Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson: Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

Senator Gold, Canadians continue to pay very high rates for home internet and wireless services. In 2019, the Government of Canada issued a policy direction to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to ensure that, when exercising its duties, the commission is “implementing the Canadian telecommunications policy objectives to promote competition, affordability, consumer interests and innovation.”

However, there are now three cabinet petitions asking the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry to overturn the CRTC decision to reverse its 2019 decision on wholesale rates. There is also a cabinet petition asking the Ministers of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) to review the 2021 decision to limit the access of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), which smaller providers have argued only benefit Canada’s largest providers.

My question is this: What concrete action is your government taking to ensure that CRTC decisions are in line with the government’s own 2019 policy direction? Will your government exercise its power to overrule decisions that are, in the end, harming Canadian consumers and small-business owners?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question and for raising this important issue. If we have learned anything from the pandemic, it is how important reliable and affordable mobile networks are to our well-being and prospects of recovery. The government remains committed to ensuring that all Canadians pay fair prices for reliable telecom and other services.

I will note, however, as honourable senators know, that the CRTC is an independent agency. The government remains committed to working with them and with all other stakeholders as the situation evolves. The government will work with stakeholders and others to drive investment that will make telecom services more affordable in Canada.

Hon. Raymonde Gagné (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate), pursuant to notice of November 24, 2021, moved:

That, when the Senate next adjourns after the adoption of this motion, it do stand adjourned until Tuesday, November 30, 2021, at 2 p.m.

Hon. Kim Pate, pursuant to notice of November 24, 2021, moved:

That the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance be authorized to examine and report on a road map for post-pandemic economic and social policy to address the human, social and financial costs of economic marginalization and inequality, when and if the committee is formed;

That, given recent calls for action from Indigenous, provincial, territorial and municipal jurisdictions, the committee examine in particular potential national approaches to inter-jurisdictional collaboration to implement a guaranteed livable basic income; and

That the committee submit its final report no later than December 31, 2022.

She said: Honourable senators, I rise to speak to Motion No. 6 to authorize the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance to examine and report, no later than December 31, 2022, on a roadmap for post-pandemic economic recovery that incorporates the urgent need to address the human, social and financial costs of economic marginalization and inequality.

This pandemic has been likened to a storm at sea. While some of us are on a sturdy, multi-storey, well-serviced, stable ship with robust engines, others face the same waves without even a life preserver, let alone a rowboat minus the oars. This pandemic has not affected everyone equally.

During the first year of the pandemic, the financial situations of one in five Canadians, primarily those with incomes over $100,000, improved. People like us were relatively well protected. Our jobs and our income were never in peril because of the pandemic. Meanwhile, for far too many, the situation was dire. Canada’s unemployment rates skyrocketed to heights not seen since the Great Depression.

In responding to the pandemic, the government has stated that a healthy, resilient and vibrant economy is an economy “for all.” Canada’s economy does best when we uphold values of substantive equality, when the economy is inclusive and when no one is abandoned to poverty or prevented by poverty from contributing to their communities to their full potential.

The government created laudable financial supports, such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, to ensure safety and dignity for individuals and stability for economies. And yet, by design, these “life preservers” did not reach those most in need.

Those who were on social assistance and were unable to work prior to the implementation of CERB could not access the program, which offered previously employed folks $2,000 per month.

How do you think the average child leaving care fared in Toronto, for example, with $390 for housing and $343 for food every month, or how the average single mom fared each month in isolation trying to obtain housing for less than $700 and nutritious food for her and her children for $360 per month?

Too many of those who received the CERB also faced desperate financial situations. According to media reports, for people with disabilities and for close to 90,000 low-income seniors, drawing CERB in the past means that they now cannot access the full amounts of income supports they would usually rely on. The situation is particularly stark for many who received CERB in good faith, but now face repayment orders on top of receiving less of their usual entitlements. Their struggles echo those of other marginalized groups, particularly recipients of provincial and territorial social assistance and youth transitioning out of state child welfare “care.”

The pandemic policies excluded those most vulnerable and marginalized, leaving them in the lurch. The results are devastating from both a financial and a human and social perspective. Two in five Canadians — those with the least, those living in poverty — struggle every day with the stressful realities of hunger, housing and personal insecurity, in addition to the spectre of illness and homelessness.

This week, the government listed addressing child poverty as one of its priorities in the Speech from the Throne. According to the report card just released by Campaign 2000, more than 1.3 million children — nearly one in five of those who represent Canada’s future — are growing up in poverty, deprived of necessities and opportunities that have become intergenerational. The chasm between children who have and those who do not is wide and deep.

The Canada child benefit is also lifting fewer people out of poverty than when it was introduced. It is not providing sufficient support to those in profound poverty.

On the housing front, things are just as dire. More than 250,000 households in Canada have accumulated over $350 million in rental arrears since the onset of the pandemic. Though the National Housing Strategy aims to build 150,000 new units of housing over the next 10 years, approximately 235,000 individuals experience homelessness each year and 1.7 million households lack the housing they need.

Black and Indigenous peoples are 2.7 times more likely than the overall population to report incomes inadequate to allow them to pay rent. Of Indigenous people in urban centres, 1 in 15 will experience homelessness, compared to 1 in 128 for the general population.

Failing to address poverty also carries punitive economic costs for government and for all of us. Indeed, the cost of poverty in Ontario is conservatively estimated at $27.1 billion to $33 billion per year, and $72 billion to $84 billion per year in Canada in the forms of lost tax revenue, health care, prison and legal system costs.

Let’s consider poverty in the context of health care. Living in poverty doubles or triples the chances of developing diabetes and complications such as blindness and cardiovascular disease. On a human level, this is unacceptable. However, if that weren’t enough, poverty also results in an estimated additional $7.6 billion cost to the Canadian health care system.

And what about poverty in the context of the criminal legal system? Of women in prison, 80% are there for poverty-related crimes. The most common convictions for Indigenous women are theft under $5,000, theft over $5,000, fraud, and trafficking drugs or stolen goods. Most of the women convicted of violent “offences” are criminalized as a result of their attempts to negotiate poverty, violence and racism.

In this light, it is not surprising that the Public Health Agency of Canada stated in 2008 that:

. . . $1 invested in the early years saves between $3 and $9 in future spending on the health and criminal justice systems, as well as on social assistance. . . .

Honourable colleagues, despite these glaring inequities, the situation is remediable. We can work together to reduce these disparities. We can and we must work to find the best path forward. This study could help us to lead the way.

At the height of the pandemic in 2020, the National Finance Committee recommended, among other measures, examination of the potential of a guaranteed livable basic income to unite and align human, social and economic well-being. This study would allow the committee to delve into this question in an in-depth and expanded way, considering issues including the role of the federal government and the federal spending power in light of the intersection between federal, provincial and territorial responsibilities, programs and finances; the relationship between Indigenous nations and the federal government and economic approaches to decolonization; as well as issues of design and cost of programs, including potential examination of tax fairness and reform.

This study could allow us to examine how, for instance, here in Ontario, despite the pandemic, Dufferin County reduced chronic homelessness in its community by 50% thanks to a combination of housing allowances and support services; how Guelph and Wellington County reduced chronic youth homelessness by 43% during the first year of the pandemic; how London, Ontario, ended homelessness for veterans; and how Medicine Hat, Alberta, became the first city in Canada to end chronic homelessness.

This motion aims to map a way forward for inter-jurisdictional collaboration to economic recovery that prioritizes overall well-being, not merely GDP. Economic recovery must include poverty eradication within the context of social, gender and racial equality.

This month marks the fiftieth anniversary of the 1971 Croll report, from the Special Senate Committee on Poverty. This committee recommended that:

. . . the Government of Canada implement a Guaranteed Annual Income . . . on a . . . national basis . . . financed and administered by the Government of Canada.

Since then, the 1985 Royal Commission of the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada recommended:

. . . the provision of a Universal Income Security Program with relatively low guarantee levels and tax-back rates is an appropriate long-term goal for the Government of Canada and the provincial governments to pursue . . .

In 2008, former Conservative senator Hugh Segal and former Liberal Senator Art Eggleton championed guaranteed livable income in this chamber and beyond. As a result, the report of the Senate Subcommittee on Cities recommended a federal annual income replace the current provincial and social assistance schemes.

Just four years ago, this chamber passed Senator Eggleton’s motion calling on the government to support provincial, territorial and Indigenous initiatives aimed at evaluating the cost and impact of guaranteed livable income programs.

Two years ago, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls called on the government to implement this fiscally responsible step to addressing the needs of Indigenous women in order to assist them to escape violence, homelessness, prison and death.

Honourable colleagues, interest in a guaranteed livable basic income is far from new. What’s more, it’s absolutely doable. The Parliamentary Budget Officer provided one example of a way guaranteed livable basic income could be achieved at a net-zero cost. Dr. Evelyn Forget and other progressive economists have proposed additional approaches. In B.C., an incremental approach was advocated.

Virtually everyone agrees on replacing existing provincial and territorial social assistance programs with income-tested cash transfers that provide resources sufficient to live on. Prince Edward Island is looking for federal assistance to implement a basic income guarantee.

Over five years, a guaranteed livable income could increase GDP by between 1.6% and 2.4%, create between $46 billion and $80 billion in new government revenues, and create between 298,000 and 450,000 new jobs. The potential to increase economic growth and human well-being is obvious.

Honourable colleagues, two out of three people in Canada believe implementing a guaranteed livable income to ensure that everyone can afford basic necessities is the right thing to do. This motion reflects the reality that we must make additional effort to consider those who are too often left behind or forgotten when we think of national recovery.

Currently, acute financial problems can result in chronic poverty. It can happen to those who least expect it; those trying to escape violence in their homes; those expected to care for their children, elders or people with disabilities; those who lose their jobs; and those who have health challenges.

Poverty shortens life expectancy by some 21 years.

Poverty intersects with and worsens systemic racism in gendered ways. Racialized women are 48% more likely to be unemployed and earn 55.6% the income of non-racialized men.

Senators, the aim of this motion is to enable us in this place to do what we do so well: namely, taking into account the interests of those whose needs are not front and centre in the other place. Let’s work to ensure that every Canadian is considered as we map the road to recovery. I look forward to working with each and every one of you and to honouring the legacy of those who have gone before us as well as the interests of those who have yet to be considered.

Thank you. Meegwetch.

(On motion of Senator Duncan, debate adjourned.)

Hon. Mary Jane McCallum, pursuant to notice of November 24, 2021, moved:

That the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources be authorized to examine and report on the cumulative positive and negative impacts of resource extraction and development, and their effects on environmental, economic and social considerations, when and if the committee is formed; and

That the committee submit its final report no later than December 31, 2022.

(On motion of Senator McCallum, debate adjourned.)

Hon. Pat Duncan: Honourable senators, with leave of the Senate and notwithstanding rule 5-5(j), I move:

That, notwithstanding any provision of the Rules, for the remainder of the current session, the normal duration for Senators’ Statements be 18 minutes.

The Hon. the Speaker: Is leave granted, honourable senators?

The Hon. the Speaker: Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?

Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson: Honourable senators, Nunavut is facing a housing crisis. I know this statement isn’t a new concept to many of you. However, since this summer’s recess, I’ve been made aware of a major problem facing current and prospective Nunavut homeowners: condo insurance.

There are currently 20 condo corporations in Nunavut. Condominiums are individually owned units. Owners help share the cost of maintaining common elements, making it a cheaper, low-barrier entry point for homeowners in the territories. But inaction on the current pressing issue is causing Nunavut to lose a type of housing along a housing spectrum that already has major gaps.

Skyrocketing condo insurance is one of the major contributors to the low uptake of the Government of Nunavut’s home ownership program, which offers 60 condos for direct sale in Iqaluit. Condo corporations are seeing an average premium increase of 173%, while deductible increases have been anywhere between 100% and 1,900%. That is not a typo. One condominium corporation saw their deductible increase by $95,000 for a 1,900% increase.

For many homeowners, this is an untenable situation. No one wants or can afford to take on the increased stress of these high insurance rates, and presently people are walking away from their investments and returning to public housing, adding more stress to an already overstressed system. At least one condo corporation presently has no insurance coverage, which is unsafe and illegal.

It is also important to note that a survey recently showed 43% of condo owners in Nunavut are Inuit.

I urge the federal and territorial governments to work together to provide immediate relief to homeowners. We need to also work on long-term solutions to lowering the overall cost of insurance so that we can make sure that people’s investments are properly insured and that Nunavummiut are protected should their homes face catastrophe. We need to eliminate barriers to home ownership, so that those who can buy can do so and alleviate the stress on our public housing system. We need to solve the housing crisis, but we need to be aware that that doesn’t always mean more money to build more units.

Thank you. Qujannamiik. Taima.

Hon. Mary Coyle: Honourable senators, as we gather here in our Senate Chamber, welcoming our remarkable new colleagues and greeting each other joyfully after our COVID-imposed separation and, at the same time, overcome by great sadness as we grieve our beloved colleagues Judith and Josée, I rise to make my first statement in this, Canada’s Forty-fourth Parliament.

Colleagues, like all Canadians, today I have water on my mind — the current crises and the hope.

Colleagues, today we are witnessing water-related destruction from coast-to-coast-to-coast. On the West Coast, we see the devastating flooding, mudslides, loss of human lives, loss of animal lives, loss of homes, loss of farmland, loss of vital infrastructure and Indigenous communities hard hit. Our Arctic coast neighbours have been plagued with melting ice, sea level rising and domestic water infrastructure breakdowns long before the recent issues with Iqaluit’s toxic drinking water supply.

Now our East Coast communities are being ravaged by severe wind and rainstorms. I need to get home to attend to the tree in my yard that knocked out the power to my street. You may have read in today’s Globe of the residents of a trailer park in Antigonish having to be rescued from the windows of their homes and ferried to safety in boats — again, the vulnerable being the hardest hit.

Colleagues, the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices reported last year the number of catastrophic weather events in Canada was three times higher this past decade than in the 1980s. And the average cost of each disaster jumped by 1,250% since the 1970s.

While these climate-related water crises are severe and on the increase, I wanted to turn to an important source of water-related climate hope: our oceans.

Last week, while visiting Dr. Anya Waite, CEO of the Ocean Frontier Institute, who recently returned from COP26, Senator Kutcher and I learned that the ocean is the most important global storage depot of carbon on earth. It holds 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere, soaking up more emissions than all the world’s rainforests combined, and that the North Atlantic is the most intense carbon sink on the planet.

We also learned that we need to invest in understanding our changing oceans better. Colleagues, in closing, it would serve us all well to defy the words of Jacques-Yves Cousteau who said, “We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one.”

Thank you, Wela’lioq.

Hon. Wanda Elaine Thomas Bernard: Honourable senators, I rise today to bring attention to the work of a former senator, the first Black man appointed to the Senate and my mentor, the Honourable Don Oliver. Senator Oliver is an elder statesman, ambassador, community builder and strong advocate for human rights. Throughout his career, he broke barriers to enact social change. Honourable colleagues, we are still building on the social change that he imagined here in the Senate on equity and diversity.

Senator Don Oliver’s impact on Canada is not limited to his impressive career working to dismantle systemic racism and systems of oppression; his legacy lives strong within the young scholars of African descent that he has mentored. He has committed himself to removing the barriers for young Black people to access further education through scholarship and mentorship.

I happen to be one of the many students who have benefited from his advocacy. Don Oliver was the first African-Nova Scotian senator, and I now stand on his shoulders. The word Ubuntu comes to mind: I am because you are, you are therefore I am.

Senator Oliver embodies the commitment to give back to one’s community, and that theme has taken root in my own journey in my community and now in the Senate.

Senator Oliver recently released an autobiography called A Matter of Equality, which serves as a Call to Action to people in leadership positions, especially those with White privilege who have the power and ability to fulfill his vision of a racism-free society.

Learning from those who came before us, we must use our power to move the dial on public policy that will elevate and improve members of equity-deserving groups and communities.

Honourable senators, it is an honour to recognize the work and contributions of Senator Don Oliver today, and to bring this message of inspiration as we begin this Forty-fourth Parliament. Asante. Thank you.

Hon. Pamela Wallin: Honourable senators, this week we have witnessed the deadly impact of severe weather on both coasts of our country, with the loss of human and animal life, the loss of homes and businesses and the loss of incomes and futures.

Weather is the Canadian reality — winter whiteouts, ice storms, forest fires and even atmospheric rivers are a fact of life. We are ruled by weather as any travelling senator knows.

But what the parade of rainstorms has put into sharp relief is the sorry state of infrastructure across Canada. In the last two years, COVID has also exposed other serious infrastructure issues. We need only remember the frightening story of the millions of dollars’ worth of much-needed PPE — masks, gowns and gloves — that were recklessly discarded but never replaced, leaving us at risk for months as the pandemic unfolded.

In fact, hospitals, seniors’ homes and even schools were not prepared and already facing critical staff and equipment shortages or faulty air circulation systems. Our health system virtually collapsed as many were denied service for a vast array of other life-threatening illnesses.

Entire communities often wait hours or days for police assistance. Others wait for an ambulance to take a stroke victim to a hospital or finally just decide to put them in a vehicle to drive them to an emergency room down the road. But if you don’t have a road or a bus or a train or a car to get to the hospital, then we know the outcome.

Supply chains come to a halt too, keeping food and medicine — not just Christmas presents — out of reach.

Infrastructure is in crisis. A 2019 report from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities showed that 40% of roads are in poor condition. Water and sewage infrastructure is out of date. Today, we still have boil-water advisories in First Nations and in many small towns, mine included.

Funding is piecemeal, which leaves provinces and municipalities to fix the potholes rather than moving the road to higher ground or securing the bridge. So we just patch things up or rebuild a road or the home in the same problematic place. It is all well and good to have aspirational goals to meet the climate change issues, but today we must deal with our reality.

Of course, we can always call in the army to fill sandbags or fight fires or clean bedpans, but that is not the answer. We need less bureaucracy and more common sense, more coordination and less finger pointing. We need a national infrastructure revitalization commitment. Let’s set a goal to update and modernize by 2030. Surely, in a wealthy G7 country, we can put the health and safety and lives and livelihoods of Canadians at the top of our agenda.

Hon. Salma Ataullahjan: Honourable senators, as a young child in Pakistan, there were few things I would look forward to more than a journey to Kabul. I have fond memories of summers spent in Afghanistan where the people are generous, the landscapes are breathtaking and the food incomparable.

Women had a very visible presence in every place in society, and it was common to see women owning businesses. I never would have expected the region to be plunged into devastation and have all the world’s eyes on it.

Because of my love and concern for that part of the world, as a new senator in 2010, I proposed a study on the role of the Canadian government in supporting women’s rights after ending combat operations in Afghanistan. The committee recommended concrete ways that Canada could make the advancement of women’s rights a fundamental element of its approach to Afghanistan post-2011.

For the past three months, I have been receiving desperate emails from Afghans trying to flee Kabul and from Canadians concerned about their loved ones. The Canada-Afghanistan Parliamentary Friendship Group has been very active since January 2021.

In our last meeting with women parliamentarians in June, there was a sense of desperation and we were begged for help. Those who remain in Afghanistan face economic hardship, a lack of essential services, hunger and the threat of violence.

The United Nations currently estimates that nearly half of the country’s population — 23 million people — is facing acute hunger, and 3.2 million children under the age of 5 are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition by the end of the year.

Already, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs has been replaced by the Ministry of Vice and Virtue, known for its public beatings of women. Humanitarian groups worry that 97% of the country will sink below the poverty line over the next few months.

I also worry about the thousands of years of history, culture and music that are under threat. We are hearing reports from old Kabul of musical instruments being dismantled, of the silencing of the voices that sung of the majesty of Afghanistan, of its mountains, rivers and valleys.

One story that struck a chord with me is that of an ustad, or master, who buried his rabab, a stringed instrument. For me, the burying of the rabab is a significant act. The strings of the rabab pull at the heartstrings of everyone for that region. For me, it signifies the burying of the heart and the soul of Afghanistan.

My fear is that as the news cycle changes, the world will forget about Afghanistan again. Already, the story is starting to fade from our headlines. Already, a space women had carved out in society is disappearing. Already, they are becoming invisible. How long before their plight fades from our headlines completely and they become invisible to us too?

Thank you, and as I say in Pashto, manana.

Hon. Gwen Boniface: Honourable senators, on a rare occasion, you meet someone whose friendship lasts a lifetime. This makes loss even more difficult.

Carol-Ann Marshall walked into our lives in 1978 at our Ontario Provincial Police detachment. She was the first Black female officer to join the OPP at a time when her peers were White and overwhelmingly male. She was courageous, fearless, brilliant, had a vivacious laugh and suffered no fools.

Carol-Ann was born in Kirtons, Saint Phillip, Barbados, in 1953. Her father, Ashton, was an assistant commissioner with the Barbados police and her mother, Doreen, a nurse. She grew up attending Rices Methodist Church, singing in the choir and honing her beautiful classical soprano voice.

At 17, Carol-Ann left Barbados to study in Virginia on an international scholarship, eventually finding her way to Canada to attend Trent University. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in geography and an education degree from the University of Toronto.

A woman always taking on new adventures, she was a teacher in Ontario public schools, she served six years with us in the Ontario Provincial Police and moved on to a variety of roles in public service, including the Ontario Human Rights Commission. She taught English language to adults in Japan and Toronto and took classical voice training at the Victoria Conservatory of Music. Her work was never done.

In 2017, she wrote a book called I Dare You! to help women assess emotional abuse in their relationship and to provide them with practical and legal resources to leave toxic relationships. She drew on her personal experience.

Carol-Ann was taken from us both suddenly and unexpectedly on October 28. She had a second book in the making, a new business to run, another mountain to climb after mastering Machu Picchu and so many dreams to fulfill.

She would want me to remind you, senators, that this is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. I encourage all of us to continue the important work that meant so much to her.

I send my condolences to her many friends — particularly the ”posse,” as she called them, who cared for her during her short illness — and to her family in Barbados and in England. She was a remarkable person, and will be missed.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, copies of commissions appointing the Right Honourable Richard Wagner, the Honourable Andromache Karakatsanis, the Honourable Michael J. Moldaver, the Honourable Suzanne Côté, the Honourable Russell S. Brown, the Honourable Malcolm H. Rowe, the Honourable Sheilah L. Martin, the Honourable Nicholas P. Kasirer, the Honourable Mahmud Jamal, Mr. Ian McCowan and Ms. Christine MacIntyre as deputies of the Governor General.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to advise you that hybrid sittings of the Senate will begin on Tuesday, November 30, 2021, using Zoom with multi-factor authentication. As of that time, the terms of the order of Thursday, November 25, 2021, concerning hybrid sittings, will govern proceedings.

Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson: Honourable senators, I give notice that, at the next sitting of the Senate, I will move:

Whereas the Senate provides representation for groups that are often underrepresented in Parliament, such as Aboriginal peoples, visible minorities and women;

Whereas paragraph (3) of section 23 of the Constitution Act, 1867 requires that, in order to be qualified for appointment to and to maintain a place in the Senate, a person must own land with a net worth of at least four thousand dollars in the province for which he or she is appointed;

Whereas a person’s personal circumstances or the availability of real property in a particular location may prevent him or her from owning the required property;

Whereas appointment to the Senate should not be restricted to those who own real property of a minimum net worth;

Whereas the existing real property qualification is inconsistent with the democratic values of modern Canadian society and is no longer an appropriate or relevant measure of the fitness of a person to serve in the Senate;

Whereas, in the case of Quebec, each of the twenty-four Senators representing the province must be appointed for and must have either their real property qualification in or be resident of a specified Electoral Division;

Whereas an amendment to the Constitution of Canada in relation to any provision that applies to one or more, but not all, provinces may be made by proclamation issued by the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada only where so authorized by resolutions of the Senate and House of Commons and of the legislative assembly of each province to which the amendment applies;

Whereas the Supreme Court of Canada has determined that a full repeal of paragraph (3) of section 23 of the Constitution Act, 1867, respecting the real property qualification of Senators, would require a resolution of the Quebec National Assembly pursuant to section 43 of the Constitution Act, 1982;

Now, therefore, the Senate resolves that an amendment to the Constitution of Canada be authorized to be made by proclamation issued by Her Excellency the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada in accordance with the Schedule hereto.

SCHEDULE

AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF CANADA

I, A.B., do declare and testify that I am by law duly qualified to be appointed a member of the Senate of Canada.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, my question today is again for the government leader. I hope this will not be answered by saying that one of the reasons for the farmers’ problems is climate change. That’s the answer we got yesterday.

My question for the government leader yesterday concerned our farmers in British Columbia. Today I have a matter of importance to farmers on the East Coast, specifically potato farmers on Prince Edward Island. The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has signed an order banning the export of all fresh potatoes from Prince Edward Island to the United States, related to the discovery of potato wart on two farms last month. Premier Dennis King said this ban is devastating for his province. This ban was made with no consultation from the province and contained no mention of compensation for farmers, no plan to support the industry and its workers, no plan to deal with the existing stock already in storage and no date for when market access will resume.

Leader, what will the Trudeau government do to assist potato farmers in Prince Edward Island and all those whose jobs are impacted by the export ban? How long will they have to wait for help?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question, honourable senator. The government is closely following the situation in Prince Edward Island and is engaging with the potato industry to understand their concerns and needs. I’ve been advised, for the benefit of the chamber, that potato wart is a fungus that reduces the yield of a crop but does not pose any risk to human health. Despite plant health controls put in place by Canada, the United States expressed serious concerns and made it clear that they plan to impose a federal order banning imports of all fresh PEI potatoes if Canada did not act first to suspend trade. Therefore, as of November 21, 2021, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has temporarily suspended trade of fresh potatoes from Prince Edward Island to the U.S. I’ve been advised that this issue was raised by the Prime Minister with U.S. President Joe Biden last week, that the government is working on a plan to support potato growers who are impacted by this temporary market suspension and has created a potato working group with provincial and industry stakeholders.

Senator Plett: Leader, you just finished us telling us what the problem is. I told this chamber what the problem is. You have told us what the President of the United States has said and that our Prime Minister wants to cooperate with the President of the United States. That’s not much consolation for the fine farmers of Prince Edward Island. A working group has been started. We have more working groups than they have potatoes in Prince Edward Island.

On Monday, Premier King quoted Minister Bibeau as saying that the decision to stop export of Prince Edward Island potatoes to the U.S. was made “to appease a trading partner,” which you just confirmed. That’s a remarkable admission, leader, especially considering that the Prime Minister finally got to meet with President Biden last week. Instead of fixing our trade disputes with the United States on agriculture, softwood lumber, pipelines, electric vehicles and “buy American” policies, the situation is now arguably worse. Yesterday, the U.S. doubled our softwood lumber tariffs, and now Prince Edward Island is banned from exporting its fresh potatoes.

Leader, how long does the Trudeau government intend to leave its export ban in place? What specifically, aside from a working group, are you doing now to rectify this situation with the United States on Prince Edward Island farmers?