The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Senator Bellemare, you have a question?

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: I see two senators rising. Do we have an agreement on the length of the bell?

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Pursuant to rule 9-10, the vote is deferred to 5:30 p.m. on the next day the Senate sits, with the bells to ring at 5:15 p.m.

(At 7:54 p.m., the Senate was continued until tomorrow at 2 p.m.)

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Honourable senators, it being 5:15 p.m., I must interrupt the proceeding. Pursuant to rule 9-6, the bells will ring to call in the senators for the taking of a deferred vote at 5:30 p.m., on the adoption of the twelfth report of the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry (Bill C-234, An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, with an amendment and observations), presented in the Senate on October 26, 2023.

Call in the senators.

On the Order:

Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator Black, seconded by the Honourable Senator Osler, for the adoption of the twelfth report of the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry (Bill C-234, An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, with an amendment and observations), presented in the Senate on October 31, 2023.

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Pursuant to rule 9-10(1), the vote is deferred to 5:30 p.m. on the next day the Senate sits, with the bells to ring at 5:15 p.m.

[English]

On the Order:

Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator Boisvenu, seconded by the Honourable Senator Seidman, for the second reading of Bill S-255, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (murder of an intimate partner, one’s own child or an intimate partner’s child).

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: I see two senators rising. Do we have an agreement on the bell?

[Translation]

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Honourable senators, we have 33 seconds left. Senator Bellemare, if you would like to answer questions, you will have to ask for five more minutes.

[Translation]

Senator Bellemare, would you like to ask for five more minutes?

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: I see two senators rising. Do we have an agreement on a bell? One-hour bell. Call in the senators for a vote at 4:17.

Motion negatived on the following division:

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Do we have agreement on a bell? The vote will be at 5:52 p.m.

Call in the senators.

Motion agreed to on the following division:

Hon. Pierrette Ringuette: Senator Bellemare, thank you again for sparking our imagination and prompting discussion about the Bank of Canada. You’ll recall that a few months ago, when the Governor of the Bank of Canada appeared before our committee, I asked him who he was consulting. He replied that he was consulting several Crown corporations and interdepartmental committees to gather as much information as possible.

Given the evolving nature of the economy, whether because of the pandemic, supply chains or the environment, do you think it’s a good idea for this advisory committee to be a permanent committee? Shouldn’t it instead be made up of ad hoc members, so as to capitalize on experts in whatever field the geopolitical or economic situation calls for?

Senator Bellemare: Thank you for the question. I think that this should be a permanent committee whose members serve a renewable three-year term so they have time to really get into the files. The bill states that the chosen experts must be able to demonstrate outstanding expertise in two of the five following areas: the labour market, open-economy macroeconomics, supply chains, the financial system and risk management. These are important areas of expertise from different backgrounds.

Let’s get back to transparency. In your question, the governor relies, as he said, on core inflation, a statistic whose accuracy is unknown. We’ve been told that this is a metric calculated by stripping out the most volatile components of the consumer price index, but what exactly is core inflation?

These are questions that a permanent committee could study and then explain to people, and this would build confidence around what the bank is doing.

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: I see two senators rising. Do we have an agreement on a bell?

Senator LaBoucane-Benson: Fifteen minutes.

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Do we have an agreement on the bell?

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Pursuant to rule 16-1(8), the sitting is suspended to a five-minute bell.

(The sitting of the Senate was suspended.)

[Translation]

(The sitting of the Senate was resumed.)

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Do we have an agreement on a bell?

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Fifteen minutes, honourable senators? Do we have an agreement or not? Since there seems to be no agreement, we will have a 60-minute bell. The vote will take place at 7:06 p.m. Call in the senators.

[English]

Motion in amendment of the Honourable Senator Plett negatived on the following division:

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Do we have an agreement on the bell?

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Honourable senators, it being 5:15 p.m. I must interrupt the proceedings, pursuant to rule 9-6. The bells will ring to call in the senators for the taking of a deferred vote at 5:30 p.m. on the second reading of Bill C-18, An Act respecting online communications platforms that make news content available to persons in Canada.

Call in the senators.

On the Order:

Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator Harder, P.C., seconded by the Honourable Senator Bellemare, for the second reading of Bill C-18, An Act respecting online communications platforms that make news content available to persons in Canada.

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Do we have an agreement on the bell?

Senator Seidman: The vote will be deferred to the next sitting of the Senate.

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Do we have agreement on the bell?

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Do we have agreement on the bell?