Debates of Sept. 14th, 2009

(Return tabled)

Question No. 340

[Glen Pearson, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

With regard to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) expenditures, what are the: (a) most recent statistical updates on International Assistance; (b) detailed breakdown of expenditures by department and unit within CIDA, for the most recent three fiscal years; (c) definitions of what precisely is counted in Official Development Assistance, Humanitarian Assistance and the International Assistance Envelope; (d) cost of the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) deployments to Pakistan, in October 2005 and Sri Lanka, in 2004-2005, and specifically which part of these deployments were covered by CIDA; (e) most recent five fiscal year breakdowns of funds provided to all United Nations Agencies, directly to foreign governments (bilateral) and to non-governmental organisations (excluding the Red Cross); (f) most recent numbers for all CIDA Gender-related program expenditures; and (g) most recent five fiscal year breakdowns of all CIDA overheads (administrative costs)?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 341

[Glen Pearson, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

With regard to the Canadian International Development Agency International Humanitarian Assistance Directorate (IHA): (a) how precisely are funding decisions made within the mandate of the IHA Directorate; (b) who has the final authority on IHA funding decisions; (c) what criteria are used by the final decision-making authority when allocating IHA funding; (d) what has been done over the last two fiscal years to improve the timeliness of IHA funding; (e) what level of funding and human resources are provided to monitoring and evaluation of IHA-funded projects; (f) how has Canada progressed on its commitments to the Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD) initiative; and (g) what is the status of the development of a Humanitarian Assistance Framework, as committed to in Canada’s 2006 Domestic Implementation Plan for the GHD?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 345

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

With respect to the procurement of temporary personnel services in the National Capital Region over the last five years: (a) (i) what are the total expenditures for such services, on an annual basis, (ii) on an annual basis, what amount is spent by each department or government agency; (b) (i) which companies received contracts to provide temporary personnel services, (ii) what is the combined annual total of all contracts awarded to each company, (iii) which companies received sole sourced contracts, on what dates, in what amounts, (iv) why were their contracts not competitively sourced; (c) (i) on an annual basis, how many people were hired by temporary employment agencies to work for the federal government and its agencies, (ii) on an annual basis and by department or agency, how many employees were hired; (d) (i) what is the average length of time an employee remains on contract, (ii) how many workers, in number and percentage of overall hires, begin on contract and are eventually offered full time positions within the federal civil service; and (e) (i) what is the business case for using temporary workers instead of permanent members of the civil service, (ii) what savings does the government make in salary, pension and benefits by using temporary workers rather than permanent workers, as a total amount and on an average per worker basis, (iii) what is the average hourly amount a temporary agency receives based on the hourly wage a temporary worker is paid for their labour?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 347

[Ruby Dhalla, Liberal, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

What funds, grants, loans and loan guarantees has the government issued through its various departments and agencies in the constituency of Brampton—Springdale for the period of January 24, 2006 to April 2009 inclusive, and in each case where applicable: (a) what was the program under which the payment was made; (b) what were the names of the recipients; (c) what was the monetary value of the payment made; (d) on what date was the payment made; and (e) what was the percentage of program funding covered by the payment received?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 349

[Ruby Dhalla, Liberal, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

What funds, grants, loans and loan guarantee has the government issued through the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development over $1,000, since January 1, 2006, and in each case where applicable: (a) what was the name of the recipient; (b) what was the constituency of the recipient; (c) what was the program for which the grant, loan, or loan guarantee was given; (d) what was the date the application was received; (e) what was the amount of the individual grant, loan, or loan guarantee; (f) what was the date the payment was made; and (g) what was the total amount from all programs received by the recipient in that calendar year?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 351

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

With regard to spending related to Abousfian Abdelrazik: (a) what has been the total spending related to consular assistance given in Khartoum; (b) what have been the costs of the legal case on the part of the government; and (c) what have been the costs of communications and media work?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 352

[Dan McTeague, Liberal, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

With regard to the Home Income Tax Credit (HRTC): (a) what action has the government taken the implement the HRTC by (i) informing the public of the existence of the credit, (ii) instructing the CRA on how to apply the HRTC, (iii) passing legislation to implement the credit; (b) what is (i) the total cost of the public awareness campaign association with the HRTC, (ii) the revenue lost due to the credit; and (c) what will the HRTC apply to?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 354

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

With regards to the Assisted Human Reproduction Act: (a) what regulations are required under the Act; (b) which of those regulations have been drafted; (c) which of those regulations have been referred to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health; and (d) what regulations have been adopted and enacted?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 355

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

With regards to June 2009 Report on the Economic Action Plan and specifically the Employment Insurance Stimulus Analysis on page 104, what are the detailed computations for each line item totalling $2.7 billion and what are the specific reasons why freezing of employment insurance rates constitute a stimulus?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 356

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

With regards to Infrastructure funding by the government since 2005: (a) what projects have been funded; (b) what was the total value for each project; (c) how much of the funding was provided by the Province of Ontario for each project; (d) how much of the funding was provided by the City of Mississauga for each project; (e) on what date was each project approved; and(f) on what date was the expenditure made by the government for each project?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 357

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

With regard to temporary resident visa applications, broken down by each visa office what is: (a) the number of cases handled in each visa category (such as visitors, students etc); (b) the percentage of applications turned down in each visa category; (c) the background explanation on the rationale for refusal in each visa category; (d) the number of re-applications and the associated refusal and acceptance rates; (e) the number of applications approved by the Minister's discretionary power on humanitarian ground; (f) the number of cases subsequently being reviewed by a federal appeals court, and its associated refusal and approval rate; (g) the number of refused and approved male and female applicants; (h) the number of refused and approved applicants by the following age groups 18-24, 25-34, 35-54, 55+; (i) the number of officers who process temporary resident visa applications; (j) the average wait time to obtain a decision from the date of application; and (k) the level of security clearance for all staff handling applications?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 358

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

With regard to the $4 billion Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, the $1 billion Green Infrastructure Fund, and the Building Canada Fund, respectively, since the 2009 fiscal year: (a) what percentage of applications are for public transit; (b) what is the total dollar amount that these public transit applications represent; (c) how many of these public transit projects have been approved and rejected; (d) what is the approval and rejection rate percentages for public transit project applications versus the average; (e) what dollar amounts have been approved and rejected in each of these three funds for public transit projects; (f) how many projects and how much funding have been spent through the $2 billion Gas Tax Fund, and the $1.3 billion Public Transit Capital Trust; and (g) what percentage of the $20 billion in currently unmet requirements for Canadian transit systems (according to the Canadian Urban Transit Association) do these funds address?

(Return tabled)