Senator Gold: Thank you for your question and for drawing attention to this unacceptable situation involving hatred towards these children and their families.

I have been assured that the government still intends to introduce new legislation to combat harmful online content, including child sexual abuse material.

[English]

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. Again, I do not know what — and I’m not able to provide information as to what the government may decide to do, only to remind senators that, as I sometimes am at pains to do, jurisdiction over universities and colleges is a matter of provincial jurisdiction. But the levers that the government has at its disposal under our constitution are being examined carefully in all areas so as to allow the government, in a robust way, to do what it can — its part — in addressing affordability and housing issues in Canada.

Senator Gold: As everyone who has studied the issue knows, the issue of housing supply is not only a complex one, but one that engages the private sector, municipalities, zoning regulations, neighbourhoods, provinces, supply chain issues and the like. So to your question, I do not know.

What I do know is that the government is exercising leadership with the provinces and municipalities. It is taking measures within its jurisdiction to address the situation, and it hopes very much that the situation improves for the well-being of all Canadians who are seeking better homes or access to homes — a fundamental right that all Canadians should enjoy.

Senator Housakos: That is the question. The question, government leader, is: Will your government make the commitment of axing the tax?

Hon. Robert Black: Honourable senators, I rise today in the Senate Chamber to highlight that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. It is an opportunity to celebrate, support and raise awareness of the thousands of children and their families who have fought — and continue to fight — childhood cancer. It is also a month dedicated to supporting the hard work of health care workers and the many researchers who support these children and their families.

As I’m sure you’re aware, cancer is relentless no matter whom it strikes, but it is particularly cruel when it affects the youngest among us. According to Statistics Canada, pediatric cancer is the number one cause of disease-related deaths in Canadian children. Each day, young lives are disrupted by diagnoses that bring fear, pain and uncertainty.

One of the most effective ways we can contribute to this cause is by raising awareness. Awareness sparks conversation. Conversation leads to understanding. Understanding drives change.

Honourable colleagues, the symbol for childhood cancer awareness is a gold ribbon. I rise today to ask that you join me in supporting this initiative and raise awareness by wearing the gold pin that I have sent to each of your offices.

Raising awareness is not limited to one month; it’s a year‑round mission. It involves supporting organizations that tirelessly work to find cures, aiding families in need and celebrating groups like Childcan, an organization dedicated to providing emotional, social and financial relief for families working through cancer treatments with their children.

As we wear our gold ribbons and share stories of hope and resilience, we send a powerful message that the battle with pediatric cancer is one we are committed to winning.

Honourable colleagues, let us commit ourselves to the cause of childhood cancer awareness, not only this month, but every day of each and every month. Let us work tirelessly to ensure that, one day, no child will face the daunting prospect of cancer. Together, we can make a profound impact, save lives and offer brighter tomorrows to our young fighters.

Thank you. Meegwetch.

Senator Cormier: Thank you for your answer, Senator Gold.

2SLGBTQI+ communities are dealing with an unprecedented rise in acts of hate. The predecessor of the current Minister of Canadian Heritage was planning to introduce a bill on online hate in the fall of 2023, and we are still waiting for an action plan to combat hate. When does your government intend to take action to ensure that these two essential measures to combat hate in Canada finally become a reality?

Senator Gold: Senator, thank you for raising the issue of multidisciplinary teams. The Government of Canada would welcome any innovations along those lines to address this important shortage.

I’m not aware of whether or not the government is considering this, but I certainly will take this from the Senate to the government, and encourage them to reflect upon it appropriately.

Senator Martin: CMHC says the gap between the amount of housing needed to restore affordability and the amount projected to be built by 2030 has gotten worse over the last year in my province of British Columbia. Statistics Canada said that in July residential housing permits in B.C. fell over 30% year over year. On Tuesday, it reported that investment in residential building construction also fell in B.C. in July.

Leader, the Trudeau government has been too late in acknowledging the housing crisis they created, and nothing they have put forward will come close to fixing it. If the Prime Minister believes he’s not responsible for housing, how can he bring homes to Canadians that they can afford?

Senator Gold: No. I seem to be one of the few people who have read your leader’s letter, so the short answer is no.

Senator Kutcher: Thank you very much, Senator Gold. We appreciate all of those good things, but the problem still remains: Goods from the United States are coming into Canada and then being sent to Russia — that’s evading. So we have a problem somewhere. Since the war began, Russia has relied on those parts to manufacture their weapons, which have killed countless numbers of people. I’ve also been told that there are Canadian companies heavily involved in providing these essential parts for Russian weapons. They seem to be doing it in spite of all the work you’ve said has been done.

What is the government’s plan to prohibit the production and export of goods — by Canadian companies — aiding Russia’s illegal war? When will these enforcements, if they exist, actually be imposed?

Senator Gold: Respectfully, you mischaracterize both the statement that the Prime Minister made, which was a statement more about the jurisdictional issues than the government’s moral responsibility — which it is exercising — to take leadership with the provinces, the municipalities and the private sector to address this crisis. Nor is it correct to say that the housing crisis was something that the government created when anyone who has had any experience — as I have, and many here have had — in this sector, regardless of where you come from — whether it’s from the banking sector, the construction sector, the building materials sector or the labour market sector — knows how complex it is.

Anyone who has had the privilege, as I have, of living in your wonderful province, knows there are also issues of land availability and municipal zoning to say nothing of vested interests, dare I say, who have resisted to some degree some of the solutions that are clearly available to address at least some aspect of this crisis. It is a complicated crisis and problem. The government is exercising leadership in its areas of jurisdiction with the levers that it has, and it will continue to do so.

Senator Housakos: Government leader, the question is not employment or unemployment. Canadians can work as hard as they want, but when they go to the grocery store, they can’t afford to buy food to feed their families.

And you want to go into a statistics war? Did you know that in the month of August, the cost of lettuce went up 94%? You want to talk about statistics? Rent in this country has gone up 6.5% in the last couple of months. I can go on and on and on, if you want to go through every single commodity in this country, not to mention the fact that mortgages are costing Canadians 31% more right now than they did a few months ago.

The fact of the matter is that when it comes to the cost of living right now in this country, working-class and poor Canadians are suffering to a degree we haven’t seen before, and for the first time in more than 153 years, young people in this country are feeling pessimistic and hopeless, and that they will not be able to aspire to the kind of lifestyle and success that their parents and grandparents had.

We talked earlier about inflation and the runaway debts and deficits of this government, and as usual, you’re blaming the cost of living on global issues, international issues and the cost of oil and energy. Well, your carbon tax on oil and energy has not helped.

Senator Plett: Well, one thing the Liberal government is very good at is making announcements. Following through on them is a little more difficult for them.

Leader, in my province of Manitoba, residential construction investment fell by over 12% in the month of July. It fell in your province of Quebec as well. That is not something to be very proud of.

Last month, the Prime Minister stood behind a podium with a sign that read, “Building More Homes, Faster,” and then he told Canadians that housing wasn’t his responsibility. Nothing is ever his responsibility. He is pretty good at taking credit. He has a really hard time accepting responsibility, even after eight long, long, long years in this government. Last week, he remembered a 2015 election campaign promise that he broke six years ago and is passing it off as action.

Leader, how much rental housing would have been built over the last eight years if the Trudeau government had followed through on their promise?

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. I am not advised that the government has any plans to axe its carbon tax. The price on carbon is one of a large suite of measures that are designed to address climate change — climate change that has devastated our forests and our communities this summer — while at the same time helping Canadian businesses, individuals, provinces and communities transition to a cleaner, more sustainable economic future.

On the Order:

Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator Moodie, seconded by the Honourable Senator Cormier, for the second reading of Bill C-35, An Act respecting early learning and child care in Canada.

Hon. Mary Coyle: Honourable senators, I rise today to pay tribute to Sheree Fitch, the talented writing powerhouse with the beautiful heart, the pride of River John, Nova Scotia, and my friend who was recently named to the Order of Canada for her outstanding contributions to children’s literature and to the Canadian literary community as a writer and literacy advocate.

Lian Goodall describes Sheree Fitch as a:

Dazzling disco ball of word energy and Canada’s spunky, funky queen of nonsense poems and stories for the very young who has slow danced her way into the minds of novel readers.

This award-winning single mother, grandmother and wife of the deeply dimpled Gilles Plante has written dozens of children’s books, including Sleeping Dragons All Around; books of poetry, including In This House Are Many Women; and novels, such as Pluto’s Ghost.

Sheree is a storyteller and educator who has travelled the globe from Baffin Island to Bhutan. Her Mabel Murple’s Book Shoppe and Dreamery is a magical creation and a gift to all children, young and old.

In the foreword to her book If You Could Wear My Sneakers, Peter Gzowski wrote:

Sheree, as you’ll see, creates sounds for every living creature. She is open to everything as only a child can be and as with any child, she plays with words, wisdom and a sense that the world can work. We should listen to her; she speaks for children everywhere.

Sheree’s poem The Way it Is goes like this:

Why doth the sloth

Moveth so slow?

Why doth the sloth

Have three sloth toes?

Why doth the sloth

Hangeth upside down?

Why doth he?

The sloth is

Just weird, I suppoth.

I sayeth! Saith the sloth

I am slow because

That’s the way it is

The way it was

My three toes doth

What three toes do

I am happy for me

As you are for you

And the wayeth the world

Spinneth upside down?

It’s just different, not weird

My sky is your ground

And if-eth you thinketh

That faster is better

I sayeth to you

That it doesn’t much matter

For if you’re a sloth

Slow seemeth just fine

You doeth things your way

I’ll doeth things mine.

Thank you, Sheree Fitch, for sharing your creative genius with us and for caring so deeply about children, their imaginations and rights. Congratulations to you on your Order of Canada; that honour is so richly deserved.

Hon. Jane Cordy: Honourable senators, I am pleased to bring the attention of the Senate to my alma mater, Mount Saint Vincent University. This year, Mount Saint Vincent University, the longest-standing university in Canada for the advancement of women, is celebrating its one hundred and fiftieth anniversary.

Founded in 1873 by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, Halifax, the school was initially established in order to train novices and young sisters to be teachers. However, the sisters eventually realized that young women in the province were being overlooked and underserved when it came to opportunities for higher education. The sisters recognized that they were in a position to make a difference in the lives of young Nova Scotian women, so they opened their doors to them.

In 1925, the Nova Scotia Legislature awarded the school the right to grant degrees, making it the only independent women’s college in the entire British Commonwealth. In 1966, the school became a university. The following year, it admitted its first male students.

Honourable senators, I cannot speak about the university’s history and not acknowledge its role in Canada’s shameful residential school system.

Like all Canadians, Mount Saint Vincent University has had to face the hard truth and reflect on how that painful history has impacted entire generations of Indigenous peoples in Canada, and the devastating consequences it has had on their culture.

On October 20, 2021, Mount Saint Vincent University apologized to survivors, their families, communities and all Indigenous peoples for its role in helping to staff, specifically, the Shubenacadie Residential School in Nova Scotia and St. Eugene’s Residential School in British Columbia. The apology was accompanied by a list of commitments to Indigenous peoples, particularly commitments to listening, learning and ensuring action — things we should all commit to doing.

Honourable senators, the school is no longer run by the Sisters of Charity. Ownership and operations were transferred to independent boards of governors and senate in 1988. The school continues to grow, evolve and challenge the status quo, building on its commitments to social justice and promoting equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility for all. The advancement of women and girls through the pursuit of knowledge and academic excellence, inspired by a strong tradition of social responsibility, remains its mission.

I am a proud alumnus of “the Mount,” one of 37,000, and I am delighted to wish the school a happy one hundred and fiftieth anniversary.

Thank you.

On the Order:

Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator Moodie, seconded by the Honourable Senator Cormier, for the second reading of Bill C-35, An Act respecting early learning and child care in Canada.

Senator Gold: Thank you for the questions. Among the economic and unprecedented sanctions announced against over 2,000 individuals and entities, it’s my understanding that the government has ended all export permits to Russia, and has further stopped the issuance of new permits for the export and brokering of controlled goods and technology to Russia. Indeed, Minister Joly has notably announced the cancellation of existing otherwise valid permits.

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