Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. Canada is grateful for the assistance Taiwan provided, as you properly pointed out, and grateful for the collaborative and good relationship Canada has with Taiwan.

The question you raised is an important one. The government continues to value its relationship with Taiwan and works in all ways in which to provide both the benefits of Taiwan’s participation and the benefit to Taiwan of its participation in international fora.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you, colleague, for the question and for reminding us how important it is. Preventive measures, including warnings, are an important part of keeping us safe. The government values the input of the reports and studies to which you referred and is considering all of those steps seriously.

I don’t know what the actual state of progress is. I will make every effort to find out and be happy to report back as soon as I can.

Senator Gold: Thank you again. I will add those specific questions to my inquiry. I hope to have an answer as quickly as I can.

Hon. Sabi Marwah: Thank you for the question. To be honest, I would much prefer if you go back to asking questions of Senator Gold.

I did read the news about Motion No. 11 and Motion No. 35 and, I must say, I had the same questions as you did.

When the Translation Bureau came to us last week, they made it very clear that there was a finite amount of capacity in terms of translation services, and there was no way they could increase it in the short term. With that as background, if the House decides to sit for a longer period of time, that increase has to be offset somewhere, Senator Plett. It has to come from somewhere. At this stage, I am hopeful it will not affect the Senate sittings, but I am not so hopeful that it will not affect committee meetings.

We have written to the CEO of the Translation Bureau, and among the many other questions we have asked her, I will reference two: We want to know their assessment of the impact the House of Commons’ Motion No. 11 will have on simultaneous interpretation services the Translation Bureau provides to the Senate and its committees, and, secondly, more specifically, with the House of Commons likely sitting longer hours, will this cause a reduction in simultaneous interpretation for the Senate, or will the resources be reallocated from the resources already provided to the House?

As soon as I get a response, Senator Plett, I will let you know.

Senator Housakos: Senator Gold, with all due respect, we have heard our government constantly say that we are all in this crisis together. The truth of the matter is Taiwan has walked the talk. They have stepped up and helped the international community with PPE and other health care support.

At the end of the day, I think we have an obligation to work closely with countries that are such a model and are aligned with us when it comes to the defence of human rights and the defence of the rule of law and all the rest of it. We should not be listening to regimes that don’t align with us on human rights and our belief in democracy and all the rest of it.

If we are genuine about aligning ourselves with strong allies who serve as models, why is the government not taking a strong stance and insisting Taiwan be included in the World Health Assembly which is going to be taking place in three weeks?