Hon. Denise Batters: Senator Gold, a month ago, I asked you when your government would lift the federal vaccine mandates. The only change that has been made is testing requirements for fully vaccinated travellers returning to Canada. All the provinces have dropped or have plans to drop their mandates. This federal Trudeau government still doesn’t even have a plan or, seemingly, a clue.

With Canada’s vaccination rate as high as it is, over 80%, the time for freedom is now. When will the federal government drop the vaccine mandates and give Canadians their freedom back?

Senator Batters: Senator Gold, the Trudeau government’s rules haven’t kept pace with the evolving nature of the virus, particularly its Omicron variant. Even Canada’s federal health agencies haven’t endorsed blanket vaccine mandates as necessary, and Dr. Theresa Tam has said she thinks they should be reviewed. Doctors who testified before the House of Commons committee yesterday said that this government’s universal mandates were coercive, of limited benefit and have driven up vaccine hesitancy. The doctors know the science, Senator Gold, and they are saying the mandates are not necessary, yet the Trudeau government still refuses to drop the mandates.

Senator Gold, if science isn’t the basis for deciding when to lift the federal vaccine mandates, what is? Political science or political theatre?

Hon. Leo Housakos (Acting Leader of the Opposition): Senator Gold, this is a follow-up to my earlier questions about the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. In 2017, the Trudeau government claimed that membership in this group would create middle-class jobs right here in Canada. A question put on the Senate Order Paper asked the simple and obvious question: How many jobs were created as a result of Canada joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and pumping in tens of millions of dollars — billions of dollars? No surprise, the response from the Trudeau government didn’t provide any number. We still haven’t had a number. It pointed to just three Canadian companies that had signed contracts related to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Leader, your government made these claims justifying Canada becoming a member of this group and pumping in billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money. Why can’t you back it up with facts? How many jobs have been created in Canada with Canadian taxpayers’ investment in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank?

Senator Housakos: Government leader, with all due respect, it has been months and weeks that we have been inquiring about this and we can’t get a straight answer. Through our membership in this bank, the Trudeau government has sent over $200 million to a regime that kidnapped Canadians and held them arbitrarily for years, yet the government can’t tell Canadians how many middle-class jobs have been created, which they claim was the purpose of this program to begin with?

Leader, I’ll ask again, why should Canadians remain a member of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank where after weeks and months we can’t even provide this chamber, a chamber of Parliament, a simple answer to a simple question?