Senator Gold: It is serious, and I told you the truth. I do not have that information.

[English]

Senator Gold: Well, many of the premises, assumptions and assertions in your question are simply false, and I am not going to take the time to catalogue them.

The process of appointing senators — and the senators that were appointed according to that process — is a fair, open and transparent one. It has provided a diversity of views, backgrounds, expertise and perspectives unparalleled in the history of this Senate. If it is true that we are still embarked upon a slow and sometimes painful progress towards a more effective, efficient and less partisan Senate, it is not because of the imputations you made yesterday and again today of interference in this Senate by the government or the Prime Minister’s Office, whether it’s with regard to Speaker’s rulings and interpretation of the Rules.

Let us be clear. You are entitled, and I respect the position of the opposition. You know I do, and I said so publicly long before I took this position. I also respect facts, and I respect the fact — and these are facts on the ground — that we are serving Canadians well in this Senate, and it is thanks in no small measure to the devotion of the people sitting here, regardless of who appointed them.

[Translation]

Senator Gold: I am going to really try to show you the respect that I think we all deserve in this place, Senator Batters. I did not declare a membership in the Liberal Party because I was not a member of the Liberal Party. I am not a member of the Liberal Party.

I’m going to be very careful here. Your insistence on reading the Rules of the Senate independent of any principle of interpretation and independent of any sensibility that it is not simply the black-letter rules but what lies behind them, including the Parliament of Canada Act and our conventions and practices here, is surprising for someone with a legal background. You know better. The Rules of the Senate have to be, have been and will continue to be interpreted in light of the basic principles that define how we interpret normative texts, not only laws and not only rules of Parliament, but even literary texts. This is Law School 101.

Now, we’re in a political institution and we’re in a partisan environment, as you have celebrated, but it doesn’t change the facts. You asked me a question, and I’ve answered it. If you ask me again tomorrow, you’re going to get the same answer.

Senator Gold: That is a good question. Thank you for asking it.

As you know, temporary foreign workers play an essential role in the Quebec and Canadian economy. Employers are having a hard time meeting their labour needs and the availability of temporary foreign workers is an important issue for Quebec, where the unemployment rate was 4.2% in March.

The government is implementing a pilot project in Quebec for temporary foreign workers. The purpose of the project is to ensure that intermediate-skilled jobs are included in the facilitated process. The government also signed a new agreement with Quebec to allow key sectors to welcome more temporary foreign workers without displacing local workers.

That is an example of strong collaboration that can help us build the workforce we need and then ensure that foreign workers are able to find a new life with us here in Canada.

[English]

Senator Gerba: Senator Gold, why are these men and women who feed us and take care of us not allowed to settle in Canada?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Unfortunately, I do not have that information.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you very much for the question. It’s always a timely one — no less so today for reasons we all heard.

The government is deeply committed to addressing the issues and working to eradicate gender-based violence in Canada — focused very much on the safety of vulnerable women. As we know — in the course of the pandemic as well as after — in a series of budgets, the government provided hundreds of millions of dollars of additional funding to support women’s shelters because, tragically — predictably perhaps, but tragically — the isolation and the forced isolation had devastating effects on those who were living at risk in their homes.

The National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence and the historic investments in Budget 2022 of over $530 million are key to support that work. I’m advised that Minister Ien is at the table actively in negotiations with provincial and territorial counterparts as a key step in implementing this plan. And if I can just say, personally, my dear wife Nancy has long been involved in a women’s shelter in Montreal. It touches all of our lives in so many different ways. The government is doing its part, as much as it can, with provinces and territories and the private sector, frankly, to support this important work.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Senator, thank you for raising this. It’s a serious and tragic issue, and I don’t know what the government’s current plans are around the sanctions in this area. I’ll have to make inquiries and get an answer as best as I can.

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, it was moved by the Honourable Senator Gold, seconded by the Honourable Senator LaBoucane-Benson:

That, in relation to Bill C-11, An Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts, the Senate:

(a)agree to the amendments made by the House of Commons to its amendments; and

(b)do not insist on its amendments to which the House of Commons disagrees;

That the Senate take note of the Government of Canada’s public assurance that Bill C-11 will not apply to user‑generated digital content and its commitment to issue policy direction to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission accordingly; and

That a message be sent to the House of Commons to acquaint that house accordingly.

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