Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question. I will look into that with the government and come back to you with an answer shortly.

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question. I don’t have that information, but I’ll make inquiries.

Senator Gold: Thank you for that.

First and foremost, I think it is up to the Rules Committee to decide if that is something they wish to consider, and, of course, for the chamber as a whole to consider as well. I certainly would be happy, on behalf of the government, to participate in any such discussion to improve our Rules so as to improve the work that we do on behalf of Canadians.

Senator Gold: Indeed, thank you for your question. I have the resources, and I use those resources. I shall continue to endeavour to get you those answers.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Senator, thank you for your question. I regret that you have not yet received an answer. I’ll certainly make inquiries to see if I can expedite it.

Senator Gold: I will add that to my questions.

[English]

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate), pursuant to notice of March 23, 2023, moved:

That, notwithstanding the provisions of rule 12-12(1), the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration be authorized to appoint senators who are not members of the committee to its subcommittees, provided that, for greater certainty, no member of the Standing Committee on Audit and Oversight may be appointed to a subcommittee under the terms of this order.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. The well-being of our marine species is a priority for the government. The government remains, through Fisheries and Oceans Canada, committed to protecting the welfare of cetaceans based upon the authorities granted.

As you know, the Bill S-203 received Royal Assent and that, going forward, bans the captivity of cetaceans in Canada under the Fisheries Act and the Criminal Code.

There are amendments and exemptions — I won’t repeat them. If a request that a cetacean be moved to another facility is received by the department, the minister would review this application and be guided by the policies in place in order to make a decision as to whether to issue the appropriate Fisheries Act permit.

As you know, of course, in Canada, aquatic parks and zoos, animal care laws and private property of animals — like Kiska — are under provincial jurisdiction. The federal government has a role to play and will play it responsibly.

Senator Gold: I will certainly make inquiries, senator, but as I tried to answer, the fact is — as the Auditor General found — the data has not yet been fully collected or analyzed, and so the government is committed to doing that. It will just take time for that. I’ll do my best to get at least a progress report such that we know that we’re heading in the right direction, which I firmly believe we are.

Senator Gold: Thank you, senator. I will certainly bring this suggestion to the attention of the government, and I will report back, if I can, with any decisions or thinking in that matter.

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question.

I believe the statements that were made both reflect the government’s position and both can be coherent and true.

[Translation]

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question.

The Prime Minister has put into place a number of mechanisms to address the very important issue of the unacceptable attempts by countries to interfere in our democratic processes. Indeed, the mandate given to the special rapporteur, the Right Honourable David Johnston, is such that he will be considering all options, including that of a public inquiry. Canadians should have confidence in the quality of the analysis and advice he will give to the Prime Minister.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I rise today to pay tribute and to remember the life of former senator Landon Pearson, an Officer of the Order of Canada. I would also like to welcome Senator Pearson’s family to the chamber, and to express my sincerest condolences to her family.

Senator Pearson was appointed to the Senate in September 1994 by then-prime minister Jean Chrétien, and served in this chamber for over 11 years. She was, above all, an ardent children’s rights advocate, and a pioneer in bringing these issues to the attention of the public.

[Translation]

Senator Pearson’s tireless work advocating for children’s rights began long before her appointment to the Senate. In 1974, she co-founded Children Learning for Living, a prevention program focused on children’s mental health, located in Ottawa. She was involved in community-based programs such as Mobile Creches for Working Mothers’ Children, a child care service for the children of nomadic construction workers in New Delhi and Mumbai.

In 1979, she made a significant contribution as vice-president of the Canadian Commission for the International Year of the Child and as editor of the commission’s report entitled For Canada’s Children: National Agenda for Action.

In 2006, after retiring from the Senate, she went on to found the Landon Pearson Resource Centre for the Study of Childhood and Children’s Rights.

[English]

Reflecting on her work with children in Mexico, India and the Soviet Union, as well as her experience with the Ottawa school system and as a mother of five children, Senator Pearson explained to the chamber how these experiences convinced her “. . . of the indivisibility of childhood and of the global nature of children’s issues.”

In their advocacy, our colleagues Senator Moodie and Senator Miville-Dechêne continue in this “Pearsonian” tradition. But, as you well know, many issues remain pressing. According to Amnesty International, over 61 million children do not attend primary school, an estimated 150 million children are sexually assaulted every year and at least 330,000 children are held in immigration detention in 80 countries every year.

As we remember Senator Pearson, let us be reminded of the need to continue to make these issues more visible and — to quote again from Senator Pearson — that “we all have a stake in the well-being of the world’s children.” Thank you, colleagues.

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question. It is an important one. I do not know the answer specifically to your question, but I would remind senators that in recognition of the need to support the institutions and researchers, the government launched the Advisory Panel on the Federal Research Support System last October, which is designed to advise the government and provide expert advice as to how we can maximize the impact of the research and the downstream innovation that research can give rise to.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): The government’s programs that were put into place to help Canadians were largely successful in helping Canadians get through the pandemic. The government used the expertise of the civil service and the public service, who worked in extraordinarily diligent, unprecedented and efficient ways, to deliver what they could. In light of the extraordinary circumstances of the global pandemic and the demands and expectations that government would act as it did, the government also used outside sources to make sure that Canadians received the benefits they needed.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): I thank the honourable senator for his question.

I have said repeatedly in this chamber that the government takes seriously the exercise of both written questions and delayed answers, and I make every effort to ensure that senators get responses to their important questions in a timely fashion. Indeed, since our return in January, I have tabled responses to 21 written questions and 61 responses concerning delayed answers, and I look forward to tabling further responses in due course.

I think what might lie behind your question is how we can do better. Of course, we can always do better. One thought is that this is a subject that might possibly and profitably be taken up by our Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament. That might very well be the appropriate forum to examine this issue, if they so choose, and to make recommendations for the full chamber to consider.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question and for underlining the importance of the contribution of international students to Canada. The government is very aware of it and is doing much to assist and promote it.

The government works, as we know, with universities and colleges across the country, along with the provinces and territories, as you properly note, to help international students better integrate and flourish in Canada when they come for their studies. Indeed, the government’s response is more tangible than that. It includes investments through the International Education Strategy of $147.9 million in collaboration with the provinces’ and territories’ associations and institutions such that Canada remains one of the top destinations for international students to come and learn.

With regard to the visas, the government, through its agencies, is committed to upholding the integrity of our immigration system. Indeed, officials are trained in detecting fraud. They work hard to protect the integrity of our system, and will continue to do so.

There’s a fair procedural process in place for those students who might have been the victim of fraud, such as has been alleged in the press. Students will be given an opportunity to explain what transpired. The officers will take that into account, of course, when coming to a decision.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. The government recognizes how important investment is in fundamental research and support for the Canadian research community. It is essential to all of the challenges facing Canada, especially health challenges, which became very evident during the pandemic. That is why, in fact, over the last five years, we’ve seen an unprecedented increase in such investments.

In Budget 2018 alone, the government committed nearly $4 billion over a five-year period to support the next generation of Canadian researchers. In Budget 2022 — I am glossing over a number of initiatives and details that took place in the years between those two budgets — the government announced $20 million to study the long-term effects of COVID and $20 million to increase our knowledge of dementia and brain health that will be funded over five years through the CIHR.

The government takes this very seriously. It is working with provinces, territories and institutions to make sure we have world-class researchers getting the support they deserve.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question.

The government values the work of the Auditor General, takes its recommendations seriously and is working to make its processes more effective and impactful.

The challenge with the ambitious agenda that the government has put in place — and it is an ambitious agenda — is not only to gather data on individual programs, but to aggregate it so that it can be analyzed. It is critical that we assess the impact that it’s actually having on the ground on the lives of women and children and, indeed, on all projects that we fund.

We have been funding significantly. Indeed, in 2021-22, 99% of Canada’s bilateral development assistance either targeted or integrated gender equality results, which exceeded the target of 95% by 2022 that the government gave itself.

The challenge is also one of timing, because the programs get up and running, money is transferred, and schools, clean water facilities and the like are built, but then the collection of the data and the analysis take more time.

The government is committed, and now believes it begins to have the data to then properly aggregate and analyze and make sure that our money is being well spent with the impact that it needs to have to make a difference.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. Since 2015, the government has committed over $120 billion and introduced over a hundred measures to support environmental action and climate mitigation such as banning single-use plastics, putting a price on pollution and making zero-emission vehicles more affordable. Under all of this, it’s just a scientific brute fact that climate action cannot be stalled.

Now, with regard to the report to which you referred, Minister Guilbeault responded quite clearly that he will be taking a hard, long look — I think were his words — as to whether we can hit our long-term greenhouse gas emissions targets 10 years earlier than planned. That’s under review by the minister, and he and his team will be studying the IPCC report very carefully.