QUESTION PERIOD — Transport
Rail Service Disruption
February 19, 2020
Honourable senators, my question is for the government leader in the Senate. Leader, last week in Munich, the Prime Minister spoke of a world where we:
. . . benefit from the free exchange of ideas. Where our differences enrich us.
Just yesterday in the House, he said:
. . . but we need to ensure we also listen to each other. The reality of populism, and its siren song in our democracies these days, is a desire to listen only to ourselves and to people who agree with us and not to people of another perspective.
Nice words, but the Prime Minister doesn’t really believe them; otherwise, he would never have excluded the leader of the official opposition, Andrew Scheer, from a meeting of leaders in the other place to discuss the ongoing rail blockades.
Senator Gold, if the Prime Minister cannot even sit down with a fellow party leader — a fellow parliamentarian — to discuss this, how does he expect to resolve this crisis?
Thank you for your question. I think we all followed the news and the emergency debate with great interest. I think the Prime Minister made his position quite clear in his statements yesterday.
He has been seeking, with his colleagues and others, a peaceful way forward to resolve a very complicated dispute that deals with First Nations, governance within nations, the Canadian economy and many stakeholders and Canadians along the way.
He stated quite clearly that, in seeking the advice of colleagues in Parliament, he was looking for those who seemed to be as committed as this government is to finding a negotiated solution based upon respect and dialogue. He stated, and we all heard it, that in his opinion, the statement and speech of the Leader of the Opposition clearly indicated a very different conception of how to move forward, and the Prime Minister judged that it was better for him to pursue the discussions with those who shared his vision for moving forward.
I don’t know how to respond to that answer, but, Senator Gold, I spoke yesterday about the terrible impact the rail service disruption is having on our Prairie farmers. Mr. Scheer leads the federal party that represents these farmers, having won all seats in Alberta and Saskatchewan and half the seats in my province of Manitoba.
The Conservative Party of Canada, leader, received over 6.1 million votes, almost a quarter of a million more votes than the governing Liberals did in the last election.
Western farmers are rightfully concerned about their livelihood. They’re trying to keep their operations running under very difficult circumstances, and they are worried about what’s happening to our country right now.
Senator Gold, again, what does the Prime Minister’s decision to exclude the Leader of the Opposition, the leader of a party that received over 6 million votes, say to our Western Canadian farmers, and what does it say to all Canadians that the Prime Minister will meet with Iran’s foreign minister but not with the Leader of the Opposition?
Thank you for your question. Again, I repeat that the position of the government is clear that that it seeks to find a path forward that avoids escalation — and, indeed, contributes toward de-escalation — and that avoids rhetoric that pins blame on one group versus taking, as Chief Bellegarde suggested, responsibility collectively for moving forward to resolve this very difficult issue. The government remains committed to finding a timely and peaceful solution to this challenge. It is seized with this. It is aware, as we all are, of the tremendous impact that this is having not only on Western farmers but also on all Canadians, regardless of which party they may have voted for in the last election.
