Perspectives — June 19-22, 2017
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The passing of several bills in the Senate chamber, a debate on the government’s budget bill and a new French language policy in Alberta were some of last week’s highlights.
Government 
As summer draws near, Canadians can take pride in the work that the Senate has been doing on their behalf over the past several months.
This has been a very productive session with the deliberation, debate and passage of a significant number of bills. These bills have touched every part of Canadian life — from health and human rights, to international trade, to labour rights, to our natural environment.
As the Senate sponsor of Bill C-16, I was especially pleased when this legislation was passed by the Senate and became law, thus extending long-overdue rights and protections to transgender Canadians.
In general, while providing sober second thought, the Senate has improved legislation and engaged Canadians in public policy issues that touch their lives, ultimately finding the balance necessary to carry out our role as a complementary body to the elected House of Commons.
Over the past 150 years, the Senate has evolved from defending regional interests to giving a voice to underrepresented groups like Indigenous peoples, visible minorities and women. Efforts to modernize the Senate continue. Collectively, we remain committed to making the Senate more independent, accountable, and transparent. Canadians deserve nothing less.
When the Senate reconvenes in September, four distinguished parliamentarians will not be returning. I want to recognize the outstanding contributions of Sen. Baker, Sen. Runciman, Sen. Hubley, and Sen. Lang. Their service to Canada is certainly worthy of recognition, and on behalf of the Government Representative Team in the Senate, I wish each of them a very happy retirement.
Opposition
This week, the Senate Conservative Caucus stood up for taxpayers in the debate on budget Bill C-44.
Conservative senators are firm in their belief that hard-working Canadians should not be subject to an automatic tax increase by indexation without representation. We believe that if government wants to increase any tax it should come back to Parliament and justify it.
Beer, wine and spirit producers, the tourism and restaurant sectors, will all be directly impacted by this new tax. This government did no economic impact analysis of the tax on these important industries to Canada. As a result, not only will Canadians be paying more taxes, but the entire industry, including the grape growers, hop producers and grain farmers, will also be impacted by this tax measure, year after year.
Bill C-44 also outlined the sketch for developing an Infrastructure Bank, where the government will be able to spend billions of taxpayer dollars without formal parliamentary scrutiny. We are concerned that the four clauses that establish the organization are not sufficient to protect the jurisdictional rights of provinces and territories adequately.
I would like to thank Senator Marshall and the Committee on National Finance as well as other committees that studied C-44, for their diligent work that resulted in this motion to amend C-44. Although Senator Marshall’s amendments to remove the indexation on the excise tax did not pass, our caucus reaffirmed our commitment to fight for taxpayers until the end.
Conservative senators will continue to work hard to defend Canadian taxpayers.
Senate Liberals
As chair of the Senate Committee on Official Languages, and a francophone from Alberta, I am always proud to speak in the Senate Chamber about issues relating to our official languages.
Last week, I was delighted to tell my colleagues that on June 14, the Alberta government officially announced its first French policy.
French was the first European language spoken in Alberta and the most common European language in the territories until 1870, and it is still the most widely spoken language in my province after English. According to Statistics Canada, over 238,000 Albertans express themselves in French, and for 81,000 of them, it is their first language.
Also according to Statistics Canada, that number is expected to rise by 25% to 50% by 2035.
I wanted to share those numbers because it took over 100 years and plenty of perseverance on the part of the Franco-Albertan community, led by the Association canadienne française de l'Alberta, for the Province of Alberta to adopt this policy.
Alberta now joins the majority of Canadian provinces that have a law or a policy about French services and the Francophonie. They will now have a government that is more attentive to their needs in terms of service delivery to their community.
Alberta will also recognize the Franco-Albertan flag as a symbol of distinction under the Emblems of Alberta Act. As a proud member of the community, I join them in expressing my enthusiasm for this historic and transformative initiative.
The passing of several bills in the Senate chamber, a debate on the government’s budget bill and a new French language policy in Alberta were some of last week’s highlights.
Government
As summer draws near, Canadians can take pride in the work that the Senate has been doing on their behalf over the past several months.
This has been a very productive session with the deliberation, debate and passage of a significant number of bills. These bills have touched every part of Canadian life — from health and human rights, to international trade, to labour rights, to our natural environment.
As the Senate sponsor of Bill C-16, I was especially pleased when this legislation was passed by the Senate and became law, thus extending long-overdue rights and protections to transgender Canadians.
In general, while providing sober second thought, the Senate has improved legislation and engaged Canadians in public policy issues that touch their lives, ultimately finding the balance necessary to carry out our role as a complementary body to the elected House of Commons.
Over the past 150 years, the Senate has evolved from defending regional interests to giving a voice to underrepresented groups like Indigenous peoples, visible minorities and women. Efforts to modernize the Senate continue. Collectively, we remain committed to making the Senate more independent, accountable, and transparent. Canadians deserve nothing less.
When the Senate reconvenes in September, four distinguished parliamentarians will not be returning. I want to recognize the outstanding contributions of Sen. Baker, Sen. Runciman, Sen. Hubley, and Sen. Lang. Their service to Canada is certainly worthy of recognition, and on behalf of the Government Representative Team in the Senate, I wish each of them a very happy retirement.
Opposition
This week, the Senate Conservative Caucus stood up for taxpayers in the debate on budget Bill C-44.
Conservative senators are firm in their belief that hard-working Canadians should not be subject to an automatic tax increase by indexation without representation. We believe that if government wants to increase any tax it should come back to Parliament and justify it.
Beer, wine and spirit producers, the tourism and restaurant sectors, will all be directly impacted by this new tax. This government did no economic impact analysis of the tax on these important industries to Canada. As a result, not only will Canadians be paying more taxes, but the entire industry, including the grape growers, hop producers and grain farmers, will also be impacted by this tax measure, year after year.
Bill C-44 also outlined the sketch for developing an Infrastructure Bank, where the government will be able to spend billions of taxpayer dollars without formal parliamentary scrutiny. We are concerned that the four clauses that establish the organization are not sufficient to protect the jurisdictional rights of provinces and territories adequately.
I would like to thank Senator Marshall and the Committee on National Finance as well as other committees that studied C-44, for their diligent work that resulted in this motion to amend C-44. Although Senator Marshall’s amendments to remove the indexation on the excise tax did not pass, our caucus reaffirmed our commitment to fight for taxpayers until the end.
Conservative senators will continue to work hard to defend Canadian taxpayers.
Senate Liberals
As chair of the Senate Committee on Official Languages, and a francophone from Alberta, I am always proud to speak in the Senate Chamber about issues relating to our official languages.
Last week, I was delighted to tell my colleagues that on June 14, the Alberta government officially announced its first French policy.
French was the first European language spoken in Alberta and the most common European language in the territories until 1870, and it is still the most widely spoken language in my province after English. According to Statistics Canada, over 238,000 Albertans express themselves in French, and for 81,000 of them, it is their first language.
Also according to Statistics Canada, that number is expected to rise by 25% to 50% by 2035.
I wanted to share those numbers because it took over 100 years and plenty of perseverance on the part of the Franco-Albertan community, led by the Association canadienne française de l'Alberta, for the Province of Alberta to adopt this policy.
Alberta now joins the majority of Canadian provinces that have a law or a policy about French services and the Francophonie. They will now have a government that is more attentive to their needs in terms of service delivery to their community.
Alberta will also recognize the Franco-Albertan flag as a symbol of distinction under the Emblems of Alberta Act. As a proud member of the community, I join them in expressing my enthusiasm for this historic and transformative initiative.