Senator Bellemare: Senator Gold, when will we have the opportunity to discuss with Minister Qualtrough the urgent need for EI reform?

Senator Gold: Of course.

Hon. Frances Lankin: Senator Gold, thank you for your speech. I found it interesting. I look forward to hearing the other speeches, because I have my own analysis of what is behind the opposition to this. I won’t share it so as not to provoke people, and although I’m a bit bewildered, I will listen carefully.

I personally support this and believe that we should undertake the pre-study. It is a very controversial bill with a lot of supporters and a lot of detractors, so there is much to learn and refresh our minds on.

My question to you is: When the pre-study is finished, if the bill hasn’t arrived, and it arrives late, the preoccupation of the Senate as of late has been to talk to you about insufficient time to deal with bills. For me, a pre-study helps that situation, but it doesn’t alleviate the potential problem. I’m looking for some assurances from you that if the committee feels amendments and other things in the House of Commons mean that we have to dig back into some of these items, and we require the time to do it, will we be faced with rushing in order to get it done before the summer recess?

Hon. Claude Carignan: My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

Mr. Leader, this week, a Radio-Canada news report revealed that, even though 30.8% of public service employees are francophone, only 19% of deputy minister and associate deputy minister positions are occupied by francophones. Interestingly, these positions are Privy Council and PMO appointments.

When the RCMP Commissioner testified at the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency last week, she did not utter a word of French. I asked the Library of Parliament to look into whether she had ever given a speech or answered questions in French. According to their research, there was no evidence that the RCMP Commissioner had ever spoken French. However, when she was hired, the language requirement for the job identified mastery of both official languages as an asset. In the official languages and diversity section, it says that the Government of Canada considers bilingual proficiency and diversity in evaluating candidates’ suitability for the position.

I really don’t understand it when the PMO says one thing and does the opposite. Does the PCO really prefer to appoint unilingual people to these key positions?

Hon. Raymonde Gagné (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, pursuant to rule 4-13(3), I would like to inform the Senate that as we proceed with Government Business, the Senate will address the items in the following order: consideration of Motion No. 42; followed by Motion No. 41, followed by all remaining items in the order that they appear on the Order Paper.

[English]

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Government leader, today, I’m going to give you an opportunity to provide a better answer than you did yesterday when I asked you about the lack of details on changes to the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive. Last month’s budget provided no details on how the NDP-Liberal government will change this program or when these changes will be in effect.

This is a serious matter for Canadians. April’s record inflation, which Senator Plett referred to earlier, was largely driven by the cost of groceries and the cost of shelter. In fact, Statistics Canada revealed that in April, shelter costs rose at their highest pace since 1983 — almost 40 years ago.

Leader, when will Canadians learn how you will change the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive and on what date those changes come into effect?

Senator Gold: Thank you.

To your first question, Senator Housakos, it remains to be seen what emerges from our pre-study. It remains to be seen what emerges in the bill once we do get it. Whether the concerns expressed still hold water, I fully expect some of the political posturing around the bill to continue — that is the nature of politics — but the bill has been adjusted to take into account the concerns that were expressed.

I cannot say until we roll up our sleeves and study how long the committee will need to study it, at which point the leaders — as is our practice — will get together and see what the next steps might be. That will happen once we know when the bill is going to arrive.

With regard to your last question, again, I did my best to state the case in the speech; I won’t repeat it. However, I will remind you that there is a large community that defines our identity — those creative individuals and groupings in our society who provide content that defines us as who we are. It is not just as it has been in the past, being an elite from Montreal or Toronto. We are a diverse country. The Broadcasting Act, which Bill C-11 seeks to modernize, is not adequate to provide adequate space or place for those who represent more marginalized communities in our country.

It is the money that Canadian content providers are not receiving and will not receive until this bill is passed, and the space that needs to be created in our regulatory framework to reflect the diversity of our country so that Canadian content and art can truly be a reflection of who we are, as this place has become. The Broadcasting Act, alas, lags far, far behind.

Hon. Scott Tannas: Senator Gold, thank you for your speech. As Senator Plett has mentioned, it is a relatively rare occasion. Our research bureau, I think, tallied it at somewhere around 20 pre-studies that had been nonfinancial in the last 32 years, of governments of all stripes and majorities and minorities, et cetera.

I agree, there are times when we should consider this, and this may, indeed, be one of them.

My understanding is this bill hasn’t even had a committee meeting yet in the House of Commons. It strikes me as almost a little too keen of us, a bit of apple-polishing to be running ahead of even the House of Commons and their committee meetings. Is that right? Am I clear that the committee has not yet met or seen witnesses on Bill C-11? If that is the case, would you suggest maybe we ought to wait until they’ve at least started their study and had a few witnesses so we can see where the direction is?

Senator Carignan: Part of sound human resource succession planning involves making sure that the pool or pyramid is larger at the bottom and that those individuals can move up through the ranks. It involves ensuring that there is a large enough pool of candidates who have the skills needed to carry out the duties.

How do you explain the fact that the pool is 30% francophone, but that only 19% of them are left at the top of the pyramid? Why does the government think that the francophone pool is less qualified?

The Hon. the Speaker: Senator Gold, there are a number of senators, both present and virtual, who wish to ask questions. Are you prepared to take questions?

Senator Carignan: Leader, the job of the Senate and of senators is not to provide sober second thought to measures introduced by public servants, but to properly study bills passed in the House of Commons and to ensure that regional interests, including minority interests, are respected and taken into account in the context of a thorough study. The Supreme Court’s ruling on the Senate in this regard is very clear. Why continue trying to have the Senate do the work of the House of Commons?

Senator Coyle: Senator Gold, Denmark’s Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities said, “Discussions at this ministerial meeting have laid a decisive foundation for COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.”

We are now six months away from COP27. Can you tell us what decisions were made regarding the focus of this upcoming global climate summit, and what Canada’s main areas of ambition will be for that summit?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question and for raising the issue of gas prices, which we are all experiencing every time we fill up.

The government will always consider measures to assist Canadians through these difficult times. I’m sure that this matter remains under active consideration.

Senator Gold: Of course.

Senator Dupuis: Thank you.

[English]

Senator Gold: The answer is no.

I could stop there, but since your question had a fair bit of preamble, I’ll take the liberty of elaborating. What the government wants is a balanced and sensible long-term approach for dealing with both economic and environmental issues for the benefit of all Canadians, including future generations.

[Translation]

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question and your commitment to this important issue.

The Government of Canada recognizes that there is work to be done to improve the situation of victims. A number of measures have already been taken, and others are currently being developed. As soon as those measures are finalized and ready to be made public, I will announce them in this chamber.

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question. I’ll certainly add that to my inquiries that I will be making of the government, and I will hope to report back in a timely fashion.

[Translation]

Hon. Raymonde Gagné (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I give notice that, at the next sitting of the Senate, I will move:

That, when the Senate next adjourns after the adoption of this motion, it do stand adjourned until Tuesday, May 31, 2022, at 2 p.m.

Senator Gold: That’s not the case. We are not doing their work; we are contributing to parliamentary work, as we have done many times and as I demonstrated using the statistics I quoted. With all due respect, senator, if your argument held water, we would never do pre-studies, but it does not. I must insist on the importance of this pre-study, which will enable the Senate to do its work in a responsible fashion.

[English]