The Hon. the Speaker: Senator Lankin, did you wish to ask a question or enter debate?

Hon. Frances Lankin: I wish to ask a question, Your Honour.

The Hon. the Speaker: Senator, would you take a question?

The Hon. the Speaker: Senator Quinn, supplementary?

The Hon. the Speaker: It was moved by the Honourable Senator Yussuff, seconded by the Honourable Senator Dasko, that the bill be read a second time.

Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question, which highlights not only the importance of the issue, but also everyone’s right to be treated properly and fairly, which also applies to people who are incarcerated.

I don’t have the answer to your question at the moment. This is a concern for me too, and I assure you I will contact the minister and come back with a response as soon as possible.

Senator Petitclerc: Senator Gold, could you also inquire as to when the most recent audit was conducted in the correctional system to examine the level of accessibility for persons with disabilities and reduced mobility?

If no comprehensive review has been conducted, is one planned and, if so, when?

Senator Gold: I will add that to my list of questions to ask the government. Thank you.

[English]

Hon. Mobina S. B. Jaffer: Honourable senators, my question is also to the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Senator, I asked you part of this question yesterday. I want to quote what the Prime Minister said in 2015 when he clearly stated:

Canada’s diversity is our great and unique strength. We are the one country in the world that has figured out how to be strong, not in spite of our differences but because of them. So, the prime minister of this country has a responsibility to bring people together in this country, not to divide us by pandering to some people’s fears.

Leader, yesterday you said that the Prime Minister will intervene at the appropriate time. Do you have an idea of what is meant by an “appropriate” time?

Senator Jaffer: Senator Gold, you said — fairly — that the government is looking at the legal proceedings. Legal proceedings cost a lot of money. The Cities of Toronto and Brampton have stepped up to help civil liberties — Sikh and Muslim organizations — to fight this in court. Is the Prime Minister also going to support them financially? Because otherwise it’s an uneven balance. To fight a government is very difficult, as you know. Will the Prime Minister support those groups to make sure they can fight the case equally?

Senator Quinn: Senator Gold, can you give some assurance that you will submit to those decision makers on who will attend by requesting the Port Saint John to be in attendance?

Hon. Percy Mockler: Honourable senators, my question to the Leader of the Government in the Senate is concerning the two billion trees to be planted. In January, the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated that this program would cost $5.7 billion. Given that Natural Resources Canada, or NRCAN, and the government said very little progress has been made on this program to date, and that you have just had to rework your original plans, is this still projected, as per the government, that it would cost $3.16 billion? Who is right?

Senator Mockler: Leader, a lot of questions are unanswered. I’m asking you if you could relay this to the government and inform Canadians and the industry that creates many hundreds of thousands of jobs: Given that Atlantic Canada is a leader in tree planting, that it does not lose significant amounts of forest to fire and pests, that this is a 30% increase in tree planting levels across Canada and that this effort will require investments to seed and nursery production, how is the government factoring the value that Atlantic Canada can bring to this program? What is this government proposing in terms of how to allocate these funds to Atlantic Canada given the different tenure systems across the country that have impacts on industrial interests, private landowners and Crown land?

Senator Gold: Thank you. That is a very good set of questions. I will certainly make inquiries and be pleased to report back when I get an answer.

Hon. Larry W. Smith: Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Senator Gold, in November 2020, with respect to Bill C-9, I asked Minister Freeland whether or not the government was using fiscal anchors or, as she put it, “guardrails” to guide spending decisions at that point and time.

The minister reiterated the fact that funding spent to fight the COVID-19 pandemic would be “limited and temporary.”

The question I ask this time around, since we are in version three and four of the COVID outbreak, is very simple: What fiscal anchors, if any, are being used to guide the government’s current spending decisions? Could you please provide us with specific examples?

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. The Government of Canada is confident that the measures they have put in place — as have been outlined and will continue to be made public in the months to come leading up to the next budget — are the right measures to protect the Canadian economy from the vicissitudes and the forces buffeting it from around the world, as well as to provide a strong platform for Canada’s recovery.

[Translation]

Senator Tannas: Thank you. I agree. It’s time. We need to commit to ourselves, and maybe that’s the Christmas feeling we get out of this — that we commit to ourselves that when we do not have our backs to the wall, we will soberly and carefully come up with a proposal for that kind of statement and that kind of interaction with the House of Commons, such that we really do break this incredible cycle we’re in; being forced to surrender our job for time.

Hon. Leo Housakos (Acting Leader of the Opposition): Would Senator Tannas take a question?

Senator Tannas: Indeed.

The Hon. the Speaker: Senator Quinn, did you have a question?