Hon. Pamela Wallin, pursuant to notice of May 30, 2023, moved:

That the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy be permitted, notwithstanding usual practices, to deposit with the Clerk of the Senate a report relating to its study on business investment in Canada, if the Senate is not then sitting, and that the report be deemed to have been tabled in the Senate.

Hon. Pamela Wallin, pursuant to notice of April 25, 2023, moved:

That, notwithstanding the order of the Senate adopted on Thursday, December 16, 2021, the date for the final report of the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy in relation to its study on matters relating to banking, trade, commerce and the economy generally, as described in rule 12-7(10), be extended from June 30, 2023, to December 31, 2025.

Hon. Pamela Wallin moved:

That the fifth report of the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy, tabled in the Senate on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, be adopted and that, pursuant to rule 12-24(1), the Senate request a complete and detailed response from the government, with the Minister of Finance being identified as minister responsible for responding to the report.

She said: Honourable senators, the tabling of this report was very timely because our country is going through a period of rapid inflation, with drastic rises in the cost of living, and our report shines a light on the series of decisions and circumstances that led us here and how we can do better to avoid this in the future. The testimony from various economists and from the Governor of the Bank of Canada himself has put into sharp relief that the state of our economy is troubling, and concerning what should be done in the future. We as a committee put in a great amount of time and work on this file, and therefore, that is why we hope the decision makers will take serious note and respond. Thank you.

Hon. Pamela Wallin, pursuant to notice of February 9, 2023, moved:

That the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy be permitted, notwithstanding usual practices, to deposit with the Clerk of the Senate a report relating to its study on the state of the Canadian economy and inflation, if the Senate is not then sitting, and that the report be deemed to have been tabled in the Senate.

Hon. Pamela Wallin, pursuant to notice of October 26, 2022, moved:

That the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy be authorized to meet on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, at 6:30 p.m., to hear from the Governor of the Bank of Canada, even though the Senate may then be sitting and that rule 12-18(1) be suspended in relation thereto.

She said: Honourable senators, I just want to make the obvious statement that it is the responsibility of the Banking Committee to monitor the activities of the Bank of Canada. We have just had the latest increase — number six — in interest rates announced by the Bank of Canada. The Monetary Policy Report is coming out. This is, at least, a semi-annual meeting that we have with the Governor of the Bank of Canada. I think it is important that he’s held to account, and, therefore, we would like to proceed with this meeting.

We have checked with his schedule to see if any other times are available. They are not. Hence, I’m asking for the support of the chamber to conduct this meeting. Thank you.

Hon. Pamela Wallin moved the adoption of the report.

Hon. Pamela Wallin moved the adoption of the report.

She said: Honourable senators, as per rule 12-23(4), I wish to provide brief remarks on the Banking, Trade and Commerce Committee’s report on Bill S-6, An Act respecting regulatory modernization.

Three changes were made to the bill. First, the committee voted against Part 6, which proposed amendments to the Pest Control Products Act. The government requested, and the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry agreed, that Part 6 should be removed from the bill as Health Canada is currently conducting consultations regarding the modernization of that statute.

Second, two amendments were made to Part 8, which proposed amendments to the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. These amendments would incorporate suggestions made by the Privacy Commissioner to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology to clarify that there are written agreements in place that guide the exchange of information between Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and other entities. Officials indicated that having a written agreement is currently a policy requirement, but amendments would codify this requirement in law.

Colleagues, overall, the committee found that our time to look at Bill S-6 was too short. During the Banking Committee’s pre‑study of the bill, our non-governmental witnesses were dissatisfied with the limited or non-existent consultation on the proposed regulatory changes directly affecting them.

During the Banking Committee’s study of the full bill, other committee chairs who were assigned pre-studies of the bill testified before the committee. They shared similar sentiments from their witnesses on the limited consultation process and on the short amount of time their committees were given to consider their divisions of the bill.

Overall, colleagues, we believe that the regulatory modernization review process must occur differently. That being said, based on the testimony heard, the committee still supports the overall intent of Bill S-6 and believes that regulatory modernization of legislation must occur more quickly and on a much wider scale than what was proposed in the bill.

Our committee suggests that the government consider the following measures in order to improve and accelerate federal regulatory modernization: introducing an economic and competitive lens for regulations; measuring the quantity and overall cost of regulations; setting targets for regulatory reduction that apply to all federal legislation, regulations and policies and examining whether certain streamlined measures that were introduced during COVID-19 should be continued.

We believe that these are important steps to undertake immediately, especially given that the government has signalled their intent to undertake this type of regulatory modernization on an annual basis. Thank you.

Hon. Pamela Wallin, pursuant to notice of earlier this day, moved:

That the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce be authorized to meet on Wednesday, May 4, 2022, at 6:30 p.m., even though the Senate may then be sitting and that rule 12-18(1) be suspended in relation thereto.