Hon. Leo Housakos (Acting Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, I ask for leave that the bill be deemed read a third time and passed with consent of the chamber.

Hon. Leo Housakos (Acting Leader of the Opposition): Thank you, Your Honour. My interpretation of the rules you sent out — and I will respect them — was that if we had social distancing space around us that we could take the mask off if we had a cumbersome time breathing. It is a little bit cumbersome.

Hon. Leo Housakos (Acting Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, I ask for leave that the bill be deemed read a third time and passed by this chamber.

Hon. Leo Housakos (Acting Leader of the Opposition): Just a clarification, government leader, for the record, we’ve been in discussions in regard to ministerial Question Period. Our side is very comfortable with the content of this motion. We want to verify that we will go back to the tradition of respecting the rule in this chamber that strangers who are not officially summoned senators cannot take a seat in the Senate. Thus, ministers of the Crown, like any witness when they come to the chamber, will be testifying and answering questions from senators from the witness dock. I just wanted to put that on the record that the government leader has acquiesced to that request.

Hon. Leo Housakos (Acting Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, I rise on Bill S-2, An Act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts.

Colleagues, I will be brief. At the end of the day, when I look at legislation like this, for example, which is an exact piece of legislation we dealt with in the previous Parliament, nothing has changed. We had a Committee of the Whole that addressed this issue.

Hon. Leo Housakos (Acting Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, “Superfan” is the name coined by NBA great and then-General Manager of the Toronto Raptors Isiah Thomas in recognition of the one and only Nav Bhatia, perhaps the most well-known fan of any professional sport. The day-one Raptors fan has been riding a high ever since he saw his beloved basketball team bring the NBA championship home to “We the North” a couple of years ago. He was the first non-player ever to receive a player championship ring; that’s how much he means to the Toronto Raptors. And he has now made it into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame; that’s how much he means to the NBA.

Now Nav’s story is being turned into a Hollywood film starring and produced by Kal Penn. It promises to be a story about tenacity and perseverance — the team’s, but more importantly, Nav’s story. I had the pleasure of speaking personally with Nav a few years ago when my son was buying his first car. He is as genuine, enthusiastic and pleasant as ever.

Nav came to this country seeking refuge from the dangers he, as a Sikh man, faced in his native India. He had trouble finding work in his field of engineering. Nobody wanted to hire a guy with a turban and an accent. He eventually found work as a car salesman, but quickly realized that he would face the same discrimination by many of his work colleagues. He knew he’d have to work twice as hard if he was going to make it. It’s a familiar story amongst immigrants.

Nav could have done what so many immigrants did at the time. He could have anglicized his name, cut his hair and not worn the turban. But he had promised his dear mother many years before that was one thing he would never do. So he did what he does best; he approached his job and his co-workers with his trademark charm and upbeat personality, and he established a sales record that stands to this day.

Nav went on to become manager of that dealership and eventually purchased it. It’s one of three car dealerships that he now owns. There’s so much more I can tell you about this incredible man and how he has become an ambassador for a basketball team, a city and now a whole country — but I wouldn’t want to spoil the movie. I just wanted to take an opportunity to give superfan Nav Bhatia a tip of the hat for his courage, his perseverance and his unwavering dedication to being a positive role model for so many young Canadians, a great Raptor and a great Canadian. Thank you, honourable senators.

Senator Housakos: Senator Gold, let’s hope this holds true, because we have been waiting for years and now hear that we will have the decision in the coming weeks. Of course, Senator Gold, Bell and Telus are two of the biggest telecom companies in Canada. Bell had an operating revenue of $22.8 billion in 2020, and Telus reported $15.5 billion. We are all well aware that Canadians continue to pay some of the most extraordinary, out-of-this-world, highest fees when it comes to wireless service.

Senator Gold, was there anything promised to these telecom companies that led them to believe that it was a wise decision to go ahead with Huawei equipment, and will your government commit today to safeguarding taxpayers’ money and deny any requests for compensation from telecom companies for removing their Huawei equipment?

Hon. Leo Housakos (Acting Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, my question is for the government leader in the Senate, Senator Gold. This is in relation to the ongoing review that the Trudeau government is conducting with regard to Huawei’s participation in Canada’s 5G network, particularly due to the fact that the government has been promising a decision as far back as September 2019. Actually, at the time, they promised they would give a decision before the 2019 election, and now two elections have come and gone and, unfortunately, we still don’t have an answer to that question.

Bell and Telus have recently been knocking on the door of the government looking for compensation with regard to Huawei equipment that they might be obligated to take out of the network. Recently there was a news story in the National Post that the government basically says it’s too early for them to comment on compensation, which again highlights the fact that this government isn’t dealing with their important issues regarding security.

Given the fact that the Five Eyes have taken clear action, given the fact of China’s behaviour towards the Michaels, given the fact of the Uighur genocide, given the fact of what’s going on in Hong Kong, when will the Trudeau government take a clear and unequivocal decision with regard to Huawei’s participation in Canada’s 5G, and why are they taking such a long time?

Hon. Leo Housakos (Acting Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate, and I’ll begin, Senator Gold, by offering my sincere congratulations because I know you just received a new parliamentary secretary representing you over on the other side of the house, the lower chamber.

Colleagues, for those of you who don’t know, on Friday the Prime Minister appointed Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen as the parliamentary secretary to Senator Gold. Leader, is this an entirely new creation? There has never been a parliamentary secretary, to my knowledge, stylized this way, and it appears to again acknowledge the fact that the Trudeau government has sort of raised their hands in the air, not knowing what to do with this new reformed Senate.

The truth of the matter is, Senator Gold, we talk about independence, yet never before have we seen this type of relationship between a government representative/government leader and a parliamentary secretary.

What exactly is MP Gerretsen’s responsibility under his new position? Wouldn’t it have been a lot easier, government leader, if you were allowed to represent this august chamber in the governing national caucus? Wouldn’t it have been even easier if you were allowed to take your rightful place as a member of the Privy Council sitting at the cabinet table so you can give us timely answers to our questions?

Senator Housakos: Thank you, Your Honour.

On the Order:

Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator Harder, P.C., seconded by the Honourable Senator Bellemare, for the second reading of Bill S-2, An Act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts.

Hon. Leo Housakos (Acting Leader of the Opposition): Back to Bill S-2, colleagues. As I was saying earlier, there was unanimous agreement on this bill by all leadership sides at the end of the last Parliament. Again, we understand the principle behind this. We all recognize this place is in a fluid situation and it is changing. Of course, these amendments to the Parliament of Canada Act reflect those changes. I think for the benefit of time it’s completely unnecessary to bog down this chamber. We already have limited time in order to debate our private members’ bills, our motions and try to get through more important government legislation. For the benefit of saving that time, I do not think we should become repetitive and conduct our business in such a way that it unnecessarily delays the rest of the Order Paper.

Honourable senators, I ask for leave that the bill be read a second time.

Hon. Leo Housakos (Acting Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, Bill C-4 is a bill that has been turned into a controversial political football, unfortunately. I want to rise, colleagues, to point out that in the last Parliament we received the predecessor to Bill C-4, of course, on the eve of the government adjourning for an unnecessary election. The government, on a number of occasions, has said that the LGBTQ2 community is very important to them. So important that, of course, six years went by and, of course, this bill was not initiated until it was tabled in the House, again at quarter to midnight before Parliament rose for the general election.

I want to say this: No community — not the LGBTQ community, not any Canadians — deserves to be treated as a political prop or for political expediency. That’s not the Canadian way.

I can say this: The community has been heard. It was heard by the House of Commons. And, of course, we saw the House of Commons do the right thing a number of days ago and pass this piece of legislation unanimously. They did so because they thought it was in the national interest to do so.

Colleagues, we already have government business before committees in this place. We only have a week left before we traditionally rise for the break. We have Bill C-3 that’s already in pre-study before the Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. There is a series of private members’ bills, as I mentioned earlier, and motions that many parliamentarians in this chamber want to get to.

I think we have to develop the reflex in this institution that, when something is in the universal interest and public interest, we not create unnecessary duplication and engage in unnecessary debates. Furthermore, I don’t think we should be using any issue as a political prop or make it divisive. We should be, as an institution, working to bring all Canadians together.

Therefore, honourable senators, with the consent of the chamber, I ask for leave that the bill be read a second time. Thank you, colleagues.