Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. The government is engaged on both of these issues. When decisions are made with regard to the position and the bill of rights to which you referred, they will be communicated.

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question and for following up.

The government is aware of your question, but I haven’t gotten a response, unfortunately. I will try again to get an answer and will get back to you soon.

[English]

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for this question, honourable colleague.

The tragedy in Nova Scotia devastated families, friends and the community and left many unanswered questions. With the public hearings now under way, our thoughts are with the community of Portapique.

All Canadians should know that this will be an in-depth and impartial inquiry that will be conducted with compassion. I don’t know why the minister has not intervened publicly, but I will follow up and attempt to get an answer.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you. It is an important question on an important issue. I don’t have the answer, but I will seek to get it and share it with the chamber as soon as I can.

This government, more than any other government, dare I say, is committed to addressing the gaps and the inequalities that we have come to recognize plague our country with regard to those — whether women, Indigenous communities, children and others — who find themselves in vulnerable positions. The government will continue to use its efforts to redress these inequalities in this area as in others.

Senator Gold: Again, senator, I cannot give you the specific answer to your question. As this chamber will know, this government has taken major steps to disaggregate data and ensure that the impact of programs — we saw this in the context of the pandemic — that it goes beyond that and to understand the real-world and disparate impacts that will inevitably be the case to some degree in the implementation of social programs. Again, I will seek the answers to your question and endeavour to have an answer as quickly as I can.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question. The government has consistently stressed the importance of being transparent with Canadians and has made that a priority. The government also ensures that its activities are in keeping with national security needs.

As you know, honourable senator, despite the number that you mentioned, this really is nothing new. The government is required, often by law, as is the case with the Investment Canada Act, to protect information on certain subjects, such as national security and the confidentiality of investments.

I cannot presume the exact reasons, but I want to reassure this chamber that the government takes its responsibilities seriously when it comes to striking a balance between transparency, the protection of national security and other relevant issues.

(For text of Delayed Answers, see Appendix.)

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question, Senator Plett. First, the government wants to acknowledge the hurt and the anger that this decision may rekindle amongst all the victims of the horrific attack in Quebec City.

As you mentioned in your question, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Criminal Code provision that allows judges to order consecutive periods of parole ineligibility in cases of multiple murders is unconstitutional.

The government’s position was and is clear. The government supported a sentencing judge’s discretion to impose a longer period of parole ineligibility where appropriate. However, the government will respect the court’s decision and is, as the minister said, carefully reviewing the implications and what the path forward may be.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): I don’t have a specific answer to your question and I won’t repeat the more general answer that I gave. We must remember not only that health is a provincial jurisdiction, but the federal government has played a critical role in financing and helping provinces develop and fund their own health care systems.

It is up to a province to organize how it wants to use the resources from its own taxpayers and as provided by Canada, and to prioritize within the medical schools and the licencing organizations how that will work. There are market forces also at play in terms of the penury of family physicians. It is not only in your province; it’s a problem in my own and everywhere. Provincial governments have done good and not-so-good jobs in rationalizing their resources with consequences sometimes unforeseen.

I will make inquiries about your particular question, but it remains the case that the Government of Canada remains a strong financial partner to all provinces to help them shoulder the increasing costs and challenges of health care.

Senator Gold: Again, I don’t have the answer to the specific question and I will make inquiries. Most provinces, in their demands for additional support for financing, insist that it be done with no conditions whatsoever. We know from reviewing the ongoing discussions between the provinces and federal government, whether it is in the area of funding for physical or mental health, that there is an ongoing tension between the Government of Canada’s desire to target the money to address pressing needs that we can all identify, whether long-term care homes or mental health support, and the province’s desire is to say, “This is our jurisdiction, give us the money and we’ll spend it as we wish.”

Without speculating as to why agreements have not yet been reached — in this particular case, between your province and the federal government — I assure this chamber that I will make inquiries, but I think we all must remain sensible and sensitive to the actual realities of federal-provincial financial negotiations around health care.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question, senator. I am advised that Minister Anand released and accepted Justice Arbour’s report in its entirety. She welcomed all of the recommendations and committed to implementing 17 of them immediately.

With regard to your specific question, as you would know, in the last year, the government has been laying the foundation for meaningful cultural change, including by implementing Madam Justice Arbour’s interim recommendation for transferring the investigation and prosecution of Criminal Code sexual offences from the military justice system to the civilian justice system. This work continues in earnest.

As you mentioned in your question, the fifth recommendation in Justice Arbour’s report is that sexual offences should be entirely removed from the jurisdiction of the military justice system, and they should be prosecuted in civilian criminal courts. This is a thoughtful and system-transforming recommendation. The minister is examining it in earnest. I am advised that the minister will be writing to her provincial and territorial justice partners in the coming days and she will be consulting with survivors and victims’ groups to determine the best path forward.

To smooth the case transfer process, Department of National Defence officials will collaborate even more closely with provincial and territorial authorities. The government is making plans to establish a formal intergovernmental table to build durable transfer processes that will serve Canadian Armed Forces members well in the long term.

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question, again. With respect to recommendations numbers 7 to 9 to which you made reference, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal is a body outside the chain of command, and I have been advised that the government is examining this and is consulting across governments and with stakeholders to determine the path forward in the coming months.

I’m also advised that this is a rather complex recommendation. It requires some detailed analysis, and the government is committed to undertake the study required to develop an appropriate response.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. I will have to make inquiries; I won’t speculate.

We can all appreciate the differences between providing clean energy in our home provinces, blessed as we are with abundant hydro power, and those in the North whose lives revolve around diesel delivered by barges and tankers once or twice a year.

So I’ll make inquiries and try to report back.

Senator Gold: I’ll certainly add those to the inquiries I will make.

[Translation]