Debates of Nov. 19th, 2018

Question No. 1954

[Diane Lebouthillier, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the noted question, what follows is the response for the Canada Revenue Agency, CRA, for the period of January 1, 2016, to October 1, 2018, the date of the question.

The CRA cannot provide numbers indicating how many benefit recipients with a single status were reviewed as the CRA does not track information in the manner requested. Marital status is but one piece of information that may be reviewed to ensure benefits are paid correctly. Other eligibility criteria that may be reviewed during a benefits validation review include residency and primary care of children.

Question No. 1956

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

With regard to the decision by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to extend paying for hotel rooms for asylum seekers in the Greater Toronto Area past September 30, 2018: (a) how many hotel rooms is the government paying for past September 30, 2018; (b) how long does the government expect to continue paying for the hotel rooms in the Greater Toronto Area; and (c) how much does the government expect to pay for hotel rooms in the Greater Toronto Area for asylum seekers (i) to September 30, 2018, (ii) after September 30, 2018?

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister (Youth) and to the Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction]

Mr. Speaker, due to the pressures the City of Toronto is facing with the shortage of temporary accommodations in their shelter system, IRCC has booked hotel rooms to assist in accommodating the asylum seekers who were staying in two college dormitories during the summer of 2018. This temporary accommodation allows City of Toronto officials time to help asylum seekers to find housing solutions, as they normally do for all individuals who use municipal shelters.

The City of Toronto continues to be responsible for transportation, logistics and all social services for asylum seekers.

With regard to (a), IRCC extended reservations for 64 hotel rooms in the greater Toronto area until October 15, 2018, and 37 rooms until October 29, 2018. IRCC is currently in the process of securing hotel rooms to accommodate the remaining asylum seekers until January 4, 2019.

With regard to (b), IRCC will cover the costs of the hotel rooms secured until October 29, 2018. IRCC is working on establishing a new contract to secure hotel rooms until January 4, 2019. A request for proposal was posted and IRCC is currently reviewing options for awarding the contracts.

With regard to (c)(i), the contract amount for the hotel rooms in the greater Toronto area for asylum seekers from August 1, 2018 to September 30, 2018, was $2,070,817.03, including taxes.

With regard to (c)(ii), the total cost to extend the contract past September 30, 2018, and until October 29, 2018 is estimated to be up to approximately $203,329.58, including taxes. The cost to secure the hotel rooms until January 4, 2018 is currently being finalized.

Question No. 1965

[Ron Liepert, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

With regard to the Canadian Surface Combatant project, since July 1, 2016: (a) how many amendments have been made to the request for proposals; (b) how much has been spent on legal fees for amendments to the request for proposals; (c) how many companies made bids on the first iteration of the request for proposals; (d) how many companies have made bids on the current iteration of the request for proposals; (e) of the companies in (c) how many qualify as small businesses; and (f) of the companies in (d) how many qualify as small businesses?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility]

Mr. Speaker, with regard to the Canadian surface combatant project, since July 1, 2016, the Canadian surface combatant project is following a "design then build" approach.

The prime contractor for the Canadian surface combatant project is Irving Shipbuilding Incorporated of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In its capacity as prime contractor, Irving Shipbuilding released the request for proposals, RFP, on October 27, 2016, to 12 successfully pre-qualified bidders. The objective of the RFP is to select an existing warship design and design team to be under subcontract to Irving Shipbuilding for the purpose of modifying the design to meet Canada's requirements and to incorporate Canadian systems and equipment. On October 19, 2018, the government and Irving Shipbuilding announced Lockheed Martin Canada Inc. as the preferred bidder for the Canadian surface combatant design. This decision was entirely based on its demonstration of compliance with the mandatory requirements and on the final scores of each bid according to the pre-established evaluation criteria.

With regard to part (a), a total of 88 amendments were issued by Irving Shipbuilding between November 1, 2016, and August 13, 2018. These amendments were developed and issued to address enquiries from the 12 pre-qualified bidders, and to incorporate process improvements to the competitive RFP so as to maximize the opportunities for bidders to demonstrate the value of their solutions to Canada.

With regard to part (b), the Government of Canada spent a total of $11.8 million on the project’s legal fees during the period of time that the RFP was being amended. The detailed information to allow a further breakdown on the amount that was spent on only the amendments is not available.

Because Irving Shipbuilding released the RFP, it would also have incurred legal fees.

With regard to part (c), only one RFP was released, with firms submitting their bids in two parts. Submissions for the technical and value proposition portions closed on November 30, 2017, and submissions for the financial portion closed on July 20, 2018.

Three companies submitted bids in response to the RFP.

With regard to part (d), as noted in the response to part (c) above, only one RFP was released; three firms submitted bids.

With regard to parts (e) and (f), as noted above, only one RFP was released. None of the three bidders would qualify as a small business.

Question No. 1966

[Ron Liepert, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

With regard to the Minister of the Environment’s YouTube channel, since November 4, 2015: (a) how many full-time equivalents manage the channel; (b) what are the titles and corresponding pay scales of the full-time equivalents who manage the channel; (c) how much has been spent on overtime pay for the full-time equivalents who manage the channel; (d) how much has been spent on developing content for the channel, and how much is earmarked to be spent for the remainder of the 2018-19 fiscal year; (e) how much has been spent on promoting content for the channel, and how much is earmarked to be spent for the remainder of the 2018-19 fiscal year; (f) is there a cross-platform promotion plan to share content from the channel to other digital media platforms; (g) are the costs associated with (f) included in the YouTube budget, or do they fall within the budget of the other platforms; (h) what are the digital media platforms used to promote or share the Minister’s YouTube content; (i) what is the monthly expenditure on the channel, broken down by month; and (j) what is the annual expenditure on the channel, broken down by year?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Environment does not have a YouTube channel.

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

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

Mr. Speaker, if the government's responses to Questions Nos. 1933, 1936 to 1943, 1945 to 1948, 1951, 1952, 1955, 1957 to 1964 and 1967 to 1974 could be made orders for return, these returns would be tabled immediately.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Question No. 1933

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

With regard to the Veterans Affairs Canada service standard of 16 weeks in regards to decisions for disability benefit applicants for the 2017-18 fiscal year, or the last year in which statistics are available: how many and what percentage of applications received a decision within (i) the 16-week standard, (ii) between 16 and 26 weeks, (iii) greater than 26 weeks (6 months), (iv) greater than a year?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1936

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

With regard to the National Joint Council’s Relocation Directive, which reimburses federal employees when relocating for work, for the calendar years 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015: (a) how many employees, agents, or contractors of the federal government made claims for relocation funding each year, broken down by government department or agency; (b) how many employees, agents, or contractors of the federal government were provided with reimbursement for relocation each year, broken down by government department or agency; (c) in the instances where relocation funding was provided, how many instances arose from employer-requested relocation in each year; (d) in the instances where relocation funding was provided, how many instances arose from employee-requested relocation in each year; (e) what was the annual aggregate amount in Canadian dollars spent by each government agency or department in remitting relocation funding, broken down by the benefit categories outlined in appendix B of the National Joint Council’s Relocation Directive; (f) which employees, agents, or contractors of the federal government received relocation funding in each year, itemized to include their agency or department, their job title, the amount of relocation funding remitted, broken down by the benefit categories outlined in appendix B of the National Joint Council’s Relocation Directive, and where the individual was relocated from and to; (g) what is the aggregate amount of funding, across all government departments and agencies, remitted in each year under the Relocation Directive’s benefit categories that pertain to real estate commission and realtor fees; (h) what is the aggregate amount of funding, across all government departments and agencies, remitted in each year under the Relocation Directive’s benefit categories that pertain to home equity loss; and (i) what is the aggregate amount of funding, across all government departments and agencies, remitted in each year under the Relocation Directive’s benefit categories that pertain to mortgages, mortgage default insurance, and mortgage paydown penalties?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1937

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

With regard to the online application system run by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada: (a) how many hours has the online system been down in total since January 1, 2017; and (b) what is the number of hours the online system has been down, broken down by week, since January 1, 2017?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1938

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

With regard to the comments made by the Prime Minister on September 25, 2018, in relation to the 2015 election that Canada did not have “much direct interference” by Russia: in what specific ways did Russia interfere in the 2015 election?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1939

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

With regard to the Churchill Rail Line: (a) what are the details of all correspondence, including electronic, that the government has sent or received, since November 4, 2015, including (i) sender, (ii) recipient, (iii) date, (iv) title and subject matter, (v) description or summary of contents, (vi) file number; and (b) what are the details of all memorandums about the Churchill Rail Line, including (i) date, (ii) sender, (iii) recipient, (iv) title and subject matter, (v) file number?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1940

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

With regard to the Joint Support Ship (JSS) project: (a) how many extensions have occurred since the project’s inception; (b) what are the costs associated with the extensions to date; (c) how many amendments have occurred since the project’s inception; (d) what are the costs associated with the amendments to date; (e) how many full-time equivalents work on the project; (f) are there any anticipated lay-offs occurring from project extensions and amendments and, if so, how many; and (g) what are the rationales for each instance of an extension and amendment to date?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1941

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

With regard to the Public Service Pay Centre in Miramichi, since December 1, 2015, broken down by year: (a) how much has been spent on employee overtime for those working at the Centre; and (b) of the employees in (a), how many hours have been logged, broken down by amount paid out per person and job title?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1942

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

With regard to the air travellers security surcharge since January 1, 2016: (a) how much is collected from passengers, broken down into averages for (i) day, (ii) month, (iii) year; (b) how much is used to pay for security services; (c) what other programs or services are funded with the security surcharge; and (d) of the programs in (c), how much funding did each program receive?