Debates of Sept. 17th, 2012

(Return tabled)

Question No. 752

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

With regard to government advertising: (a) what is the overall budget for the print advertising campaign which has appeared in newspapers or other print media outlets concerning Old Age Security, under the heading “Placing Old Age Security on a Sustainable Path”; (b) who did the creative work on these ads; (c) if the answer to (b) is an outside party or agency, who was the outside party or agency; (d) what was the cost of the creative work; (e) what media outlets did the ad appear in, and, for each, on which date or dates was the ad inserted; (f) what was the cost of each individual insertion; (g) who determined the colour scheme for the ads; and (h) what was the rationale for the colour scheme?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 753

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

With respect to the Afghan Detainee Document Review (ADDR) submitted on April 15, 2011, by the Panel of Arbiters (PoA) under the June 15, 2010, Memorandum of Understanding signed by three party leaders in Parliament: (a)have the documents referred to in paragraph 30 ever been provided, unredacted, to any Canadian government law-enforcement investigators for purposes of tracing the detainees named in the documents in order to determine whether any suffered mistreatment after transfer to Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS), if not, why not; (b) has the government ever provided compensation to any person or family of any person transferred to Afghan authorities, or sought out a person or family with compensation as the purpose; (c) with regard to the public-domain research (regular reviews of credible media reporting, government reports and reports of international organizations) conducted by the PoA’s staff referenced in pararaph 36 of the ADDR, was this public domain research handed over to the government, if not, where is it located, and, whatever its location, will the government release any bibliographies generated by this research or any documents archived by the research that fall within the categories of “credible media reporting, government reports and reports of international organizations”; (d) with regard to the PoA’s review of documents redacted on the basis of national security confidentiality (“NSC” documents), national defence and international relations whereby the PoA reviewed between 1450 and 2300 pages of documents (paragraphs 52-54) while releasing 113 NSC documents (paragraph 56), will the government release those documents that were not yet ready for release with the ADDR because the Department of Justice had not yet had time to complete the technical process of preparing the documents for release after the PoA had finished its reviews and determinations (paragraphs 54 and 55), and how many PoA-reviewed documents remain unreleased because the technical process of preparing the documents remains incomplete; (e) with regard to the 15 documents for which the government had initially claimed solicitor-client privilege (paragraph 63 and page 1 of the ADDR annex called “Documents subject to Solicitor-Client Privilege Claims”) but later withdrew the claim, in each case, (i) what were the bases on which privilege was initially claimed, (ii) why did the government change its view; (f) with regard to the 117 documents for which the PoA upheld the government’s solicitor-client privilege claim (paragraphs 64 and 65; pages 2-7 of the ADDR annex called “Documents subject to Solicitor-Client Privilege Claims”), will the government waive the solicitor-client privilege to the limited extent of revealing the subject matter of each of the 117 documents; (g) in the ADDR annex called “Documents subject to Solicitor-Client Privilege Claims”, why are the large majority of documents described with the acronym PoA (presumably, Panel of Arbiters) while some are specifically indicated as being DFAIT (Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade) documents?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 754

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

With respect to the answer of the Minister of the Environment in the House of Commons on June 13, 2012, that “[a]t this point my officials have advised me that none of the triggers required to spark a federal intervention have been, or are likely to be, tripped” with respect to the application of 3191574 Nova Scotia Company, operating as The Highland Companies, for a 2,316 acre open-pit limestone quarry to be situated on lands they own in Melancthon Township, Dufferin County, Ontario: (a) what government units are the source of this advice and on what date or dates was this advice received; (b) does this advice concern (i) federal environmental law in force as of June 13, 2012, (ii) prospective federal environmental law as it will stand once changes in the Budget Implementation Act, Bill C-38, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 29, 2012 and other measures, enter into force, or (iii) both (i) and (ii), (c) what is the significance of the Minister’s proviso “at this point,” and does the advice given “at this point” concern the planned quarry or only current use of the land by the owners of the land; (d) what are the reasons that current federal environmental law environmental assessment provisions are viewed as not being triggered; (e) will environmental assessment under federal environmental law as it will be changed by Bill C-38, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 29, 2012 and other measures, be triggered with respect to use of the land as a quarry, and, if not, why not; (f) what form did the advice received by Minister Kent take; (g) considering Minister Kent’s reference to the future with the word “likely”, will further advice be provided to the Minister in the future, and, if so, what will determine when and how this advice is given; (h) within any of the advice so far provided, what view was taken on each of the following as potential reasons for federal environmental assessment, (i) the fact that the area is the headwaters for five rivers, (ii) the fact that those rivers empty into the Great Lakes system, (iii) the fact that waters pumped out of the below-water-table quarry will be pumped back into the water table, with possible resultant contamination, (iv) the status of much of the land as amongst the most arable land in Canada, with corresponding relevance for national and global food security, (v) the fact that the area is the source of a high percentage of potatoes for the Toronto area and that loss of this source of potatoes will likely increase the distance which replacement potatoes have to travel, thus increasing transportation use with a knock-on impact on carbon emissions, (vi) the existence of trout in some or all of the rivers, (vii) the area as habitat for undomesticated animal and bird species, (viii) the impacts on humans living in or adjacent to the area; (i) in what ways will impending changes to environmental law affect the advice given as per the answers to (h)(i) through (h)(viii); (j) with respect to (h) and (i), what sources of information did the advisors to the Minister rely upon and did any of that information come from (i) proponents of the quarry, identifying the entities or persons, (ii) opponents of the quarry, identifying the entities or persons; (k) has the federal government consulted with the government of Ontario with respect to whether or not federal environmental law applies, and, if so, when did the consultations occur and what was the position taken by Ontario; (l) has the government received any factual or other data relevant to the lands and project in question from the government of Ontario, and, if so, what is the nature of this data; (m) has the government had any interaction with 3191574 Nova Scotia Company, operating as The Highland Companies, or any person or organization advocating or lobbying on its behalf and, if so, what was the subject matter and outcome of such interactions; (n) is there any foreign ownership of 3191574 Nova Scotia Company, operating as The Highland Companies, and, if so, are there any implications for Canadian foreign investment law of acquisition and use of the land for purposes of operating a quarry; (o) assuming that conversion of the land in question from arable food-producing land to quarry land will have impacts on interprovincial and/or international trade and commerce, does the government have jurisdiction to legislate in order to prevent or limit conversion of arable to non-arable uses; and (p) in the event that the loss of arable land to other uses is deemed to have an impact on national and global food security, does the government have any jurisdictional basis for the to legislate to preserve arable land?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 756

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

With regard to the government’s Program Activity Architecture: (a) identified by department, what is the name of each program activity and what was the total spending for each for fiscal years (i) 2008-2009, (ii) 2009-2010, (iii) 2010-2011; (b) identified by department, what is the planned spending for each program activity for fiscal years (i) 2011-2012, (ii) 2012-2013, (iii) 2013-2014; (c) identified by department, what are all the singular programs that form part of each program activity; (d) for each program identified in (c), what was the total spending for that program for fiscal years (i) 2008-2009, (ii) 2009-2010, (iii) 2010-2011; and (e) for each program identified in (c), what is the planned spending for fiscal years (i) 2011–2012, (ii) 2012-2013, (iii) 2013-2014?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 757

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

With respect to the legislative mandate for the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO): (a) how many legal opinions has the government drafted on the legislative mandate of the PBO and for each opinion (i) when was the opinion asked for, (ii) when was the opinion drafted, (iii) was the opinion produced by public servants or an outside consultant; and (b) how much has the government spent drafting these legal opinions?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 759

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

With regard to the backdrops used by the government for the announcements from February 2, 2011, to present, for each backdrop purchased, what was: (a) the date (i) the tender was issued for the backdrop, (ii) the contract was signed, (iii) the backdrop was delivered; (b) the cost of the backdrop; (c) the announcement for which the backdrop was used; (d) the department that paid for the backdrop; and (e) the date or dates the backdrop was used?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 760

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

With regard to ongoing litigation between the government and any other Canadian government (provincial or municipal): (a) what is the citation of each case; (b) what is the summary of each case; and (c) what is the total amount of money the government has spent to date on each case?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 761

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

With regard to cultural property: (a) what is the total number of (i) gifts of cultural property, (ii) charitable gifts of property other than Canadian cultural property, (iii) Crown gifts of property other than Canadian cultural property, received in each fiscal year since 2001-2002 inclusive, by each of Library and Archives Canada, including the former National Library of Canada and the National Archives of Canada; the National Gallery of Canada, distinguishing the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography; the Canadian Museum of Civilization, distinguishing as well the Canadian War Museum; the Canadian Museum of Nature; the National Museum of Science and Technology, distinguishing both the Canada Agriculture Museum and the Canadian Aviation Museum; the Canadian Museum for Human Rights; and (b) what was the total value of each gift?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 763

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

With regard to the payments made to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and his former chief of staff, Sandra Buckler, for passports and expenses incurred on October 1, 6 and 10, 2011: (a) what is the specific breakdown of the costs expensed; and (b) in relation to what travel or anticipated travel were the passport expenses incurred?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 765

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

With respect to the three programs supported by the Global Peace and Security Fund (i.e., the Global Peace and Security Program, the Global Peace Operation Program and the Glyn Berry Program), for each of these programs: (a) what was the final budget for fiscal year 2011-2012; (b) what specific projects were approved in fiscal year 2011-2012; (c) what is the budget for 2012-2013; and (d) what projects have been approved so far for fiscal year 2012-2013

(Return tabled)

Question No. 766

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

With respect to the Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force (START): (a) what was the final budget for fiscal year 2011-2012; (b) what specific projects were approved in fiscal year 2011-2012; (c) what is the budget for 2012-2013; and (d) what projects have been approved so far for fiscal year 2012-2013?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 768

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

With regard to the Correctional Services Canada’s (CSC) Prison Farm Program at the Westmorland, Frontenac, Pittsburgh, Rockwood, Riverbend, and Bowden Institutions: (a) for each of the institutions (i) what line items are taken into account when calculating yearly revenue, (ii) what amount did each of these items contribute to the total revenue, yearly for the past 6 years; (b) for each of the institutions, (i) what line items are taken into account when calculating the cost of goods sold, (ii) what amount did each of these items contribute to the total cost of goods sold, yearly for the past 6 years; (c) for each of the institutions, (i) what items are taken into account when determining yearly value of goods sold, for the last six years, (ii) what amount did each of these items contribute to the total earnings from goods sold; (d) what were the values of each of these components (in dollars) for each of the past six years; (e) what was the value of food produced at the institutions that was donated to charitable causes broken down by institution, for each of the past six years; (f) if resources were shared between the CORCAN Agribusiness and CSC at these three institutions, how were costs allocated for each of these three institutions; (g) if resources were shared between the CORCAN Agribusiness and CSC at these three institutions, which party indirectly subsidized the other and by what amount; (h) if internal transactions were made between the CORCAN Agribusiness and any other part of the federal government, how were the prices for these transactions determined; and (i) what was the recidivism rate of prisoners who had participated, for at least three months, in the prison farm program, compared to the general recidivism rate for prisoners released from the federal institutions?

(Return tabled)