House of Commons Hansard #298 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was chair.

Topics

Procedure and House AffairsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

10:15 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Procedure and House AffairsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

10:15 a.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

(Motion agreed to)

PensionsPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:15 a.m.

NDP

Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure and honour to stand here on behalf of the residents of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford to present a petition. The petitioners call on the government to end the corporate theft of workers' pensions. They recognize that Canadian workers rely on their pensions and benefits so that they can live and retire with dignity. They recognize that Canada's inadequate bankruptcy laws allow failing corporations to take the money that was intended for employees' pensions and benefits and to use that to pay off CEOs, banks, and investors instead. Therefore, the petitioners are calling on the government to fix our bankruptcy laws to stop corporations from putting shareholders, banks, and creditors ahead of their employees and retirees when they file for bankruptcy protection.

Guaranteed Income SupplementPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:15 a.m.

NDP

Karine Trudel NDP Jonquière, QC

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table in the House a petition signed by my constituents in Jonquière regarding automatic registration for the guaranteed income supplement.

The federal government recently announced it was launching a process to automatically register seniors for the guaranteed income supplement, but this process will not apply to everyone who is eligible upon reaching the age of 64.

The guaranteed income supplement is an important federal government program because it provides low-income seniors who collect old age security with extra income, which enables them to continue to receive care at home, receive specific care, or sadly, in some cases, buy medication. That is why I am tabling this petition in the House, on behalf of the people of Jonquière.

Genetically Modified SalmonPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

NDP

François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC

Mr. Speaker, today I have the honour to table a petition signed by dozens of people across Quebec and even from outside the province. The petitioners point out that in early August 2017, roughly five tonnes of genetically modified salmon was sold in Canada.

The petitioners say that this salmon likely ended up on our plate without us even knowing it. They also say that Canadians are concerned about the lack of information about where GMO salmon is sold.

Therefore, the petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to ban the sale and breeding of genetically modified salmon in Canada until labelling standards to warn consumers are put in place and independent safety and environmental studies have shown GMO salmon to be safe.

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Winnipeg North Manitoba

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, the following questions will be answered today: Nos. 1616, 1621, 1623 to 1625, and 1627.

Question No. 1616Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Conservative

Cathy McLeod Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC

With regard to the Canada C3 Expedition: (a) was the vessel certified to carry passengers, as per regulations under the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, prior to the expedition; (b) if the answer in (a) is affirmative, was the certification approved in writing by the Minister of Transport; and (c) on what date was the vessel certified?

Question No. 1616Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount Québec

Liberal

Marc Garneau LiberalMinister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, with regard to part (a), the vessel was certified to carry a maximum of 12 passengers, 28 expedition personnel, and 20 ship’s crew as per regulations under the Canada Shipping Act, 2001.

With regard to part (b), the vessel was issued a Special Purpose Ship Certificate by DNV-GL, the delegated authority on behalf the Minister of Transport.

With regard to part (c), the vessel was certified on May 11, 2017.

Question No. 1621Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Conservative

Kevin Sorenson Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB

With regard to the Policy on Legal Assistance and Indemnification, as it applies to incidents or matters which occurred on or after January 1, 2016: (a) how many requests for legal assistance or indemnification for Crown servants have been approved, broken down by year; (b) how many of the Crown servants in (a) are, or were at the time, ministers or ministerial exempt staff; (c) what are the total costs, to date, for all approved legal assistance and indemnification cases; (d) what are the costs, to date, for all approved legal assistance and indemnification cases, referred to in (b), (i) in total, (ii) broken down by each case; and (e) how many approvals have been granted under section 6.1.8 (exceptional circumstances) of the Policy, and, of those, how many are cases referred to in (b)?

Question No. 1621Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Winnipeg North Manitoba

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, with regard to the policy on legal assistance and indemnification as it applies to events that occurred on or after January 1, 2016, the Privy Council Office is not able to produce and validate a comprehensive response to this question on behalf of the government in the time allotted.

In addition, in processing parliamentary returns, the government applies the Privacy Act and the principles set out in the Access to Information Act. With respect to some elements of the question, a response could disclose personal and solicitor-client privileged information.

Question No. 1623Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Conservative

Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON

With regard to the government issuing diplomatic passports, since November 4, 2015: (a) what is the total number of diplomatic passports that have been issued to individuals who are neither elected officials nor employees of the government; and (b) what is the list of individuals referred to in (a) who have received a diplomatic

Question No. 1623Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

York South—Weston Ontario

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen LiberalMinister of Immigration

Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a), during the period of November 4, 2015, to April 5, 2018, IRCC issued a total of 33,044 official passports classed as diplomatic or as special. Of these, 6,749 were red diplomatic passports and the remainder were special passports, green in colour, which are issued for regular official travel.

The passport program processes travel documents, including diplomatic passports, which are issued through the integrated retrieval information system, or IRIS. IRCC is unable to determine how many of the 6,749 diplomatic passports issued during the specified time period were issued to individuals who are neither elected officials nor employees of the government, as IRIS does not track data by category, such as public servant, elected official, family member, private citizen, etc.

Passport legislation stipulates which individuals are eligible for a diplomatic passport. The Diplomatic and Special Passports Order states in section 2(m) that “immediate family members of the holder of a diplomatic passport may be eligible for a diplomatic passport if they are travelling with, or proceeding to join that individual abroad. For example, a diplomatic passport would be issued to the spouse and children of an ambassador being posted to a Canadian mission. Section 2(l) states that “a private citizen may obtain a diplomatic passport if that individual is duly nominated as an official delegate of the Government of Canada to an international conference of a diplomatic character. Subject-matter experts (e.g. scientists, academics) are sometimes named as part of Canada’s delegation to an international conference in order to advise government officials and facilitate discussions with other States. These are the only two scenarios when an individual who is neither an elected official nor an employee of the government would receive a diplomatic passport.”

IRCC cannot issue a diplomatic passport to anyone who does not meet the criteria specified under the Diplomatic and Special Passports Order.

With regard to (b), as per the Privacy Act, IRCC is unable to disclose the names of people who are not public servants or elected officials.

Question No. 1624Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Conservative

Chris Warkentin Conservative Grande Prairie—Mackenzie, AB

With regard to the government’s market debt surpassing the $1,000,000,000,000.00 mark: in what year will the market debt return to less than $1,000,000,000,000.00?

Question No. 1624Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Louis-Hébert Québec

Liberal

Joël Lightbound LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance

Mr. Speaker,in accordance with the new Borrowing Authority Act enacted in November 2017 to promote transparency and accountability to Parliament, budget 2018 marked the first time the government reported on its combined market debt. The Government of Canada combined market debt includes both the government’s market debt, which consists of all outstanding treasury bills, bonds, and retail debt issued directly by the Government of Canada, as well as any market borrowings by agent crown corporations. Increases or decreases in combined market debt are driven by the financial requirements of the government and its agent crown corporations. On a year-over-year basis, combined market debt generally increases when the government and its agent crown corporations have financial requirements and decreases when there is a net positive financial source.

As reported in budget 2018, the government’s combined market debt is projected to be $1,066 billion at the end of 2018-19. This amount includes estimated government market debt of $755 billion and an estimated $311 billion in market borrowings by agent crown corporations, but does not include any assets—for example, $93 billion of liquid financial assets in Canada’s exchange fund account as of April 5, 2018--that may be purchased using the proceeds of market debt.

The 2018-19 year-end projected level of outstanding government and crown corporation market debt is not expected to surpass the current Parliamentary-approved maximum stock of $1,168 billion and, based on the budget 2018 fiscal outlook, is not projected to decline below $1 trillion within the current five-year planning horizon.

Question No. 1625Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Conservative

Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB

With regard to the Canada Revenue Agency’s processing times for various common interactions with corporate taxpayers: (a) what is the median processing time for delivering Notices of Assessment for corporate income tax returns; (b) what is the maximum processing time for delivering Notices of Assessment for corporate income tax returns; (c) what percentage of Notices of Assessment for corporate tax returns exceed 30 days to deliver; (d) what percentage of Notices of Assessment for corporate tax returns exceed 60 days to deliver; (e) what percentage of Notices of Assessment for corporate tax returns exceed 90 days to deliver; (f) what percentage of Notices of Assessment for corporate tax returns exceed 120 days to deliver; (g) what are the respective processing times and percentages in (a) to (f) with respect to reviews of corporate income tax filings; (h) what are the respective processing times and percentages in (a) to (f) with respect to adjustment requests, objections, and appeals, respectively; (i) on a year over year basis since 2010, is the percentage of cases in (a) to (h) which exceed 12 weeks to deliver increasing or decreasing and by how much; (j) how many employees at the Canada Revenue Agency are assigned to take telephone inquiries by corporate taxpayers; (k) on average, how many telephone requests from corporate taxpayers does the Canada Revenue Agency receive each business day; (l) what is the median time corporate taxpayers spend on hold when calling the Canada Revenue Agency; and (m) how much of the new funding for the Canada Revenue Agency provided by Budgets 2016, 2017 and 2018 has been allocated to client services, including telephone inquiries, adjustments, objections and appeals, respectively, for corporate taxpayers?

Question No. 1625Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Gaspésie—Les-Îles-de-la-Madeleine Québec

Liberal

Diane Lebouthillier LiberalMinister of National Revenue

Mr. Speaker, with regard to parts (a) to (i), while the CRA does apply service standards relating to the issuance of corporations’ notices of assessment, it does not track them in the manner described in the question. The CRA’s goal is to issue a notice of assessment within six weeks of receiving a digital corporate income tax return and within 16 weeks of receiving a paper corporate income tax return. The CRA aims to meet this standard 95% of the time.

With regard to part (j), while the CRA does provide a telephone line for business inquiries, call agents are not assigned in the manner suggested in the question. For this reason, the CRA is not able to provide a response in the manner requested.

With regard to parts (k) to (l), while the CRA does have information regarding overall call volumes and wait times in general, the information is not tracked in the manner described in the question. For this reason, the CRA is not able to provide a response in the manner requested.

With regard to part (m), through the Resolving Taxpayer Objections initiative, budget 2016 provided the CRA with funding for client services. Budget 2016 allocated $4.6 million for objections and appeals on an ongoing basis to resolve regular income tax and commodity tax objections for both individuals and corporate taxpayers. The CRA is unable to isolate the portion specifically related to corporate taxpayers. In addition, budget 2016 allocated $85,000 for the 2016-17 fiscal year and $80,000 on an ongoing basis for adjustments to corporate income tax returns. Client service funding announced in budget 2018, which does not include funding for the objections and appeals program, has not yet been allocated to the CRA.

Question No. 1627Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Conservative

Mark Warawa Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC

With regard to the statement by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour in the House of Commons on March 27, 2018, that religious groups “were contacted and they know that they could very well apply for grants”, in relation to the 2018 Canada Summer Jobs program: (a) what is the complete list of religious groups contacted; (b) for each group in (a), what are the details of the contact, including (i) date, (ii) method of contact (email, phone, letter); and (c) of the groups contacted in (a), (i) which ones signed the attestation, (ii) which ones were awarded funding under the 2018 Canada Summer Jobs program?

Question No. 1627Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Cape Breton—Canso Nova Scotia

Liberal

Rodger Cuzner LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment

Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a), as part of its regular outreach and engagement with stakeholders, Service Canada contacted a range of employers to promote the 2018 Canada summer jobs program.

Examples of strategies that were undertaken by Service Canada to contact these employers include email blasts, including reminders, to members of Parliament, past applicants, and potential new applicants across Canada; teleconferences, webinars and/or in-person information sessions held across Canada; and outreach initiatives held across Canada with various umbrella associations.

Specifically, for Canada Summer Jobs 2018, the following were carried out: emails were sent to approximately 45,000 applicants to the 2016 and 2017 Canada summer jobs program; another 1,300 organizations received emails—for example, umbrella organizations; and over 800 individuals participated in information sessions, both virtual and in person.

Members of Parliament also conducted their own outreach to organizations, which was not tracked by Service Canada.

While employers contacted as part of the outreach and engagement strategy included faith-based organizations, Service Canada did not ?systematically track the type and number of organizations contacted. As a result, information to develop a complete list of employers contacted, including faith-based organizations, as part of this strategy is not currently available.

With regard to (b)(i) and (b)(ii), the details of the contact made with religious groups, including the specific date and method of contact, are not available in light of the response provided in (a). Service Canada contacted a range of employers to promote the 2018 Canada summer jobs program during the period from December 19, 2017, to February 9, 2018. Examples of strategies undertaken to contact these employers, which include but are not limited to religious groups, are listed in the response to (a).

With regard to (c)(i), in light of the response provided in (a), information with respect to religious groups contacted who have signed the attestation is not available. It is also important to note that as in previous years, religious organizations were encouraged, welcome, and eligible to apply to the Canada summer jobs program. However, “faith-based” is not a category used to identify organizations as part of the Canada summer jobs application process.

With regard to (c)(ii), the complete list of employers who have been approved for Canada summer jobs 2018 funding is found on the Canada summer jobs website at https://www.canada.ca/ en/employment-social-development/ services/funding.html.

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

Is that agreed?

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Winnipeg North Manitoba

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, if the government's response to Questions Nos. 1615, 1617 to 1620, 1622, 1626, and 1628 could be made orders for return, these returns would be tabled immediately.

Question No. 1615Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Conservative

Cathy McLeod Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC

With regard to the Canada C3 Expedition: (a) what was the total cost of the expedition paid for by the government; (b) what is the breakdown of costs by line item and standard object; (c) how many Canadians took part in the expedition as passengers; and (d) which Ministers, Members of Parliament, and other governmental officials participated in the expedition, and how many days did each spend on the vessel?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1617Questions Passed as Orders for ReturnsRoutine Proceedings

10:20 a.m.

Conservative

Arnold Viersen Conservative Peace River—Westlock, AB

With regard to all expenditures on hospitality (Treasury Board Object Code 0822), between February 1, 2018, and March 1, 2018, by the Office of the Prime Minister and the Privy Council Office: what are the details of all expenditures, including (i) vendor, (ii) amount, (iii) date of expenditure, (iv) description of goods or services provided, (v) file number, (vi) number of government employees that the hospitality expenditure was for, (vii) number of guests that the hospitality expenditure was for?

(Return tabled)