Hon. Andrew Cardozo: My question is to the Government Representative, and it is regarding Canada-U.S. relations.
On November 6 — the day after the U.S. election — I asked you about what the federal government would be doing to prepare for the new Trump administration. Indeed, yesterday there was a first federal-provincial-territorial conference of first ministers. From the news reports, it sounds like it was one of the better days of federal-provincial-territorial relations.
I know we talked about this a little while ago, but I want to take it from another angle. Can you set out for us what the outcomes were that all these first ministers of different political backgrounds agreed to yesterday?
Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Senator Cardozo, I’m really not in a position to speak to the discussions that took place between the first ministers, the areas they discussed or what conclusions they did or did not reach.
As I stated in response to earlier questions about this, this government and the provinces and, indeed, the private sector and stakeholders are not sitting back passively in the face of the announcements that have been made by the president-elect and others who have been nominated to positions, or others — whether Canadian or American — who are putting pressure on the government to explain exactly how we’re going to respond. The government is acting responsibly and will continue to do so.
Senator Cardozo: Thank you. I’d like to float a proposal where senators can be more involved in some of the interaction between Canada and the U.S. I’ll give you a couple of examples.
Last weekend, there were eight senators, myself included, who were at the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association session in Montreal. We interacted with various American counterparts. There were some senators at COP 29 in Azerbaijan last week. Three senators are going to the Conference of Southern Governors, and, of course, there is the Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group, CEUS.
Senator Gold: Thank you, Senator Cardozo, for reminding us in the chamber of how involved so many of us are with our American counterparts through the different parliamentary and other associations to which we adhere.
As I mentioned the other day, I’m certainly happy and pleased to be transmitting to the government the interests of senators to be more involved, and I will let the government decide if, how and when such measures might be put in place.