrettable and unfortunate that some foreign students are being misled — not by the government but rather unscrupulous advisers and professionals — into believing that by coming to Canada to study they can easily secure permanent residency status.

The government is investigating these fraudulent behaviours and abuses of the system — and will take measures to counter them — but the fact remains Canada benefits from immigration. The Government of Canada is addressing the housing crisis responsibly and will continue to do so.

Senator Gold: You finished your question, and I answered.

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question. Because of the Quebec legislation known as Act M-30, the federal government is working with Quebec to negotiate a bilateral agreement that would allow Quebec municipalities to receive funding, as I just mentioned.

The government hopes to reach an agreement as soon as possible.

[English]

Senator Gold: Not knowing the honourable member well enough — that is to say, the person who is the object of those comments — I’m not in a position to evaluate the appropriateness of the comment. As I said, I choose not to comment further on Minister Miller’s comments.

Senator Gold: I’m prepared to answer the supplementary question if you so move it.

Senator Plett: That truly is a shameful answer. Every guest has to be vetted by protocol and security.

Leader, power and responsibility go together. If the Prime Minister wants to have the power, he must also take on the responsibility. If he wants to travel all over the world and meet other heads of state, he is responsible, leader, for Canada’s reputation.

Last week, he presided over Canada’s greatest diplomatic blunder. He should have apologized two days ago, leader, when this came to light; he didn’t. Today, he finally came out from under the rock where he has been hiding for the last two days, and he said that Parliament apologizes — he did not say, “I apologize.” Parliament apologizes, not him.

Senator Gold, when will the Prime Minister finally grow up, accept his responsibility for once and apologize — not on behalf of only Canada and Parliament, but on behalf of himself?

Senator Mégie: Thank you for your answer, Senator Gold. It’s good to hear they’ve been talking, but when will they actually meet? The $900 million is just sitting there in the coffers. When will those funds be made available to the province?

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Dr. Sukhmeet Singh Sachal. He is the guest of the Honourable Senator Osler.

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

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. I do not believe I was spreading misinformation. I repeat that any vetting is done for security purposes — not in terms of their pedigree, history or the like.

The Prime Minister has taken responsibility, and the Speaker has taken responsibility — and all of us regret deeply what happened.

Again, it is your prerogative to treat this as a partisan issue. It is regrettable, and I think it does not address the real issue. The real issue is that Canada continues to stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine against Russian aggression, and will continue to do so despite this most horribly unfortunate and embarrassing incident.

Senator Plett: No. There is a supplementary question. It is part of a question.

Senator Wallin: All right, I’m wondering, then, if you could endeavour to determine how many resources are being put toward those files, what resources have been allocated in terms of money and people — how much and how many. Does the government know the answer to that question?

With the embarrassment that has been caused to Ukraine and the propaganda win it has now handed Russia, it is even more important that we fix this situation for the Ukrainians who are now here, waiting and desperate.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.

Senator Batters: Senator Gold, it is not credible that the Trudeau government did not vet the guest list, even solely for security purposes. With President Zelenskyy, we had in our midst perhaps the most threatened target in the world right now — the leader of a country under attack by one of the globe’s most bloodthirsty despots. The Trudeau government’s house leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Karina Gould, confirmed Monday that “When it comes to everyone who is invited to Parliament, of course that vetting happened. . . .”

The Parliamentary Protective Service reports to the RCMP, which answers to Prime Minister Trudeau’s Minister of Public Safety. The Trudeau government has RCMP and CSIS intelligence to protect visiting delegations and all parliamentarians. Since, as Minister Gould admitted, the Trudeau government vetted this guest list, how did a Nazi come within mere feet of the Jewish leader of a besieged Ukraine? If the Trudeau government actually failed to vet attendees, how can they defend their stunning negligence that has sacrificed not only Canada’s international reputation but also the security of the entire Ukrainian nation?

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question and for the commentary that preceded it which, I might suggest, was filled with more misinformation than any answer you have heard from me during my time in this office.

This was a regrettable situation, Senator Housakos and others, and I think it would behoove us to not treat it as it is being treated in this chamber today. It really is regrettable.

[Translation]

Senator Martin: The CIBC estimates that the Trudeau government is not counting about 250,000 international students pursuing their education in Canada. Last month, the new Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Sean Fraser, told the media that a cap on international students is “one of the options we ought to consider.”

Leader, the housing crisis is not the fault of international students. They have simply followed the rules put in place by the Trudeau government — yet there are reports of international students who are homeless, living under bridges or in cars. Everyone in Canada deserves safe and affordable shelter. Instead of always looking for someone else to blame, when will the Trudeau government accept responsibility for the housing crisis it has created?

Senator Gold: Well, again, I’m not in a position to provide that information. I certainly will take the question to the attention of those responsible for working with the provinces in this regard, and I’m sure they will take it seriously.

Senator Plett: Yes. I think, Your Honour, there was an agreement that we finish a question when we start.

Senator Gold: The vetting of guests is for security purposes in terms of the danger to any guests or parliamentarians. It is not with regard to other aspects of those guests, as the honourable senator knows very well.

The Speaker of the other place took his responsibility and did the honourable thing. The Prime Minister has apologized.