Senator Simons: Could I ask for time to just answer that one question? I think, then, that is probably good.

Senator Martin: I see the organizations as being distinct and different. CAP, on its own merit, has done extensive work over the past 50 years. Based on the testimony that was heard, the fact that both CAP and the Native Women’s Association of Canada, or NWAC, were included in the other place but the government removed one and not the other, the criteria for that is not clear to us. Based on what happened, the history of this bill, the work that CAP has done over the past 50 years and on their merit, that’s what I believe. I’m not talking about removing anyone else but adding a guaranteed seat to a national organization that has been in existence for decades.

[Translation]

Senator Cotter: I certainly would.

Senator C. Deacon: Thank you, Senator Cotter and Senator Coyle, for your excellent speeches.

Just for my and others’ benefit in the chamber, could you just repeat when the first dikes were built in the Chignecto Isthmus so that we clearly hear that date?

Senator Clement: This debate is similar to the one I took part in on Bill C-5, which I voted against. I’ve since been on a journey, and the two amendments I proposed were adopted in committee. If those amendments are included, in particular the one requiring judges to explain that they have considered the issue of Indigenous and Black overrepresentation, I would be able to vote in favour of this bill. That is why I proposed amendments. It’s my job as a senator to improve these laws.

This has been a personal journey for me, and that is why I proposed the amendments. I want to try and improve the situation.

Senator Dupuis: When the minister appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, I told him that it seemed like he was covering two completely different things in this bill. The very structure of the bill was intended to respond to crimes during which police officers die. There were consultations with the premiers, interventions and a consensus on this part of the bill. Then a clause having to do with intimate partner violence suddenly appeared in the bill. I asked him whether that issue had been raised during the consultation. He told me that they had taken something from a bill introduced by a senator and included it in this bill.

When the officials came back to the committee, I asked them the same question and asked whether there had been a consultation on this part of the bill that has nothing to do with the crux of the bill, since it is on the issue of intimate partner violence. The officials told us that they could not say because the minister’s office had dealt with that.

Do you recall hearing that?

Senator Housakos: The Trudeau government’s inaction always speaks volumes. The fact is that Hamas is a designated terrorist organization in Canada — isn’t it, Senator Gold? — yet, we have Hamas operatives in this country waving terrorist flags on our streets without fear of reprisal from authorities. So even if we did list the IRGC in actual terms, it’s not like anyone in this government is prepared to do anything about it; isn’t that true, Senator Gold? If it is not true, explain to me where I’m wrong. Are you okay with having Hamas operate on campuses, recruiting —

Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. I do not know the specifics of the conversation, but I am assured that they’re in constant dialogue. Canada’s commitment to international law in its international affairs is well known, and I have every confidence that forms part of those conversations.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.

Hon. Scott Tannas: Honourable senators, I’m pleased to rise on behalf of the Canadian Senators Group to welcome you, Senator Cuzner, to the Senate of Canada. As others have mentioned, you are no stranger to Parliament Hill. We’re looking forward to working with you.

With the announcement last week of five new senators from Atlantic Canada, there have now been 1,000 people in the last 155 years — since 1867 — who have been appointed to the Senate. That’s a remarkable milestone we should all reflect on — over its history, 1,000 people from every corner of this country who have been called to sit in this chamber.

Interestingly, just over 300 of those 1,000 people appointed to the Senate also served as members in the House of Commons, though it has been over a decade since this last happened.

I think the appointment of an experienced parliamentarian to this place is an asset, and it’s a tradition that, when balanced, should be welcomed. A truly independent Senate welcomes Canadians of all political perspectives, because a diversity of thoughts and experiences is critical to our duty to represent Canada’s distinct regions and minority communities.

Senator Cuzner, we look forward to working with you and seeing you apply your well-known affability and unique insights as an experienced parliamentarian to your work as an independent senator from Nova Scotia. Again, welcome to the Senate of Canada.

Hon. Raymonde Saint-Germain: Colleagues, Honourable Senator Cuzner, I am pleased to welcome you among us today as a new colleague, after you proudly served your fellow Cape Bretoners in the other place from 2000 to 2019.

Your impressive political longevity is all the more exceptional considering that you received almost 75% of the vote in your last election. I am happy to see you today as you pursue your commitment to serving your community and our country in the Senate of Canada.

[English]

Senator Cuzner served as parliamentary secretary and went on to hold numerous other important positions as a parliamentarian in the House of Commons.

Before returning today to public service with your nomination to the Senate, you entered the field of diplomacy and held the very strategically important position of Consul General of Canada to New England. This experience will also serve you here because a diplomatic touch is always welcome at the Senate of Canada.

More than anything, I believe that your parliamentary experience in the other place will energize our discussion in this chamber. In this modern Senate, we pride ourselves on our diverse origins and professional backgrounds, and once again, I concur with Senator Plett on the relevance of your appointment, but for different reasons.

I do not believe that senators should be penalized for having previously held an elected public office. On the contrary, I believe such expertise helps us in our role as a complementary chamber to the elected House of Commons. I am happy that we can count on your experience and wisdom as a former federal MP. As such, you will add your voice and perspective to those of the 15 senators who were once elected representatives either at the federal, provincial, territorial, municipal or community level. All 15 of them are members of our various caucuses and groups.

You will, however, notice that our style of debate differs from that of the House of Commons. The Senate, as you know, is a place of sober second thought, a less partisan complement to the elected House of Commons. I wish you the best in adapting to your new role.

Senator Cuzner, in my name and those of all the members of the Independent Senators Group, I wish you a warm welcome to the Senate of Canada. We look forward to working alongside you. Thank you, meegwetch.

Hon. Jane Cordy: Honourable senators, I am truly delighted to join the other leaders today in welcoming our newest senator, a fellow Cape Bretoner and someone I have had the pleasure of working with for a number of years in service of Nova Scotians.

Senator Cuzner — that’s going to take a while to get used to, but I love it — on behalf of the Progressive Senate Group, it’s wonderful to see your public service continue as we welcome you to the upper chamber.

I think we all know about Senator Cuzner’s long career as a member of Parliament, and I thank Senator Gold for putting those highlights on the record. I daresay we also all know he’s a fierce partisan — that is, for his beloved Toronto Maple Leafs. But we’ll forgive him for that as the team has caused him to suffer long enough. But maybe this year will be different, Rodger — hope springs eternal.

Senator Cuzner may be best known for his sense of humour, quick wit and good-natured demeanour. As others have said, his colleagues in the other place certainly felt that way, twice voting him the most collegial MP. I have no doubt that you will earn a similar reputation here.

In your farewell speech in the other place, you certainly demonstrated your ability to tell a great story — in fact, you shared several. You reminded your colleagues, “I took my responsibilities seriously but I never took myself seriously.” With that in mind, I will do my best to retell one of my favourite stories: a tale of rescue.

This story takes place back in 2009. Two Nova Scotian MPs, who were also roommates, were on their way home on a Wednesday night when they spotted something unusual. Was it a dog? No. It was a beaver, standing on its hind legs, in the middle of Sparks Street. Obviously, Senator Cuzner and Mark Eyking couldn’t abandon this great symbol of our country, so when they couldn’t get help from emergency services, they decided to tackle this challenge on their own.

It took about an hour of careful wrangling, and holding up traffic, but they finally succeeded in returning the poor beaver to the Ottawa River. Not unlike anyone else who has spent quality time with these two gentlemen, the beaver was reluctant to leave his new friends. But with a final slap of his tail on the water, away he went. I love this story because not only does it make me laugh every time I think of these two trying to coax a beaver to follow them in downtown Ottawa, but I also feel like it describes Senator Cuzner perfectly: always ready to lend a hand, eager to find solutions and able to get along with even the wildest of creatures.

Senator Cuzner, if you’ll forgive me, I’d like to quote you one more time. You once said:

. . . I measure success by how you can improve the lot of Canadians. When we all get together and try to do the right thing, then that’s possible.

Rodger, you have made a career out of working to improve the lot of Canadians, particularly Nova Scotians who are lucky, indeed, to have you continue to work in their service in this new role.

On behalf of the Progressive Senate Group, it’s my pleasure to officially welcome you to the Senate of Canada. We look forward to working with you, Senator Cuzner.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, on behalf of the opposition and the Senate Conservative caucus, I am pleased to rise in this chamber to welcome our new colleague, a long-time Liberal parliamentarian, the Honourable Rodger Cuzner of Nova Scotia.

Senator, I am truly pleased to extend to you a very warm welcome to the Senate of Canada. I look forward to our future political debates in this chamber.

I also welcome the fact that Prime Minister Trudeau has removed the fig leaf from his Senate appointments and is now openly appointing partisan Liberals to the upper chamber.

Canadians do not buy the claim that Prime Minister Trudeau’s Senate appointment process is any better than what previous prime ministers did in the past. Because at the end of the day, regardless of the process behind how names are brought forward — whether it involves a list of 50 names or 3 — it is the Prime Minister who chooses who will be appointed. After eight years in power, the only real change to Prime Minister Trudeau’s selection process is that it now costs Canadians more money.

Senator Cuzner, you are a well-rounded politician, and your experience speaks to your commitment to serving our country and making it a better place. I want to recognize that even though we are from two different political parties, when senators are genuine about their political alliance, their friendships are honest.

I look forward to getting to know you better. As Senator Gold pointed out — even though he had the wrong name — Senator Cuzner, you have twice been voted the most collegial member of Parliament by your colleagues and were also described by Maclean’s magazine as “Parliament’s sense of humour.”

You, sir, are a great addition to the Senate family.

Canadians have increasingly been looking to the Senate for hope — hope that their voices are heard and the severity of the affordability crisis will be a priority for all parliamentarians.

Senator Cuzner, people across our beautiful country need reassurance right now, and to see common sense in Ottawa. They need to see parliamentarians take on their duty to work and fight for their best interests. I am proud to be part of the Conservative team that aims to do that.

Senator Cuzner, please know that Conservatives look forward to working in collaboration with you on ways to improve the lives of all Canadians.

On behalf of the opposition and the Conservative caucus, I want to warmly welcome you to the Senate of Canada.

[Translation]

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Last Thursday, Quebec experienced a media disaster when TVA Group announced that it was laying off 547 employees, which is roughly a third of its workforce. TVA is the most popular channel back home, even more popular than Radio-Canada.

This is a hardship for all those who are losing their jobs, but it also means the loss of a lot of regional news in Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean, the Eastern Townships, the Mauricie region, the Lower St. Lawrence area, the Gaspé and the North Shore.

TVA says that it wants to protect regional news and will do so by keeping three or four journalists in Saguenay, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke and Rimouski. That will also enable TVA to meet the CRTC’s minimum requirements concerning regional news.

The TVA stations in each of these four cities, which had at least 30 employees each, will disappear. The evening news for these regions will be produced in Quebec City, and will thus become a watered down broadcast without any local colour. It is hard to imagine how three journalists will be able to cover an area as big as the North Shore, the Lower St. Lawrence and the Gaspé combined.

This is a direct affront to democracy because many people watched these news broadcasts. The first to complain were elected officials themselves. Municipal councillors, mayors and reeves may not always like journalists, but they recognize that journalists do essential work and that city councils work better when their decisions are scrutinized by the press.

These elected representatives also underscore that each of their regions is facing economic or social issues that get little or no exposure on national news broadcasts out of Montreal. How will this information get out and reach the public if the necessary means no longer exist?

We know that traditional news media are facing a crisis in all regions of the country. For TVA, it is too late. The group was counting on Bill C-18 to come into force quickly so that it could replenish its coffers, but Meta has already jumped ship and Google offered no guarantees. It is a major loss.

[English]

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

[Translation]

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Lynn Cuzner, Senator Cuzner’s spouse. She is accompanied by other guests of Senator Cuzner.

On behalf of all honourable senators, I welcome you to the Senate of Canada.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Hon. Marilou McPhedran: Honourable senators, I thank the Progressive Senate Group for my time to speak today. I want to speak to the escalating threats of nuclear strikes, and how senators may choose to respond.

In an article published today, Nobel Laureate Dr. John Polanyi issues a clarion call of warning that nuclear disarmament represents “the very best hope” for humanity. He cautions that despite:

. . . the dictum that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” we continue to plan for nuclear war. This is the source of our peril.

A recent The Hill Times article by the publisher emeritus termed this “a global suicide pact.” In fact, in 2022, nuclear states spent $83 billion on nuclear weapons — spending that has been steadily increasing year over year, with no resulting measurable improvement in our global security.

With this context, I am pleased to announce the launch of the first-ever Youth-Parliamentarian Nuclear Summit to be held 13 days from now here — on Parliament Hill — on November 20 to November 21, for high school-aged and university-aged youth across Canada who will be attending in person and online.

This summit will include interactive panels for parliamentarians, youth leaders, diplomats, Indigenous leaders and civil society leaders. Invited keynote speakers include Ambassador Maritza Chan, permanent representative to the UN in New York, and a young dynamic, diplomatic leader in nuclear disarmament; Setsuko Thurlow, the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and Hibakusha/Hiroshima survivor; and renowned Canadian disarmament expert Dr. Jennifer Allen Simons, as well as my parliamentary co-host.

Summit participants will engage in an intergenerational multilateral dialogue across all aspects of nuclear policy, disarmament advocacy, climate justice, peace and security. These are intergenerational issues that will have compounding effects on youth.

I praise the hard work of co-organizers of this summit, which include Reverse the Trend Canada; The Simons Foundation Canada; Nuclear Age Peace Foundation; International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons; Mines Action Canada; Project Ploughshares; Canadians for a Nuclear Weapons Convention; Canadian Voice of Women for Peace; as well as my parliamentary co-hosts, Senator Kim Pate and MPs Lindsay Mathyssen, Heather McPherson and Elizabeth May.

In addition to the excellent work sessions, a parliamentary reception is organized for Monday, November 20, at 5 p.m. You are all enormously welcome.

Thank you, meegwetch.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, I rise today to speak on chapter 7 of “Team Plett’s Curling Journey.” But before I begin my remarks, I want to thank everyone in this chamber for the incredible support and kindness you showed Team Plett last Thursday.

I was personally touched by your actions, and I wish to share with you that Team Plett will forever hold dear the outstanding welcome you have given them.

Colleagues, I want to read a short note to you from Team Plett. It’s addressed:

To Senator Plett / Grandpa,

Thank you so much for allowing my team to attend such an amazing experience. We really enjoyed meeting everyone and getting to visit such a cool building.

Thank you to the staff that helped us out and showed us around.

In addition to this, thank you for such an amazing and heartfelt speech about the team. The whole experience was super fun and one worth remembering.

Love, Myla, Alyssa, Chloe and Allie

Colleagues, I also thank every one of you for all that you did to make last Thursday such a wonderful experience for Team Plett. The warm welcome came through in many ways: from the moment the Speaker introduced the team, to when Senator Cotter spoke to their curling accomplishments, to the standing ovation from every one of you in this chamber. It also continued with the presentation of medallions to each member of the team by Greg Peters, the Usher of the Black Rod. But your outstanding welcome did not end there. Colleagues, let me tell you that when the girls walked into the third-floor boardroom and saw all of you standing there, wall to wall, ready to welcome them, they were astonished and awestruck. They had never anticipated such a warm reception, and they had never thought that we would all come together in such a way.

Colleagues, your support didn’t end there, either. As many of you watched them curl online over the weekend, some of you even actually attended a game in person, and some of you recorded video messages of support.

It is, indeed, a lot of fun when we — me, and others — can find occasions where we can put aside partisanship and celebrate something that we all enjoy together.

Yes, colleagues, Team Plett was in Ottawa to curl. And they did this marvellously, as they are now the 2023 Ottawa Junior SuperSpiel champions. They went 6-0 in their continued quest for excellence.

Following the Senate’s incredible welcome from last week, I think it is fair to say that we all wish them well as they continue to travel and represent Canada wherever their curling journey brings them next.

In closing, I will add that I am proud that they represent Canada in such an amazing professional manner.

Congratulations, Team Plett!

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I wish to draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Lynn Cuzner, Senator Cuzner’s spouse. She is accompanied by other guests of Senator Cuzner.

On behalf of all honourable senators, I welcome you to the Senate of Canada.