The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of His Excellency Ambassador Ariunbold, MP Saranchimeg, MP Ganbold and MP Naranbaatar from the Parliament of Mongolia. They are the guests of the Honourable Senator Clement.

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

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I regret I have to interrupt proceedings, but it is time is for Question Period. We will suspend for a minute while Minister Hutchings takes her seat, and then we will continue with Question Period.

(The sitting of the Senate was suspended.)

(The sitting of the Senate was resumed.)

(Pursuant to the order adopted by the Senate on December 7, 2021, to receive a Minister of the Crown, the Honourable Gudie Hutchings, P.C., M.P., Minister of Rural Economic Development, appeared before honourable senators during Question Period.)

Hon. Robert Black: Honourable senators, I have risen on a number of occasions in this chamber and in the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry to speak on the importance of soil health.

Today, I would like to highlight the United Nations World Soil Day, which takes place every year on December 5. This year’s theme — Soils: where food begins — aims to raise awareness about the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being by addressing the growing challenges in soil management, increasing soil awareness and encouraging societies to improve soil health.

I am proud to share that the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry is currently undertaking a soil study to review the health of Canada’s soils and its impacts on our country. In fact, just this morning, members of the committee travelled to the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum to get our hands dirty and to learn more about Canada’s soils, as well as conservation and protection practices. While this study is still in its early days, I am sure that we will have the opportunity to investigate how food begins with our soils.

As a long-standing member of Ontario’s agricultural community, I know just how important healthy, arable soil is to our farmland and our food system. However, it is concerning to think that Ontario is losing 319 acres of farmland every day.

At this time, I would like to acknowledge the Ontario Federation of Agriculture’s Home Grown campaign in that regard. It is high time that we work together to protect local farms from being lost to urban sprawl.

Honourable colleagues, when we lose farmland, we lose the food that would have been cultivated there as well. That loss directly contributes to our ability to maintain strong and stable food supply chains. While it is clear that food security is an issue around the world, it is also an issue here at home.

I’m sad to share that a poll conducted by Food Banks Canada found that one in five Canadians reported going hungry at least once between March 2020 and March 2022, and almost a quarter of Canadians reported eating less than they should have due to rising prices. As a leader in agriculture on a global scale, we must prioritize ending food insecurity in Canada and around the world. To achieve that, we will also need to prioritize our agricultural industry and ensure that our soils are healthy enough to feed the world for generations to come.

This World Soil Day, I encourage you to take the time to learn more about the ways in which Canada can conserve and protect its soils and reflect on the ways in which healthy soils in Canada are linked to a strong food supply system. We must acknowledge that protecting our healthy soils also means protecting all the benefits that come with it, like healthy ecosystems, improved water quality and reduced greenhouse gases.

I am certain that this is something we can all “dig” into on this upcoming World Soil Day and beyond. Thank you. Meegwetch.

[Translation]

Hon. Michael L. MacDonald: Welcome, minister. Minister, certain parts of Atlantic Canada were hit hard by Hurricane Fiona, certainly the southwest coast and the gulf coast of Newfoundland — you’re familiar with that — all the Atlantic seaboard of Cape Breton, and Prince Edward Island as well was hit particularly hard.

Two days ago, you posted the following on Facebook:

The impacts of Fiona were hard hitting, and they continue to be, especially as we move into winter months.

That’s why I am so happy to hear that my friend and colleague Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor has announced that the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency . . . will now begin accepting applications through the Hurricane Fiona Recovery Fund to help support communities in hard hit sectors in the Atlantic that are not eligible for other financial support.

In the face of such an emergency, what took the government so long to make an application form available to the communities and businesses affected by Hurricane Fiona? Why would it take over two and a half months?

Hon. Raymonde Gagné (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, with leave of the Senate and notwithstanding rule 5-5(g), I move:

That, when the Senate next adjourns after the adoption of this motion, it do stand adjourned until Tuesday, December 6, 2022, at 2 p.m.

Hon. Lucie Moncion: Honourable senators, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the sixth report of the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration, which deals with amendments to the Senate Administrative Rules.

(For text of report, see today’s Journals of the Senate, p. 1097.)

The Hon. the Speaker: I hear a no. Extra time is not granted.

(On motion of Senator Martin, debate adjourned.)

Hon. Tony Loffreda: Thank you, minister, for being with us today. Could you elaborate further on these important issues? I noted in your progress report on Canada’s Rural Economic Development Strategy, released in August 2021, that one of your key priorities is to help address housing pressures by building or renovating over 9,000 units of affordable housing in rural and Indigenous communities.

Could you provide us with an update on this initiative and elaborate further? I might also add that home affordability is obviously a significant issue, but home accessibility and availability are equally important. How is the government helping address some of the real estate pressures and challenges in rural communities? Does your agency have targeted measures or policies in place to encourage new Canadians, immigrants and refugees to consider rural communities as a place to call home?

Some Hon. Senators: No.

Senator Plett: Can you explain how you square that box when this renowned expert is saying the opposite of what you and whomever you talked to are saying?

The Hon. the Speaker: I’m sorry, Senator Kutcher, but your time has expired. Are you asking for more time?

Hon. Claude Carignan: Minister, as Question Period progresses, you are putting more and more pressure on the senators who are coming up next to ask great questions.

My question is based on your mandate letter, which includes the following commitment:

Support the Minister of Public Services and Procurement in ensuring that Canada Post better reaches Canadians in rural and remote areas.

Minister, can you tell us specifically how much money Canada Post has spent in 2021 on its strategy to improve postal services in rural communities, and how many post offices have been opened or renovated in rural communities as a result of your strategy?

[English]

Hon. Andrew Cardozo: Thank you, minister, for being here to answer our questions.

You covered a number of different departments that you work with. I’m interested in the machinery of government or how you get things done or make things happen, because you seem to be working with a lot of different ministers and departments. How does that all happen?

I want to sneak in a little question about rural tourism, if you can talk about that. I had the good fortunate of travelling in your riding, and it’s certainly one of the most beautiful areas of the country.

Senator Dupuis: Thank you, Senator Clement, for your question. You interpreted the last paragraph of my intervention quite well, when I said that I invite the members of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs to carefully review the contents of the bill. It is 169 pages long, if memory serves, and it has 642 clauses. One of the important elements that we must examine is the degree of buy-in from both the common law and the civil law practitioners, the members of professional associations such as the bar or notary associations. We know that consultations were held in 2017 on this fourth harmonization act and that the process was initiated some years ago. I believe that we must do this work, and I invite the committee to undertake it.

(On motion of Senator Carignan, debate adjourned.)

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, we welcome today the Honourable Gudie Hutchings, P.C., M.P., Minister of Rural Economic Development, to ask questions relating to her ministerial responsibilities.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Minister, I noted that your colleague MP Blois, who is the National Liberal Rural Caucus chair, was an advocate for making rural fire stations eligible to apply for funding from the Canada Community-Building Fund, or CCBF.

Infrastructure Canada’s website has numbers available to the public on the allocated funds from the CCBF by the province and territory. Rural volunteer fire departments are crucial in so many communities.

My question, minister, is very specific: Since this fund was amended earlier this year to include fire halls, can you please share with us how successful this addition is and how many rural fire halls have applied and succeeded in receiving funds?

Hon. Gudie Hutchings, P.C., M.P., Minister of Rural Economic Development: Thank you, all. It was my first visit to the beautiful Red Chamber. Thank you for the work you do, and I look forward to our paths crossing. If I don’t see you all again, from my family to yours, happy holidays.

Hon. Jane Cordy: Thank you very much for being here with us today, minister.

My question has to do with the increasingly limited transportation options for rural Canadians. Commuter air routes, regional bus lines and even national bus companies are reducing services or stopping altogether, and rail services are limited or non-existent in rural areas. The pandemic has accelerated the shrinking of these services, but the fact is that these services were disappearing long before the pandemic.

Minister, what are you doing to ensure that rural Canadians have convenient, affordable and reliable access to what are essential services?