Senator Housakos: Senator Gold, the only thing your government is doing is trying to obstruct the parliamentary committee from getting to the bottom of things. You’re deleting emails and preventing us from obtaining answers to simple questions. Senator Gold, “ArriveScam” has been slammed by the procurement watchdog and the Auditor General, and it is currently under criminal investigation. Are they all partisan as well? We know that, at minimum, at least 10,000 Canadians were mistakenly sent to quarantine by glitches of this shameful app. Senator Gold, how can your government — in good conscience — continue to fight these Canadians in court and hold them to huge outstanding fines in relation to what we now know was a fraudulent app?

Senator Gignac: Thank you for your answer, Senator Gold. I’d like to point out that Canada is part of the G7. I’m therefore not surprised that its budget puts it in seventh or eighth place.

Despite its seven-party coalition government, Belgium agreed last June to meet the target of 2% of GDP by 2035 through binding legislation.

Do you think that the government could follow the example of our Belgian friends and introduce a legislative framework that compels compliance with our international obligations?

Senator Gold: No amount of allegation and innuendo about corruption and the like — upon which there is no evidence — can replace the fact that police investigations are under way. The facts will be revealed when those investigations are completed.

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question. The government has agreed to balance its national and international commitments while actively increasing its defence spending. As the Prime Minister said during his visit to Ukraine, a lot remains to be done regarding defence spending, and the government is determined to meet the 2% target in due course.

Hon. Peter M. Boehm: Honourable senators, I rise today to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s illegal and egregious invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. I also wish to acknowledge the killing of Alexei Navalny, the brave and dedicated opposition leader and voice against the injustice and corruption of Vladimir Putin’s revanchist regime. Because of his ceaseless activism to better his country for his family and fellow Russians, Navalny was killed by Putin and the Russian state. That Navalny was killed is a testament to his impact.

I attended the recent Munich Security Conference where, on February 16, Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, stood before us shortly after the world learned of her husband’s murder. Ms. Navalnaya’s brave message was clear: Putin and his cronies “will be brought to justice, and this day will come soon.”

In recent years, February has become a significant month in the bloody history between Ukraine and Russia. In 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine again after its previous February invasion in 2014 that resulted in Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea on March 18 of that year. On February 16 of this year, we learned of Navalny’s killing in a Russian prison, and on February 27, 2015, another noted opposition leader and fierce Kremlin critic, Boris Nemtsov, was assassinated in Moscow.

The deaths of these activists — and the killings and attempted murders of others — further exacerbate the human toll of Russia’s longstanding aggression toward Ukraine. I know we all share concern for the health and safety of our friend Vladimir Kara-Murza imprisoned in Russia since 2022.

Colleagues, after attending the Munich Security Conference, I participated, along with our colleague Senator Wells, in the Winter Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vienna. While the tone was dark, reflecting the sombre state of world affairs, I can attest to the palpable sense of solidarity among global leaders to bring an end to the war in Ukraine and to Putin’s reign.

A sustainable Ukrainian victory relies on two principles: first, ensuring that Ukraine has all it needs to defeat Russia on the battlefield; and second, a viable plan to rebuild Ukraine to ensure its prosperity and security after the fighting stops. As the war grinds into its third year, Russia is counting on Western support for Ukraine to decline. I know that Canada, for one, will continue to stand with Ukraine on all fronts.

Colleagues, as I said in my statements in the hours after the invasion in 2022 and on its first anniversary last year, Canada, and all democracies around the world, must remain united in both condemning and opposing Russia’s actions and in our steadfast support for Ukraine and its strong, resilient people. On that, we must not falter. Thank you.

Senator Martin: It’s actually quite unfathomable that four years’ worth of emails are missing. That’s a lot. Four years, leader. It is ironic, to say the least, that the former CBSA official at the centre of the deleted “ArriveScam” emails is currently the Chief Technology Officer for the entire Government of Canada.

Since it learned of the allegations that four years’ worth of his emails were deleted, what has the Trudeau government done to recover them? Has it done anything?

Senator Gold: I’m not in a position to answer the question of what steps have been taken. I will certainly raise that with the minister at my earliest possible opportunity.

Senator Gold: Again, senator, there’s no question that the experiences of other jurisdictions have been taken into account by policy-makers in the drafting of this bill. I look forward to these questions being asked in the other place when it becomes a subject of debate on the floor, in committee and certainly when it comes here. I think the ministers and the officials will be in a better position to answer the questions than I am — at least on this first day that the bill was tabled.

Hon. Joan Kingston: Honourable senators, I rise before you today to draw your attention to a very important issue that is the subject of the final report of the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, which was released on February 13, entitled Upholding dignity and human rights: the Federal Housing Advocate’s review of homeless encampments. The report outlines specific calls to action to address ongoing homeless encampments across Canada, including a national response plan.

Encampments, or tent cities, are established by people who are sleeping rough, usually on public property or privately owned land, and often without permission. According to the final report, an estimated 20% to 25% of homeless people across the country live in tent encampments, affecting not just big cities but also rural regions, including northern Saskatchewan, Labrador, Nunavut and the communities in my home province of New Brunswick. This percentage is consistent with our experience in the Fredericton area.

While encampments have been a feature of homelessness in Canada for many years, even in less populous areas like New Brunswick, since the COVID-19 pandemic, encampments have become more numerous, more densely populated and more visible across the country. The absence of effective coordination between the many non-profit agencies, departments and jurisdictions involved limits the effectiveness of responses to the homelessness crisis. Provinces and territories must work closely with municipalities and First Nation communities, and the federal government must play a leadership role.

As the Federal Housing Advocate points out:

. . . the encampments exist only because of a larger, systemic failure to uphold the right of all people to adequate housing without discrimination. . . .

Forced encampment evictions make people more unsafe and expose them to a greater risk of harm and violence. . . .

Shelters are important. They’re there for emergencies; they’re not a place for people to live. What people experiencing homelessness want is their own door that locks and a place where they can feel safe.

Without proper housing supports in place, mental health and addictions can create significant barriers to finding and maintaining housing. At the same time, the circumstances of sleeping rough make mental health and addictions challenges impossible to overcome. Physical environment and social supports are important social determinants of health.

Greater integration and coordination are needed between community-based housing and homelessness services and mental health and addictions support. This should include the creation of integrated response teams, including clinical supports made available to individuals living in encampments and those accessing the 24/7 year-round drop-in centres recommended by the federal advocate.

A harm-reduction approach, coupled with low barriers to accessing services, is key. The report states that:

In the absence of available adequate housing, all governments and service providers must work to address the structural barriers that result in existing emergency shelters not being accessible or appropriate for all people who might choose to use them.

I echo the federal advocate’s advice:

Change depends on all of us working at all levels, starting in our own communities.

Thank you, woliwon.

Senator McPhedran: NDAs are tools intended to protect proprietary trade secrets, not to hide illegal wrongdoing. What is this government doing to protect employees from misuse of non‑disclosure agreements like we heard from testimony of employees of Sustainable Development Technology Canada when they addressed Parliament?

Senator Black: Senator Gold, could you elaborate on any specific short-term measures being considered to address the imminent workforce challenges facing the agricultural industry particularly in light of the projected retirements and persistent labour shortages that I’ve mentioned earlier?

Senator Gold: Thank you for that question. The government has announced what is called the Recognized Employer Pilot, or REP, which will help streamline processes for employers with the highest standards of worker protection. REP will be more responsive to labour market shortages and will reduce the administrative burden for repeat employers who demonstrate a history of program compliance while ensuring that temporary foreign workers are protected.

Senator Martin: As I said, with the letters from the territories and the provinces and with the provincial counterparts who are working tirelessly on assessing the readiness — on a personal level, I have my own examples of why allowing MAID for people with mental illness as a sole underlying condition is frightening to me. But in terms of the readiness, I do believe that we must listen to the provinces and territories. That’s why we have this three-year extension. I can’t say when that will be. I will leave it to the experts and those in charge of assessing the readiness to tell us when they are ready.

Senator Plett: You provide information that isn’t correct, it’s misinformation, leader. You are constantly lecturing us here about misinformation — the Conservatives — but here we have a blatant example of misrepresentation, mismanagement and secrecy, leader. The Trudeau government is not worth the cost and will never fix our budget.

What is the current total of these contracts now, leader? Is it more than $208 million?

Senator Gold: I don’t have a figure that I can provide by way of an answer, senator, but thank you for your question.

Senator Gold: I will certainly add those to my inquiries. Thank you for the question.

Senator Kutcher: For the purposes of everyone being exhausted and tired tonight, the last thing people want is for me to repeat that question. Thank you.

Senator Martin: I am not quite sure what you are asking, senator, but I know you bring expertise from your profession, and on this, we do disagree. However, the fact that we heard from various experts who have such differing opinions is what, I think, made me and other parliamentarians pause as to when, because when we do go forward, it needs to be at the right time for our nation.

In terms of your question, I didn’t quite understand. You can repeat it if you like, but I don’t know if you want to ask it again.

Senator Kutcher: In three years, we will be back at the point of hearing, “Nine people say we’re ready, one says we’re not ready; therefore we’re not ready.”

These are the reasons I do not support this bill. I hope you will consider all of the evidence before we move forward with what, in my opinion, is a discriminatory piece of legislation that violates our Charter and ignores provincial legal precedent. Thank you, wela’lioq.