Hon. Marilou McPhedran: My question is to Senator Gold, and it relates to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. I like that smile.

As you know, Canada — rather resolutely — ignores this treaty, the third of three dealing with nuclear proliferation. Beginning in just a couple of weeks, on November 27 in New York at the United Nations, there will be the second meeting of states parties to the treaty. At the first meeting last June in Vienna, no one from Canada was there even to observe — except for me, at my own expense. And now we have the second meeting of the states parties. We have country members of North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, sending observers, but so far, not a peep from Canada.

Senator Gold, could you please tell us if Canada is actually going to pay any attention and send observers to the second meeting of the states parties?

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.

Senator McPhedran: Senator Gold, thank you for the answer, which I experience as being partial. Could you provide a commitment to seek more information about what Canada is actually going to do at the upcoming G7 summit to address this escalation of nuclear threats?

Hon. Marilou McPhedran: Honourable senators, this is a question to Senator Gold. I want to revisit a previous question with some additional information. The question before was about whether Canada would form an observer delegation — as both Norway and Germany have indicated that they will — to observe, on behalf of Canada, the first meeting of the state parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which, as you know, was activated last January.

We have been treated to the horror of clear statements by Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation that there will be lightning-fast responses if countries like Canada continue to support Ukrainian people in resisting the aggression by Russia. That has included threats of the use of nuclear weapons.

Increasingly, we are seeing commentary from all sides, including NATO, taking the threat of nuclear war as something that is a very real threat.

So, Senator Gold, may I ask again whether, by chance, you’ve had any response to the previous question? If you haven’t, would you please give assurances that you will follow up with this?

Hon. Marilou McPhedran: Honourable senators, my question is to Senator Gold, the government leader in the Senate. There are more than 15 nuclear reactors in Ukraine, and the Zaporizhzhia plant was on fire after being shelled by Russian invaders earlier today.

Russia added to its naked, illegal aggression against Ukraine a threat to use its nuclear weapons, and few doubt that the megalomaniac Putin is capable of such massive annihilation of 500,000 people with just 1 of the smaller weapons of Russia’s more than 4,000 warheads.

My question is about Canada’s weak silence in the face of this particular threat. Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey all host U.S. nuclear weapons. Another 26 countries joined the U.S. and those 5 host nations to “endorse” the possession and use of nuclear weapons on their behalf as part of defence alliances, including Canada as a member of NATO.

Senator Gold, the Government of Canada was not even in the room for the negotiations that led to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or TPNW, that was activated in January 2021. In the words of the Honourable Lloyd Axworthy yesterday, Canada has been shamefully absent from the nuclear table. In a few months, the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW will be hosted by Austria. Will Canada at least send a delegation of young Canadian leaders and parliamentary observers to this historic meeting, along with other NATO members such as Norway, that are going to do so?

Senator McPhedran: Since 2018, Canada has voted against the annual resolution at the UN General Assembly that welcomes the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Senator Gold, does this Prime Minister and his cabinet know that his father, the Honourable Pierre Trudeau, made it his personal mission to persuade NATO to assess its unquestioning pro-nuclear weapons policy? When will Canada wake up to this monumental threat to all of humanity and engage in the international, rules-based order of which the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is now law?

Hon. Marilou McPhedran: My question is to the Government Representative in the Senate. Russia added to its naked, illegal aggression against Ukraine a threat to use its nuclear weapons, and few doubt that the megalomaniac is capable of such massive annihilation. My question is about Canada’s weak silence in the face of this particular threat. Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey all host U.S. nuclear weapons. Twenty‑six countries joined the U.S. and those five hosts to endorse the possession and use of nuclear weapons on their behalf as part of defence alliances, including Canada as a member of NATO.

Senator Gold, the Government of Canada was not even in the room for negotiations that led to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or TPNW, that was activated by sufficient ratifications in January 2021. In a few months, the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW will be hosted by Austria. Will Canada at least be an observer at that meeting along with other NATO members such as Norway?