Senator Gold: Thank you for raising this concern. I will follow up on your question with the Minister of Immigration. The Privacy Act prevents me from discussing the details of this specific case. However, as promised, I will follow up on this.

[English]

Senator Miville-Dechêne: Unfortunately, Senator Gold, the Rainbow Railroad coalition is overwhelmed. As such, Nahid Modaressi, like other women in her situation, would like to apply for refugee status in Canada but does not have the means to take a plane to get to Canada because her visa was denied.

Is there a way for Ms. Modaressi to apply for refugee status in Canada from Turkey?

Hon. Stan Kutcher: Honourable senators, this week is Mental Illness Awareness Week, and it provides us with an opportunity to reflect on mental health and mental disorders, and to acknowledge the contributions of some national leaders for their work in improving the lives of our family members, friends and, indeed, members of our global community.

Good mental health is not about feeling good all the time. It’s about being willing and able to engage fully with the existential challenges that life throws at us: good and bad; happy and sad; joyful and anguished.

It is by so doing that we develop the competencies needed to understand what our feelings are and how to act so we can learn to adapt, become more resilient and — above all — support each other.

It is also a time to speak clearly about mental disorders. Someone who is living with a mental disorder is not by the fact of having it a lesser person. It does not automatically make them unable to make decisions about themselves or their lives, understand complex issues and think critically about what they are facing.

Let’s remember some who have lived with mental illness and ask ourselves this question: What would those people say if competent persons living with mental disorders were deemed unable to make important and indeed life-altering decisions — people such as Queen Victoria, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Virginia Woolf and Martin Luther King Jr.? This list is long and getting longer. Indeed, colleagues, it includes some of us who currently sit in this chamber. Certainly, we are not as well-known but are equally able to think clearly and act with agency.

I acknowledge the good work that the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health, or CAMIMH, is doing — not only this week but every week of the year — to highlight the contributions that Canadians have made in advancing our knowledge and understanding of mental disorders and advocating for better mental health care for all. This week, CAMIMH announced the 2023 Champions of Mental Health on Parliament Hill. These seven champions have demonstrated exceptional commitment to advancing and increasing access to mental health and substance use services. Their hard work has created important changes in their lives and in the lives of their communities.

As we observe Mental Illness Awareness Week and congratulate the 2023 Champions of Mental Health, let us reaffirm our commitment to supporting and funding the best available evidence-based mental health literacy and care, and doing what we can to ensure that everyone in this country — regardless of where they live, who they are and whom they love — has access to the care and resources they need. Thank you. Wela’lin.

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question. A responsible government has an obligation to do many things at once, to balance our commitments to our allies and to democracy, which is at risk in Ukraine and elsewhere, while ensuring that we, here in Canada, have the resources to protect ourselves. That is what the government is trying to do with these two announcements.

[English]

Senator Dasko: In September, the polling firm Leger surveyed Canadians about aspects of Bill C-18 and found that 59% of Canadians want Meta to lift its ban on Canadian news on its platforms. More specifically with respect to Meta, is the government still attempting to engage with Meta? Has the government engaged with Meta regarding that company’s decision to block Canadians from viewing or sharing news content? Or has the government basically given up on Meta?

Senator Gold: Thank you. They have not given up. As the polls suggest, Canadians expect the tech giants to pay their fair share and to support news and information sharing in Canada on their platforms. Meta’s decisions are unfortunate, reckless and irresponsible, particularly affecting Canadians who will have come to rely upon their news through those platforms. I’m assured the government remains open to discussions and has sought to work collaboratively with Meta during this period.

[Translation]

Senator Martin: — type of discretionary bonuses since 2019?

Senator Cordy: Thank you, Senator Gold. I know that families with children 12 and younger have had access to dental benefits under the interim Canada Dental Benefit. Have there been lessons learned from the rollout of the interim Canada Dental Benefit that will be applied to the new Canadian Dental Care Plan when it becomes accessible to eligible seniors?

How will the Canadian Dental Care Plan be communicated to eligible Canadians when it finally becomes available because it’s important that seniors know what the program is and whether or not they are eligible?

Senator Boisvenu: Senator Gold, the Standing Senate Committee on National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs disproved that in its report on the Arctic by indicating that, instead of making cuts, we need to reinvest in the Armed Forces.

How can the Prime Minister reconcile his firm commitment to National Defence and his support for Ukraine with the cuts he is making to our defence budgets, which are essential to keeping that commitment? Don’t you think that this is rather hypocritical and that it suggests the government’s statements of support for Ukraine are more about grandstanding than about taking concrete and consistent action to help that country?

Senator Gold: Well, I certainly won’t comment on what mess Pierre Poilievre will clean up, create or otherwise if and when he becomes prime minister.

Again, Bill C-11 was the subject of rigorous study and debate in this chamber. We did our job well. We studied it. We improved it with our amendments. The other house considered them, and the bill was passed into law. There are now further processes under way, and I have confidence in them.

[Translation]

Senator Woo: Yet, Senator Mockler, the bill is ostensibly a finance bill. It has to do with the fiscal position of the government. It has to do with modes of taxation or exemption from taxation. It has questions around the design of systems to encourage lesser emissions of greenhouse gases.

Did you consider any of these factors? Will your committee as a whole reconsider taking on this request from the chamber?

[Translation]

Senator Martin: Well, unfortunately for Canadians, this agency appears to be part of a well-established pattern under the Trudeau government of being very good at spending taxpayers’ dollars while producing few, if any, results. The failed Canada Infrastructure Bank is an obvious example.

Leader, could you let us know how much in taxpayer dollars the Financial Consumer Agency has paid out in long-term and short-term incentives or bonuses to its staff since 2019? Could you also tell us how much this agency has paid out in termination benefits and any other —

On the Order:

Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator LaBoucane-Benson, seconded by the Honourable Senator Duncan:

That, notwithstanding any provision of the Rules, previous order, or usual practice, until the end of the day on June 30, 2024, any joint committee be authorized to hold hybrid meetings, with the provisions of the order of February 10, 2022, concerning such meetings, having effect; and

That a message be sent to the House of Commons to acquaint that house accordingly.

Senator Plett: One of the reasons why the Trudeau government refuses to admit it was wrong is the massive cost attached to changing the passport design. Leader, a project budget of $161 million was set in 2016. However, three years later, leader, a contract was awarded worth $284 million — over a quarter of a billion dollars. That’s a high price for Canadians to pay for having images of our history removed from passports.

Leader, the new passports are poor quality. They have covers that damage and curl easily. Does that mean your government is going to pour even more money into this? If so, how much?

Senator Mockler: As I said earlier, the steering committee of the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance made that decision after examining the issue. After careful consideration, the committee decided that Bill C-234 should be examined and that the clause-by-clause consideration should be done after the report was tabled in this chamber.

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question. I’m not in a position to know, frankly, what data is being collected, much less analyzed. It is still relatively new, but I can assure this chamber that all lessons from this program will be applied to future ones, and that information — I am sure — about the details of the rollout will be communicated well in advance of its implementation.

[Translation]

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.

Hon. Denise Batters: Honourable senators, I rise today to pay tribute to a true legend — George Reed. This Canadian Football League great passed away Sunday in Regina, one day shy of his eighty-fourth birthday. George Reed was beloved throughout Saskatchewan and Rider Nation, which extends across Canada and far beyond. Reed excelled in his 13 years with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, tearing up the field with 16,116 rushing yards and 137 touchdowns. George Reed and his perennial and also legendary on-field partner — quarterback Ron Lancaster — led the Roughriders to their first Grey Cup championship in 1966, and made the Green Machine a top-level team for the next decade.

In 1973, George Reed became pro football’s all-time leading rusher, passing Jim Brown’s record in the NFL — and achieved all of this despite constant and often major injuries. During one season, he played six games with a broken leg. He embodied “Saskatchewan tough.”

George Reed was also a strong leader for all CFL players off the field, serving a long and accomplished tenure as president of the CFL Players Association. The Saskatchewan Roughriders and their devoted Rider Nation were quick to honour George Reed after his retirement in 1976. That fall, Reed’s iconic number 34 was retired. He was inducted into the SaskTel Plaza of Honour in its very first year of existence. When our beautiful new Mosaic Stadium was built, bronze statues of George Reed and Ron Lancaster were installed there — Ronnie and George, together again.

Reed attained his rightful place of prominence in CFL excellence in a 2006 TSN poll where he was named the CFL’s second-greatest player of all time; Doug Flutie was named number one. After his outstanding football career, Reed used his fame for significant charitable causes, like his George Reed Foundation to assist persons with disabilities and the key role he played in the formation of Special Olympics Saskatchewan.

Even with all the deserving accolades Reed received, he remained humble — yet his legendary status could not be denied. Whenever I had the privilege of seeing him around Regina, the last time being this summer, it always made me catch my breath for a second and say excitedly, “There is George Reed!” He continued to attend Roughrider home games, including several this season, and every time they showed George on the giant screen, he’d receive a long and sustained ovation — no matter what the score was.

It is fitting that the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ annual Legends Night game is this weekend, and George Reed will be honoured there — the legend among legends. Sincere condolences to his family, his many friends and his legions of fans. Rider Nation will love George Reed forever. Thank you.

Senator Plett: The only reason Canadians know about this waste is because a group of whistle-blowers came forward. I hope the Prime Minister isn’t going to go after them the way he did with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS, whistle-blowers earlier this year.

The investigators also found issues with conflict of interest and other mismanagement of funding. Yet, this past summer, the foundation said the allegations were all unfounded.

Leader, how many taxpayers’ dollars have been spent on salaries, expenses and bonuses at this foundation under the Trudeau government?