Debates of Jan. 31st, 2022

Question No.124—

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

With regard to the government's decision to "set a national emission reduction target of 30% below 2020 levels from fertilizers," as laid out in Environment and Climate Change Canada's 2020 plan entitled "A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy": (a) has Farm Credit Canada done any analysis related to the impact that lower fertilizer amounts will have on crop production, and if so, what are the details, including findings of the analysis; (b) what is the projected increase in both demand and federal budget for business risk management (BRM) programs like AgriStability and AgriRecovery, as a result of this decision; (c) what new measures are proposed to adjust for the decline in crop yields, specifically pertaining to the historical reference period used for determining eligibility for BRM programs; (d) what new insurance programs or financial assistance programs will be available for farmers whose crop yields rely disproportionately on their ability to use fertilizer, and will be disproportionately affected by mandatory reductions in fertilizer use; (e) what are Farm Credit Canada's projections regarding yield gaps, broken down by each different type of Canadian crop, each year from now until 2030; and (f) has Health Canada or any other government department or agency done any analysis on the ability of Canadians to pay more for food at the grocery store as a result of lower yields by Canadian farmers, and if so, what are the details, including findings?

(Return tabled)

Question No.125—

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

With regard to the Chinook tool used by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in the processing of study permits and temporary visas: (a) why has the use of Chinook not been publicly disclosed; (b) who developed this tool and why; (c) how does the tool work; (d) what are the different steps in its use; (e) has the tool been subject to one or more cybersecurity audits and, if so, by which firm or individual; (f) why is its use not disclosed directly to immigration applicants; (g) why can’t details of decisions made using the tool be saved or retained in some way; (h) what oversight does IRCC provide to ensure that immigration officers use the tool correctly; (i) what data is processed using the tool; (j) how are immigration applications ranked and based on what indicators; (k) what efficiency gains does Chinook provide; (l) what keywords or indicators are most likely to increase the risk level of an application; (m) what keywords or indicators are most likely to lead to a refusal of an application; (n) what do we know about the algorithms used by the tool; (o) why have refusal rates for study permit applications increased significantly since the tool was implemented in March 2018; (p) what guidance is provided to IRCC staff about using the tool; (q) what visa offices, in Canada and abroad, use Chinook, broken down by office; (r) in (q), what version of Chinook is used; (s) what visa offices processing study permit and temporary visa applications, in Canada and abroad, do not use Chinook; (t) in (s), why; and (u) was the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship at the time of Chinook’s implementation consulted about its implementation?

(Return tabled)

Question No.126—

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

With regard to the Special Immigration Measures for Afghans who assisted our Canadian Armed Forces as interpreters or locally engaged staff, since July 22, 2021, to present: (a) how many of these Afghans have reached Canada; (b) how many of these Afghans have been referred by the Department of National Defence (DND) to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and received an invitation to apply; (c) how many of these Afghans have been referred by DND to IRCC, but have not received an invitation to apply; (d) of the Afghans referred by DND to IRCC who have not been invited to apply, (i) what database are their names being held in, (ii) who is responsible for making the decision to put their names into the Global Case Management System, assign them an application number, and send an invitation to apply; and (e) what criteria are being used to determine which Afghans should receive an application number and an invitation to apply and when, and are these Afghans being tiered based on the severity of their individual security circumstances?

(Return tabled)

Question No.127—

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

With regard to members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) reserves applying to transfer to become full active members of the Army, Navy, or Air Force, since January 1, 2016, and broken down by each branch applied for: (a) what is the number of reservists who have applied to become members of the Army, Navy or Air Force; (b) of the applications in (a), how many were successful; (c) what was the average time between when an application by a reservist was received and a final decision was made; and (d) what are the CAF's service standards related to the length it takes to make a decision on such transfers, and what percentage of applicants received a decision within the service standard timeline?

(Return tabled)

Question No.128—

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

With regard to complaints received by the Canada Revenue Agency related to its various assistance by telephone lines and numbers: (a) what is the number of complaints received since January 1, 2019, broken down by month; and (b) of the numbers in (a), what is the breakdown by type of complaint, including (i) line not working or out of service, (ii) dropped calls, (iii) long hold times, (iv) other, broken down by type?

(Return tabled)

Question No.129—

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

With regard to documents sent by or received by Health Canada or the Public Health Agency of Canada related to COVID-19 vaccines, drugs, or treatments and excluding correspondence from the general public, since March 1, 2020: what are the details of each such document including the (i) sender, (ii) recipient, (iii) title, (iv) date, (v) file number or tracking number, (vi) type of document (memorandum, application, etc.)?

(Return tabled)

Question No.130—

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

With regard to the processing of applications by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC): (a) how many applications has IRCC received and processed since January 2021, broken down by month; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by visa category and type of application; (c) how many applications did IRCC receive each month in 2020, broken down by month; (d) what is the breakdown of (c) by visa category and type of application; (e) how many of the applications received since January 2021 are considered in backlog; (f) how many of the applications received in 2020 were considered in backlog; (g) since January 2021, what is the average visa processing time, broken down by category; and (h) in 2020, what was the average visa processing time, broken down by category?

(Return tabled)

Question No.131—

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

With regard to the applications and resettlement of refugees from Afghanistan submitted to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC): (a) what is the number of applications of Afghan refugees broken down by stage of processing; (b) what is the average processing time for an Afghan refugee application under the special immigration program; (c) how many Afghan refugees who applied to IRCC are in third countries; (d) what is the country breakdown of refugees in (c); (e) how many Afghan interpreters have submitted a refugee application; (f) how many Afghan interpreters' applications have been processed; (g) how many Afghan interpreters' applications have been denied; (h) what is the breakdown of (g) by reason for denial; (i) how many Afghan refugee applications have been made by refugees who identify as a targeted religious minority; and (j) what is the timeline for IRCC to resettle all 40,000 Afghan refugees in Canada?

(Return tabled)

Question No.132—

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

With regard to the allegations of racism and discrimination reported by employees of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in the IRCC Anti-Racism Employee Focus Groups Final Report by Pollara Strategic Insights delivered in June 2021: (a) how many complaints of racism and discrimination have been made by employees at IRCC since January 2019; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by month since January 2019; (c) how many of the complaints made by employees were referred to or handled by the Office of Conflict Resolution; (d) what is the number of complaints of racism and discrimination handled by the Office of Conflict Resolution since its creation, broken down by month; (d) what authority and recourse does the Office of Conflict Resolution have to respond to complaints of racism and discrimination; (e) how many members of the anti-racism task force at IRCC identify as racialized; (f) what measures, other than the IRCC Code of Conduct, have been implemented to combat racism and discrimination in IRCC; (g) how are these measures, and the IRCC Code of Conduct, being enforced by IRCC management; and (h) what is IRCC doing to ensure that racism and discrimination does not affect the processing and review of immigration, refugee, and citizenship applications, and the approval or denial of these applications?

(Return tabled)

Question No.133—

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

With regard to vehicles provided for the use of ministers and the federal executive vehicle fleet, as of November 29, 2021: (a) what is the total number of vehicles provided for the use of ministers; (b) what was the total cost of procuring the vehicles currently in use by ministers; (c) for each ministerial vehicle, what was the (i) date purchased, (ii) make and model, including the year, (iii) purchase price, (iv) whether it was manufactured in Canada; (d) what is the total number of vehicles in the federal executive vehicle fleet; (e) what was the total cost of procuring vehicles for the fleet; (f) for each vehicle in the fleet, what was the (i) date purchased, (ii) make and model, including the year, (iii) purchase price, (iv) whether it was manufactured in Canada; and (g) what is the government’s official policy related to buying vehicles manufactured in Canada for ministerial vehicles and the federal executive vehicle fleet?

(Return tabled)

Question No.134—

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

With regard to the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive (FTHBI) announced by the government in 2019, from September 1, 2019, to date: (a) how many applicants have applied for mortgages through the FTHBI program, broken down by province and municipality; (b) of those applicants, how many have been approved and accepted mortgages through the FTHBI program, broken down by province and municipality; (c) of those applicants listed in (b), how many approved applicants have been issued the incentive in the form of a shared equity mortgage; (d) what is the total value of incentives (shared equity mortgages) under the program that have been issued, in dollars; (e) for those applicants who have been issued mortgages through the FTHBI, what is that value of each of the mortgage loans; (f) for those applicants who have been issued mortgages through the FTHBI, what is that mean value of the mortgage loan; and (g) what is the total aggregate amount of money lent to homebuyers through the FTHBI to date?

(Return tabled)

Question No.136—

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

With regard to federal public servants who have been placed on unpaid leave due to their vaccination status: (a) how many are there in total; (b) of the total in (a), what is the breakdown by federal department and agency; and (c) for each federal department and agency in (b), what percentage of total employees do the employees who have been placed on unpaid leave account for?

(Return tabled)

Question No.137—

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

With regard to Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and proposed changes by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, including the Draft Conservation Network Design for the Scotian Shelf-Bay of Fundy Bioregion: (a) for each proposed change or additional MPA, what would be the impact to the lobster fishery and lobster quotas; (b) what would be the impact in Lobster Fishing Areas (LFA) 27 through 34, broken down by LFA; and (c) what are the details of all memorandums, briefing notes, reports, or correspondence related to the MPAs or the proposals since January 1, 2016, including (i) the date, (ii) the type of document, (iii) the sender, (iv) the recipient, (v) the title, (vi) the summary of the contents, (vii) the internal file or tracking number?