Senator Gold: Would the senator take a question?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): The government continues to consider the appropriateness of all measures relating to the pandemic and will make announcements as to any changes if and when they are decided to be made.

Senator Gold: Thank you, senator, for your question.

I don’t really have any additional information to provide than I provided in my speech or in my answers nor any additional response. The banks’ customers will continue to work together and it is hoped that any issues that may arise will be resolved appropriately and quickly.

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. I’m not aware of any deadline. I know it’s in the interest of the federal government that an appropriate agreement be completed so that the people of Ontario can have the benefit of this program. I’m sure that is equally the case for the people of Ontario. As I understand it now, as I said, there are negotiations between the two levels of government. The federal government is waiting for the action plan from its counterparts in Ontario.

[Translation]

Senator Gold: Thank you for raising this issue.

With respect, I believe that the numbering issue you refer to engages a different section of the Old Age Security Act. I’m also advised that officials already noted that it had no material impact on the delivery of the benefits for seniors and that the government is prepared to correct this measure through future legislative action.

Therefore, isn’t it important that we ensure seniors are not negatively impacted so as to ensure there’s an operational runway so that tens of thousands of seniors are not negatively affected?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Would the senator take a question?

Senator Gold: Yesterday afternoon, the Governor General of Canada signed an order putting an end to the public order emergency that had been declared on February 14. By signing this order, the Governor General was acting in accordance with the Emergencies Act, which states that the public order emergency ends as soon as the government makes the decision and the order is signed by the Governor General.

[English]

Senator Gold: The Government of Canada has acted responsibly to protect Canadians and protect our country from a situation that could not have been managed and was not being managed otherwise. I, as the Government Representative, stand here not at all uncomfortable with the actions that the government has taken. I remain proud and privileged to represent this government in this chamber.

[Translation]

Senator Gold: I have no further questions. Thank you.

Senator Cordy: May I ask a question, senator?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. I will certainly have to make inquiries in order to answer your very specific question about the measures that are being taken, have been taken and the additional measures that may very well be called upon to be taken.

I can say two things. First, the government stands committed to that feminist foreign policy, to take into account the disproportionate and unique impact of circumstances of war on women, which you properly underlined. Second, the government announced today additional measures from those announced earlier — serious, strong measures, economic and military, providing military support and economic measures in concert with its NATO allies. It will continue to stand up for the rights of the Ukrainian people and the sovereignty of the Ukrainian nation.

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. I answered neither yes nor no to your first question. I said that the government is continuing to study, as it has been, all measures and will make announcements as appropriate.

With regard to your second question, Canadians know already that 90% of truckers are already vaccinated and the truckers’ association said they supported the mandates. With regards to your question and the concerns of the pork producers and others in the agriculture sector, my answer to your first question still stands.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Well, thank you for your question. I can’t answer definitively that they have all been unfrozen. I suspect that’s probably not the case yet. There have been reports that a number have been unfrozen, especially those who left. I’ll certainly make inquiries to the extent that the information is available and be happy to share it in the chamber.

Senator Gold: I think it’s important for senators to understand — they certainly don’t want to revisit the hours I spent the other day — that at such time as the act, the proclamation, was invoked, the measures were in place and enforced. At such time as the government decided it was no longer necessary, those measures ceased. However, actions taken during the period that were authorized by the regulations promulgated under the Emergencies Act remain subject to those terms.

The government, as prudent as it was in deciding to invoke the Emergencies Act and as responsible as it was in determining — as it had been stating and I had been repeating — based upon the advice of police, law enforcement, the intelligence community and other advisers, that it was no longer required, this chamber should be assured that the government can proceed responsibly and prudently with regard to matters you questioned.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you, senator, for your question and for underlining the importance of accessible child care to all citizens of Canada regardless of where they live. My understanding is that the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Minister Gould, is currently waiting for the Province of Ontario to submit their action plan so that the federal government can understand how Ontario plans to spend the money — $10.2 billion — that has been offered to Ontario under this plan.

Honourable senators, this is an important accountability measure. The government needs to be assured that the families will actually see reductions in cost. We need to see that the number of spaces will be increased and that early childhood education will be properly supported. It’s also an important transparency measure. Ontarians and all Canadians need to know how public money is being spent.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question, senator. I am ashamed to admit that I was not aware that our athletes are being treated differently, as you described. I’ll look into it. I’ll speak to the Minister of Sport, who is the MP in my riding, in the Eastern Townships, and I will try to get back to you with more information as soon as possible.

[English]

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Let me try to be clear and measured.

What I said and explained on far too many occasions was simply that the government relies not only on information that is public and was public when it made the decision on February 14 but also, and properly so — especially as members who have been on the government side would understand — on information from police authorities and others. That’s the first point.

Second, anyone who actually watched what happened on the ground, whether on Friday, Saturday or Sunday in Ottawa, I think would agree that the police acted with restraint and with responsibility. Their behaviour was exemplary, as many have noted in this house and you know to whom I refer. These were not Draconian measures. They were measures, and measured measures to deal with a serious crisis.

That leads me to the final point to your question. You talked about what Canada will do when there is a real catastrophe. Others have said there was no need for this in the first place.

The belittling of the impact of this occupation of Ottawa on the residents and the city, the harm caused to individuals, the abuse that people had to endure, the impact on our economy, on our credibility as a trading nation and the risks that the government felt it had to assess, properly and responsibly, to make sure that the risks of returning blockades, whether to bridges in Windsor or elsewhere or any other port of entry or occupations in this city or any other city — until and unless the government was satisfied as it came to be satisfied, taking the advice that it’s been taking all the way through, it kept these measures in place for our collective well-being.

This was a real crisis. Ask anybody who suffered. Ask anybody who couldn’t go to work because their plants were shut down for want of parts. Ask anybody who was walking the streets and vilified and harassed and assaulted verbally because they were wearing a mask, they were a person of colour or because they were going to obtain health care. Here you’ll allow me to speak as a human being, not simply as a Government Representative. We can disagree whether or not the measures were appropriate or not. We can disagree whether they lasted too long. Clearly, there’s a division of opinion here, although I was very gratified to hear — I’m entitled, with all due respect, to continue to finish my answer.

Senator Plett: No.

Senator Gold: I am finishing an answer and I expect the respect that I accord you when you ask me questions.

It offends me as a human being for the damage and harm to the individuals and to our country to be so belittled. On that I’ll close.

Senator Gold: I have to answer and would be happy to.

Senator Gold: Senator Plett, out of respect for you and this debate, I did not rise in the course of your debate to raise a point of order, and I will not do that. However, you made allusions to statements that I made about how this bill should be treated which I did not make in the chamber; and if I said anything on that subject, it would have been in the context of a confidential leaders’ meeting. I have never, in the two years I have been Government Representative, treated those meetings as anything other than confidential. I’m going to assume that was inadvertent on your part and I simply want to now move to my question.

In the interests of making sure that the chamber is not under some confusion, I wonder if you could help clarify. Would you agree then that the drafting error to which Senator Griffin referred is not in fact a drafting error in Bill C-12 but is indeed another section of the Old Age Security Act? Would you agree that it is important that Bill C-12 be studied properly but implemented in a timely fashion so that the bottom line of our seniors is not negatively affected?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question, senator. Notwithstanding the revocation of the state of emergency, the Emergencies Act still provides that the parliamentary review committee shall be established. Indeed, it requires that the committee report back to both houses of Parliament, within seven sitting days. It is the intention of the government, as it has been for some days now, to move with as much dispatch as possible for that committee to be established.

Honourable senators may already know, if you are following Twitter, that there have been proposals already made public by both the Conservative Party of Canada and by the government for how this committee would be established — or rather, proposals for what the committee would look like in terms of the number of senators and the number of members of the house. My understanding is that discussions continue to be underway with the House leader in the other place and his counterparts in all other opposition parties to seek a consensus to move forward as quickly as possible. I am intimately involved on an hourly basis to be kept aware of that.

With regard to the first part of your question, I think it’s important to understand that the committee will clearly have access and the ability to seek all the information it deems relevant, subject, of course, to whatever legal requirements or legal limitations there may be on the information that can be shared even to that committee, as I explained at some length and on some occasions the other day.