Hon. Claude Carignan: Honourable senators, I hadn’t planned to participate in this debate until just recently. However, now that I’ve read the bill, listened to the speeches and seen how much pressure has been put on senators to move it forward, I’ve realized that I have to express my thoughts on what is going on here with this piece of legislation. It’s quite clear to me that this bill is the government’s way of making fun of Canadians in general and senators in particular. To be clear, I have nothing against animals, and I like elephants and great apes.

I would like to start by talking about the three main causes of elephant extinction. The first is poaching. Elephants are being slaughtered illegally for their meat and hides, but mostly for their ivory. Every year, poachers kill between 20,000 and 30,000 elephants.

The second is the conversion of forested areas to agricultural use and infrastructure development. Roads, dams, mines and other industrial facilities have fragmented the elephants’ habitat, significantly reducing the animals’ chances of survival.

Finally, as a result of growing human populations and shrinking natural habitats in both Africa and Asia, humans and elephants are increasingly competing for space and food, often with serious consequences. People are losing their crops, their livestock and sometimes even their lives, and animals that are already threatened or endangered are being killed in retaliation or to avoid future conflicts.

Honourable senators, Canada’s Criminal Code is certainly not one of the causes of the drastic decline in elephant populations, nor is it one of the solutions for protecting them. This bill is not about solving a problem that puts the health, safety or financial well-being of Canadians at risk. It is also not about responding to a court decision that imposes a deadline. In theory, it’s about giving legal protection to the 23 elephants and 30 great apes in Canada.

I want to reassure everyone that no human being will suffer, regardless of whether Bill S-15 is passed or not, now or in two years’ time. In theory, only 53 animals would be affected, and I want to stress that this is only in theory, because, as I pointed out earlier, these animals are already protected by a grandfather clause. As far as future importation is concerned, ministerial authorization is required, so, basically, this bill serves absolutely no purpose other than to ease some people’s consciences.

The only zoo that plans to continue keeping or breeding elephants in the future, and therefore the only zoo affected by the legislation, is African Lion Safari, and it will get an exemption under the bill. As a result, the bill does not offer any additional protection and does not improve the welfare of a single great ape or elephant in Canada.

Furthermore, honourable senators, under the existing legislation, no elephant or great ape can be imported into Canada without the minister’s express authorization. None. Also, the minister has the discretion to refuse these kinds of imports or exports for any reason.

Bill S-15 does literally nothing for animal welfare, except to tick a box on the minister’s mandate letter. Colleagues, are we going to join in such a travesty of government action?

I deplore the fact that the government is putting tremendous pressure on the members of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee to begin studying the bill as quickly as possible. Senator Klyne welcomed the fact that Bill S-15 would be studied before any other bill at the committee. Once again, where’s the urgency? I’ll say this again: This bill will in no way affect or improve the life, health or material situation of any Canadians.

Seriously, I see only one explanation for Senator Gold’s stubborness in pushing Bill S-15. This bill, in my opinion, is nothing but a misstep the government is asking the Senate to take because it wants to please a handful of activists and because this government is not showing much legislative competence.

To try to hide from Senators and Canadians that, after eight years, this government is still incapable of steering its legislative ship, the Liberals are inventing emergencies — Quick, we must pass Bill S-15 this week.

Colleagues, the sad thing is that this bill will delay consideration by the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee of eight bills that would directly affect the lives of Canadians. These include Bill C-291, which has been stalled in the Senate for more than a year, even though it was passed by a unanimous vote of 323 to 0 at the other place.

Honourable senators, once Bill S-15 has been passed by the Senate, it will join the following bills in the House of Commons: Bills S-6, S-7 and S-9, which were passed by the Senate in June 2022, and Bills S-11, S-13 and S-14, passed by the Senate last December.

Without the slightest regard for the rigorous work of the Senate, all these bills have two characteristics: The government leader has described them as urgent, and they always languish at either first or second reading in the other place, which is distressing and unedifying for the institution we represent.

Perhaps I’m being too cynical. Maybe the government really believes that Bill S-15 meets an urgent need. If that’s the case, I sincerely wonder about this government’s ability to connect with reality.

More than 70% of Canadians agree with the statement that Canada is broken. I think that statement reflects our reality. I don’t understand how the government can make the theoretical protection of 23 elephants and 30 great apes such a legislative priority. How did the Liberals, in a collective failure of imagination, get so out of touch that they think Canada has a serious ape problem?

Honourable senators, our Armed Forces are not adequately equipped. Our soldiers are having to buy their own clothing in Latvia, but this government is putting the comfort of great apes first.

Canada’s international reputation is the worst it has been in over a century. What is the solution? Let’s make Canada a model for elephant protection, to quote Senator Klyne.

China, Russia and other countries act with impunity in Canada to spy on us or influence our political system, but that is no big deal because our zoos will be closely monitored.

Our immigration system is in disarray. Refugees, fake students, temporary workers who become permanent: Anyone can enter Canada, so the first thing we need to do is to tighten the rules on elephant arrivals. That is discouraging.

What is worse, there is a femicide in Canada every other day. Since 2015, violent crime has increased by 39%. The national homicide rate hasn’t been this high in over 30 years. Last year, 874 Canadians were murdered.

Six million Canadians do not have a family doctor. The wait times to see a specialist are at an all-time high. More than 31,000 Canadians died last year waiting for surgery.

However, Canadians can take comfort in the words of Senator Klyne, who said, and I quote:

Elephants are also altruistic. They try to revive sick or dying individuals, including strangers, lifting them with their tusks to get them on their feet.

A new report indicates that the average asking price for rental housing in Canada was $2,193 a month in February, which represents a year-over-year increase of 10.5%. What is the government’s priority? Elephant habitat.

The number of bankruptcies in Canada rose by 41.4% in 2023. Food banks are expecting an 18% increase in demand in 2024, meaning that one million more people will have to rely on their services to survive. The Senate will debate the fate of orangutans. In Toronto alone, there were 2.53 million visits to food banks between April 2022 and March 2023, and one in ten people had to use a food bank.

Rest assured, the government will tighten the screws on the African Lion Safari, but not on Loblaws or Metro.

Canada’s ports, airports and other infrastructure are falling into disrepair, but we’re going to focus on zoos.

The government will be hard-pressed to keep the deficit to $40 billion and it will have to cut services, but fear not, there will be plenty of public servants to manage the 30 great apes.

Anti-Semitic and Islamophobic acts are multiplying. The police are struggling to come up with structured interventions because of the contradictory messages from the Liberal government, but we can be confident that the orders will be clear when it comes to taking action against zoo keepers.

The government has plunged to an all-time low in the polls. Only 3% of Canadians want Justin Trudeau to stay on — that’s 3% — yet he’s found a way to unite Canadians around his vision: a great debate on apes and elephants.

Honourable senators, as I’m sure you know, I could go on like this all afternoon.

With all due respect for its supporters, I consider this bill ineffective and bordering on the absurd. Such minor changes to the Criminal Code should be included in a bill containing several other amendments.

If the Minister of Justice was out of ideas about what changes to make to the Criminal Code, he just needed to let us know. We have a long list of relevant changes addressing problems far more topical, practical and urgent than apes and elephants.

As I said earlier, I don’t know whether the government is using this sham of a bill to pretend it’s doing something and waste the Senate’s time, or whether it is so worn down and disconnected from the reality of Canadians that it actually believes that Bill S-15 could improve the lot of a single one of them.

Regardless of the answer, two conclusions are obvious.

The first is that we need an election as quickly as possible so that Canada can choose a serious government that will know how to make proper use of the Senate. At $130 million a year, the Senate should have other priorities.

The second conclusion is this: The Senate must stand up and vote against Bill S-15 at second reading. We need to show the government that this is a serious institution with no time to waste on a frivolous bill that has no bearing on the reality of Canadians. We must also demonstrate that we prefer to work on finding concrete solutions to real problems that Canadians are facing. That seems like common sense to me.

Thank you.