Debates of Jan. 29th, 2018

Question No. 1425

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

With regard to responses provided by the government to questions on the Order Paper, since November 4, 2015, where the government cited the principles of the Access to Information or Privacy Act as a justification for not providing the requested information: for each response that has such a citation, or any similar type of citation, what are the specific principles used to justify withholding the information, broken down by response and by question?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, Parliament adopted the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act in 1983. Since then, successive governments have provided information in parliamentary returns in a manner that respects the principles governing the disclosure of government information contained in these acts.

Since parliamentary returns are not formally processed under these acts, specific sections are not quoted to justify non-disclosure. However, parliamentary returns officers consult officials responsible for access to information and privacy to ensure that the Privacy Act and the principles governing exclusions, exemptions, and prohibitions contained in the Access to Information Act are applied to proposed responses to parliamentary returns.

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, if a revised response to Question No. 1353 originally tabled on December 13, 2017, and the government's response to Questions Nos. 1307 to question 1309, question 1311, question 1313, question 1315, question 1319, question 1322, question 1323, question 1325, question 1327, question 1329, question 1331, question 1332, question 1335, question 1336, question 1338 to question 1344, question 1347 to question 1350, question 1352, question 1354, question 1356, question 1357 to question 1359, question 1363 to question 1372, question 1374 to question 1376, question 1378 to question 1381, question 1386, question 1387, question 1390 to question 1392, question 1395 to question 1400, question 1402 to question 1408, question 1410, question 1412 to question 1421, question 1423, question 1424, question 1426 to question 1429, as well as the Starred Questions Nos. 1316 to question 1318 and question 1345, could be made orders for return, these returns would be tabled immediately.

[The Speaker, Geoff Regan]

Before I pose the question, I wonder if it might be possible for representatives of the parties to discuss at the table whether it is possible to do this without saying the word question so many times. Maybe there is a way to overcome that.

Is it the pleasure of the House that the aforementioned questions be made orders for return?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Question No. 1353

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

With regard to the Prime Minister’s trip to Fogo Island in March, 2017: (a) what are the details of each expenditure including (i) flights, (ii) vehicle rentals, (iii) accommodations, (iv) meals and per diems, (v) other transportation costs, (vi) other expenses, (vii) security; and (b) of the expenses incurred in (a), which expenses were incurred by the following groups of individuals (i) the Prime Minister and his family, (ii) ministerial exempt staff, including staff in the Office of the Prime Minister, (iii) departmental staff, (iv) Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other security?

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister (Youth)]

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1307

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

With regard to all government funding to the province of Manitoba: (a) which grant allocations, programs, projects, and all other means of disbursing government funds, have been cancelled since November 17, 2016; (b) what was the rationale provided for the cancellation of each item in (a); (c) what amount of funding had been dispensed to each item in (a) at the time of cancellation; (d) what was the estimated value of each item in (a) prior to cancellation; and (e) what consultations, if any, took place in relation to the items in (a) prior to their approval?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1308

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

With regard to information related to the applications submitted to the National Energy Board by TransCanada for its Energy East Pipeline and Eastern Mainline projects and the subsequent withdrawal of their applications, since November 4, 2015: (a) what are the details of any consultations or meetings which have been held with the Minister of Natural Resources, his officials, or the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and stakeholders, including (i) date, (ii) locations, (iii) attendees; (b) have there been any briefing notes or documents for the Minister or the Parliamentary Secretary; (c) if the answer in (b) is affirmative, what were the (i) dates, (ii) titles, (iii) subject matter and content; (d) have there been any meetings between the Minister and (i) the Parliamentary Secretary, (ii) the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, (iii) the Associate Deputy Minister of Natural Resources; and (e) if the answer in (d) is affirmative, what are the details of all meetings, discussions, and other documentation regarding the status of the projects?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1309

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

With regard to the Generation Energy forum held in Winnipeg on October 11 and 12, 2017: (a) what are all the expenditures related to the forum, including travel costs; (b) what is the detailed, itemized breakdown of all expenditures in (a), including for each the (i) date, (ii) amount, (iii) description, (iv) vendor; (c) who were the Members of Parliament and the government staff in attendance, broken down by (i) Members of Parliament, (ii) staff from the Office of the Prime Minister, (iii) staff of Members of Parliament, (iv) other government staff; and (d) what were the total costs for those listed in (c), broken down by (i) airfare, (ii) hotel accommodations, (iii) vehicle rentals, (iv) taxi or Uber rides, (v) limousine services, (vi) per diems, (vii) other meal costs?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1311

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

With regard to applications for the Disability Tax credit by persons with mental illnesses or mental health conditions: (a) for each month since October 2012, what was the percentage of approvals, disapprovals, and incomplete applications returned to applicants respectively; (b) with respect to rejections of applications in (a), what percentage of rejected applicants appealed the rejection decision; (c) with respect to rejections of applications in (a), what percentage of appeals were granted or declined respectively; (d) with respect to rejections of applications in (a), has any part of the government withdrawn or withheld funds, bonds, and grants from the Registered Disability Savings Plans of any applicants; (e) with respect to withdrawals or withholdings in (d), how many applicants who were previously approved for the Disability Tax Credit have had withdrawals or withholdings made from their Registered Disability Savings Plan accounts since May 2017; and (f) with respect to withdrawals or withholdings in (d), what is the total value of funds withdrawn or withheld from Registered Disability Savings Plan accounts since May 2017?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1313

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

With regard to the statement by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons on November 1, 2017, that “We are investing $5 billion to ensure mental health supports for over 500,000 Canadians under the age of 25”: (a) what is the detailed breakdown of the $5 billion investment, including (i) amount, (ii) recipient, (iii) program title, (iv) program description, (v) date of expenditure, (vi) fund from which expenditure was made; and (b) what is the total of all expenditures in (a)?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1315

[David Sweet, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

With regard to Chart 2.1 on Page 27 of the Fall Economic Statement 2017 and specifically the chart titled “Nearly 300,000 Children Lifted Out of Poverty”: (a) what income level was used as the poverty line for the chart; (b) if the income level used in (a) differentiates between regions, what are the various income poverty lines used for the chart, broken down by region; (c) does the government consider families who’s income is slightly higher than the poverty line to be “middle-class”; (d) is there a classification for income levels which is between “poverty” and “middle-class” and, if so, what is that classification known as and what is the associated income level; (e) of the “nearly 300,000”, what is the breakdown by (i) province, (ii) municipality; (f) as of what date are the figures referred to in (e) representative of; (g) what was the start date to which the figures in (e) were compared to in order to make the 300,000 claim; and (h) what is the government’s definition of poverty and what official measure is used to track it?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1319

[Bob Saroya, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

With regard to employment in departments, Crown corporations, agencies and other government entities: (a) what are the complete job titles for every employee whose job title includes the words “tax”, “taxes”, “taxation”, “taxing”, “taxable”, “revenue”, “revenues”, “duty”, “duties”, “dutiable”, “fee”, “fees”, “levy”, “levies”, “tariff”, “tariffs”, “toll”, “tolls”, “charge”, “charges”, “rate”, “rates”, “excise”, “customs”, “impost”, or “imposts”; (b) how many employees have job titles listed in (a), broken down by job title; and (c) for the employees with job titles listed in (a), what is (i) the aggregate of salaries paid in the 2016-17 fiscal year, (ii) the aggregate value of benefits, expense claims, and other employment costs paid in the 2016-17 fiscal year, (iii) the aggregate of salaries forecasted to be paid in the 2017-18 fiscal year?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1322

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

With respect to rail safety: (a) what is the current number of rail safety inspectors; (b) how many rail safety inspectors were there in (i) 2010–11, (ii) 2011–12, (iii) 2012–13, (iv) 2013–14, (v) 2014–15, (vi) 2015–16, (vii) 2016–17; (c) what is the training budget for rail safety inspectors, broken down by each year listed in (b); (d) how many hours were allocated to rail safety inspector training, broken down by each year listed in (b); (e) how many railway safety inspectors are anticipated for (i) 2017–18, (ii) 2018–19, (iii) 2019–20; (f) what are the document numbers for the training manuals for rail safety inspectors; (g) what updates have been made to the manuals in (f) since November 2015; (h) when does Transport Canada plan to complete its review of the fatigue risk management systems implemented by railway companies; (i) what are the findings to date of the review in (h); (j) in detailed terms, what steps has Transport Canada taken since November 2015 to mitigate the risk of fatigue among crew members on freight trains; (k) how many preventive inspections has Transport Canada conducted since November 2015, broken down by year; (l) how many reactive inspections has Transport Canada conducted since November 2015, broken down by year; (m) what is the total number of violations of laws and regulations committed by rail companies since November 2015; (n) how many monetary penalties has Transport Canada imposed on rail companies since November 2015; (o) in detailed terms, what is the budget for the 2017–18 Railway Safety Act Review Committee; (p) what consultations have been conducted to date by the review committee in (o); (q) what organizations have been consulted to date by the review committee in (o); (r) does the review committee in (o) contract out to fulfil its mandate; (s) if the answer to (r) is affirmative, what are the sole source contracts; and (t) what is the anticipated total remuneration for the members of the review committee in (o)?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1323

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

With regard to aviation safety: (a) what was the annual failure rate from 2005 to 2016 for the Pilot Proficiency Check (PPC) conducted by Transport Canada inspectors for pilots working for 705 operators under the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs); (b) what was the annual failure rate from 2005 to 2016 for the PPC in cases where industry-approved check pilots conducted the PPC for pilots working for Subpart 705 operators; (c) how many annual verification inspections did Transport Canada inspectors conduct between 2007 and 2016; (d) how many annual Safety Management System assessments, program validation inspections and process inspections of 705, 704, 703 and 702 operators were conducted between 2008 and 2016; (e) how many annual inspections and audits of 705, 704, 703 and 702 system operators were carried out pursuant to Transport Canada manual TP8606 between 2008 and 2016; (f) how many aircraft operator group inspectors did Transport Canada have from 2011 to 2017; (g) what discrepancies has Transport Canada identified between its pilot qualification policies and the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) since 2005; (h) what are the ICAO requirements for pilot proficiency checks and what are the Canadian PPC requirements for subparts 705, 704, 703 and 604 of CARs; (i) does Transport Canada plan to hire new inspectors and, if so, what target has it set for hiring new inspectors; (j) what is the current number of air safety inspectors; (k) how many air safety inspectors were there in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12, (iii) 2012-13, (iv) 2013-14, (v) 2014-15, (vi) 2015-16, (vii) 2016-17; (l) what is the training budget for air safety inspectors broken down by each year listed in (k); (m) how many hours were allocated to air safety inspector training, broken down by each year listed in (k); and (n) how many air safety inspectors are anticipated for (i) 2017-18, (ii) 2018-19, (iii) 2019-20?

(Return tabled)