Speech from the Throne

Honourable senators, it is a great honour for me to be here today and to speak for the first time as a senator from New Brunswick, in response to the Speech from the Throne delivered by His Majesty the King.

We have all taken different paths that led us the Senate, but most of us were drawn to public service. Public service has certainly guided my life and career, as I’ve had the honour of serving Canadians at all three levels of government.

Coming out of university, one of my first jobs was in the provincial government as an adviser to a minister in Frank McKenna’s cabinet. I then worked at the federal level for a member of the other place, back when Jean Chrétien was prime minister. As an assistant in that office, I learned a lot about the complexity of the federal bureaucracy through helping constituents navigate this often daunting space.

Since then, I served as chief administrative officer in two different municipalities.

The first time was 25 years ago, for what was then the village of Cap-Pelé, and the second time was just before I was appointed to the Senate, for the town of Shediac.

In between, I was elected four times to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick. While in provincial politics, I had the honour of serving in two cabinets in a variety of portfolios. I have been a provincial minister of finance, health, economic development, local government and regional development. I also served briefly as leader of the official opposition.

For nearly a year now, I have been a member of the Senate. I have listened carefully to debates and had the honour of participating in many committee meetings in the last Parliament.

Senators, like some of you, but perhaps not many of you, I’ve spent a large part of my career in partisan politics. As a member of a political party since the age of 17, and as a member of a partisan system for 14 years, I experienced a system built entirely around shared ideologies and political platforms.

I admit I was kind of cynical about this place and about how a non-partisan — or perhaps post-partisan — chamber could work. I must say I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

I’m a proud member of the Independent Senators Group, and I appreciate the more natural and intentional way in which coalitions form here around specific bills and policy issues. While partisanship can — and certainly does — work in other environments, I look forward to continuing to learn and evolve in this new way of being a lawmaker.

As I stand here today, two facts strike me as inescapable. First, the modern Senate is now more diverse than it has ever been, reflecting the true make-up of Canada. Second, since the launch of the new independent Senate in 2015, 350 substantive amendments to government bills have been passed.

That is quite an astonishing figure, especially considering that only one Senate amendment was adopted during the last parliamentary session preceding these changes. Perhaps more than ever, the Senate is delivering on its original promise to provide sober second thought on government business.

Honourable senators, I am very privileged to have been appointed here at a relatively young age. My term will be for nearly 21 years. Only seven of you will still be here when I retire — let that sink in for a moment — but I intend to make the most of this time.

As I have adapted to this place, I have studied the issues and looked for areas where my interests and experiences can add most to the debate. I would like to share with you three areas in particular — though not to the exclusion of others or in isolation — where I intend to focus my efforts in the coming years.

The first area is health care, which was mentioned earlier today.

As New Brunswick’s Minister of Health, I saw first-hand the significant challenges facing our system.

As senators, we won’t be able to solve the acute problems of our health care system. Wait times and human resource shortages in the health sector are areas best left to the provinces and health administrators. However, we can play an important role in this regard, specifically by expanding and ensuring equitable access to certain programs and services such as mental health services, medical assistance in dying, eye care, reproductive health and organ donation.

One of the greatest challenges facing the leaders of our health care system is that they are becoming crisis managers. Simply keeping the lights on in our health care system is more than a full-time job. As health minister, I saw the extent to which the social determinants of health affect people’s lives and create patient volumes in our health care systems that make them unmanageable.

In a four-year political cycle, it is not possible to move the needle very much on these issues, but with 21 years, I hope to help shape the debate and contribute ideas for how we can address some of these root causes.

So many health problems are predetermined long before medical care is required. My goal is that one generation from now, when my term here ends, perhaps many of these problems can be reduced and some can even be eliminated.

My second area of focus will be social inclusion. We have an amazing country with great wealth and natural resources, yet many of our fellow Canadians get left behind. I just spoke about social determinants of health, and these are closely intertwined with this second priority.

How can we develop programs and, more importantly, a culture that unites people? How can we help people who need a hand so that they can better their circumstances?

People living with disabilities should be able to work as easily and freely as the next person. People living in intergenerational poverty should be offered every opportunity to break the cycle.

Young Canadians and others struggling to buy their first home should get more support in reaching their goal.

We can look around the world and work with people who have lived experience in finding solutions to these problems.

We can overcome stigma and free people from their segregation within our society during our lifetime. We need to be bold and innovative in our pursuit of this dream.

This should include a more detailed examination of transformative solutions like a guaranteed basic income.

My third priority area will be focusing on my home province, New Brunswick. As a defender of regional interests, the Senate plays an important role in the federation. We are all fierce advocates for our provinces, territories and home communities. My time in the Senate will be no different. I plan to focus on a handful of issues that are of particular importance to the Picture Province.

One of these is francophone immigration.

I’m proud to be Acadian and a member of the francophone community. I also believe in immigration. Immigration is a tool for increasing our population, making up shortages in our workforce and strengthening Canada’s cultural mosaic.

However, perhaps unwittingly, most immigrants to Canada arrive speaking English or wanting to learn English. We need to ensure that a proportionate share of immigrants are francophone or are integrated into francophone communities.

In my province, New Brunswick, many institutions rely on the fact that about one-third of our population is francophone. However, this proportion has fallen in recent decades. According to Statistics Canada, in 1991, 34.3% of New Brunswickers stated that French was their mother tongue. By 2021, this proportion had fallen to 31.1%.

The Constitution expressly recognizes that New Brunswick is bilingual and includes special provisions and protections in that regard.

As New Brunswick is Canada’s only constitutionally bilingual province, we need to ensure that immigration policies reflect and protect the reality of a strong francophone minority in New Brunswick. I intend to leverage Senate resources to examine this issue carefully and hope to propose solutions tailored to New Brunswick’s unique reality.

As for New Brunswick’s unique reality, the province’s historic ties to the world of the Francophonie represent interesting economic opportunities. More than one billion people live in member countries of the Francophonie, including 325 million francophones. Canada, Quebec and New Brunswick have special access to these countries. We should take advantage of this access to establish strong relations that we could exploit to our common economic benefit. Over the course of the next few years that I will be spending in this chamber, I want to give priority to the economic partnership with these countries, including by finding ways to improve free trade, labour mobility, foreign aid and investment.

I am convinced that by deepening our relationships within la Francophonie, all of Canada will benefit, as will New Brunswick, whose external trade has for too long been dominated by exchanges with a single partner, the United States.

In this moment of geopolitical uncertainty and transition, Canada’s deep, long-standing roots in other parts of the world can help us usher in a new era of multilateral co-operation and prosperity.

Finally, during my time in this chamber, I want to work to ensure that New Brunswick receives its fair share of federal programs and services. This includes advocating for an equitable proportion of federal investments in critical areas like infrastructure, housing, health and social services. But, of course, we can’t forget less tangible initiatives, like those designed to boost New Brunswick’s capacity to compete in a global marketplace.

A striking example of the imbalance I want to guard against falls in this last category. ResearchNB, our province’s central hub for expertise across various sectors and industries, estimates that New Brunswick receives far fewer federal research dollars than its counterparts on a per capita basis. In fact, as recently as 2023, New Brunswick received by far the lowest amount of research and development funding per person compared to other provinces and territories. Inequalities such as these must be called out and corrected.

It was with these priorities in mind that I read our King’s historic speech last month. I took note of the following commitments, which I will be keeping a very close eye on during this session: assistance for first-time home buyers and the protection of essential programs such as child care, the national pharmacare program and the Canadian Dental Care Plan. Other examples include the goal of building the strongest economy in the G7, notably by removing domestic trade barriers and accelerating major national construction projects. Furthermore, there is the importance of protecting and promoting the French language and culture and of continuing our collective commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

Senators, I will rely on your wisdom and passion as I continue to adapt to this body. I know we share a common goal to make Canada a better place. For those of you who share my interests and passions, I look forward to working with you in common cause.

Meegwetch, thank you.