Senate Business
Speeches
Third reading of Bill C-29, An Act to provide for the resumption and continuation of operations at the Port of Montreal.
On the Order: Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator Gold, P.C., seconded by the Honourable Senator Gagné, for the third reading of Bill C-29, An Act to provide for the resumption and continuation of operations at the Port of Montreal. Hon. Tony Dean: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak in favour of the bill in front of us. I speak in support of Bill C-29, which proposes to end the ongoing work stoppage at the Port of Montreal and would, in the alternati…
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Bill C-7 (Medical Assistance in Dying) - Motion in Amendment
Hon. Tony Dean: Honourable senators, I support the government’s message, which is responsive to Senator Kutcher’s amendment on mental health, albeit with a longer 24-month phase-in period. The longer timeline continues the government’s cautious approach in responding to the Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 decision. I’m also, of course, delighted to see Senator Jaffer’s proposal on expanded data collection in the message. I’m comfortable with the government’s proposal to establish…
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Motion to Amend the Rules of the Senate - Debate
Hon. Tony Dean, pursuant to notice of December 12, 2019, moved: That the Rules of the Senate be amended: 1.by: (a)deleting the word “and” at the end of rule 12-3(2)(e) in the English version; and (b)replacing the period at the end of rule 12-3(2)(f) by the following: “; and (g) the Standing Committee on Audit and Oversight, three Senators and two qualified external members.”; 2.by replacing rule 12-3(3) with the following: “Ex officio members 12-3. (3) In addition to the member…
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Statements
Statement on Youth Symposium at St. Michael's Hospital
Honourable senators, on October 31, I was privileged to attend an important symposium at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, one focused on young people and cannabis.
The symposium brought together international experts on cannabis harms and harm reduction and followed a similar gathering of experts in Calgary earlier this year. We heard presentations on policy and regulatory approaches to harm reduction in several U.S. states, Uruguay and Canada.
One of the highlights of the day was a discussi…
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Statement on Visit to CAMH
Honourable senators, as some of you know, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, CAMH, headquartered in Toronto, is Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital as well as one of the world’s leading research centres in its field.
Last week, I attended a CAMH information exchange on cannabis policy and regulation in Canada and Uruguay. This included a discussion between Canadian and Uruguayan experts on approaches to better protecting young users of cannabis from the harms…
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Statement on Public Servants
Honourable senators, I rise today to speak briefly about Canada’s public servants. Over the past two years, I have been struck, as I know many of you have been, by the professionalism, the skills, the commitment and the terrific non-partisan advice we receive from Canada’s public servants. We saw this as recently as this past weekend when we had officials here to support their ministers in the discussions we had at that time. I also take this opportunity to salute those public…
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