QUESTION PERIOD — Women and Gender Equality
Gender-based Analysis Plus
October 31, 2024
Senator Gold, this Trudeau government keeps breaking its promises. They promised to produce Gender-based Analysis Plus on all government bills, but when I, as the critic, asked for the GBA Plus for Bill C-26 — the Trudeau government’s cybersecurity bill — they told me it didn’t exist and that they would do one after the bill passed the House of Commons and the Senate. Then, lo and behold, the government hastily tabled a GBA Plus summary two hours before the ministers testified at committee on Bill C-26. This summary was mostly irrelevant to the bill, with only two lines about the potential impacts on women.
If there is a GBA Plus summary, there must be a full GBA Plus document somewhere. Will you commit to getting it to me immediately, or will this be just one more example of this fake feminist government’s failure to deliver for women?
I will certainly raise this with the minister.
Senator Batters, this government has done more to advance the interests of women and children and young girls, both domestically and in foreign policy, than any government in the history of Canada. You can label it as you wish, but the facts speak for themselves.
They sure do.
Senator Gold, this week you attended the Senate National Security Committee meeting on Bill C-26 so that you — the Trudeau government’s Senate leader — could ask government ministers questions about the bill, but you couldn’t even be bothered to give a second-reading speech on that bill so that senators could get answers from you on behalf of the government you’re supposed to represent.
Why does this Trudeau government insist on treating its so‑called independent Senate like a rubber stamp?
As The Beach Boys once sang, “Wouldn’t it be nice . . . .” If I could treat the Senate as a rubber stamp it would make my life — and my colleagues’ lives — much easier.
I know that you have the dubious privilege or obligation, if you choose, to listen to me for 30 minutes every day that we sit. This is a chamber full of talented people, including the sponsor of this bill. I don’t need to speak on every bill at every stage.
