Debates of May 11th, 2022

Question No.438—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

With regard to the reference to a "friendly foreign state" in the Foreign Enlistment Act: (a) how does the government define this term; (b) how is a citizen to know whether or not a particular state is a friendly foreign state; (c) which states are currently considered friendly foreign states; and (d) based on the answer to (c), what is the government’s rationale for determining whether (i) Russia, (ii) Ukraine, (iii) China, (iv) Azerbaijan, (v) Armenia, (vi) Israel, (vii) Saudi Arabia, (viii) Iran, (ix) the United States of America, are considered a friendly foreign state?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, in response to part (a) of the question, the Foreign Enlistment Act defines “foreign state” as including “any foreign prince, colony, province or part of any province or people, or any person or persons exercising or assuming to exercise the powers of government in or over any foreign country, colony, province or part of any province or people.” The term “friendly foreign state” is not defined in the statute. It would be for the courts to determine, based on the evidence and arguments presented, whether a specific country is a “friendly foreign state”.

Concerning part (b) of the question, the act does not require Canada to declare whether any country is a friendly foreign state.

In response to part (c) of the question, to date, the Government of Canada has not declared any country to be a “friendly foreign state” in connection with this statute.

Regarding part (d) of the question, as a result of no declarations having been made, there is no rationale to be provided on why a country is or is not declared to be a friendly foreign state.

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (Senate)]

Madam Speaker, if the government's responses to Questions Nos. 426 to 430, 432, 434, 435 and 437 could be made orders for return, these returns would be tabled immediately.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Question No.426—

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

With regard to the Departmental Plan and Departmental Results Report from Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and the indicator listed in the reports tracking the "Number of influencers reached through Canadian-hosted events": (a) how many events have taken place where influencers have been reached since January 1, 2020; (b) what are the details of the events in (a), including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) location, (iii) total expenditures, (iv) itemized breakdown of the expenditures, (v) number of influencers reached, (vi) names of the influencers reached; and (c) what criteria does GAC use to determine if an individual is considered an influencer?

(Return tabled)

Question No.427—

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

With regard to research projects located outside of Canada that received government funding since January 1, 2020: (a) what are the details of all such projects, including, for each, the (i) recipient, (ii) date the funding was provided, (iii) amount of funding, (iv) country the research is taking place in, (v) project description, including the topics and the type of research, (vi) start and end dates of the research, (vii) country, (viii) municipality, (ix) program under which the funding was provided; and (b) for all the projects in (a) which are completed, what are the findings or the website location where the findings can be viewed?

(Return tabled)

Question No.428—

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

With regard to the government’s Wellness Together Canada portal and the related PocketWell application: (a) how many unique accounts have been created, broken down by (i) province or territory, (ii) gender; (b) how many unique visits have been made to the site since the portal was launched, broken down by month; (c) how many Canadians have fully completed the course of treatment; (d) what has been the total cost of each of the programs or services identified through the portal and the application; (e) what is the total operating cost for the portal and the application; (f) what provisions are in place to provide identity theft protection to those impacted by data leaks related to the portal or the application; and (g) what is the budget for the identity theft protection provisions in (f)?

(Return tabled)

Question No.429—

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

With regard to the Safe Return to Class Fund, since its inception, broken down by province and territory: (a) what is the total amount allocated through this fund; (b) what is the total amount received by each province and territory every month; and (c) what accountability measures exist to ensure that students, educators, and other school staff benefit from this fund?

(Return tabled)

Question No.430—

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

With regard to provincial and territorial requests for assistance in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020, broken down by province and territory: (a) what was the nature of each request received by the government; (b) of the requests in (a), was the government able to meet the request in full; and (c) of the requests in (b) that were not fully met, what was the reason the government could not fulfill the request?

(Return tabled)

Question No.432—

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

With regard to the development of a national suicide prevention action plan since May 8, 2019: (a) what resources have been provided to establish culturally appropriate community-based suicide prevention; (b) what guidelines have been established since 2019 for best practices in suicide prevention; (c) what resources have been provided toward the creation of a national public health monitoring program for the prevention of suicide and identification of groups at elevated risk; (d) what progress has been made to identify and fill gaps in knowledge relating to suicide and its prevention; (e) what progress has been made in creating national standards for training persons engaged in suicide prevention; (f) what progress has been made in creating a national online hub to provide essential information and guides related to suicide prevention; (g) what analysis has been done of high-risk groups of people and the risk factors specific to these groups; and (h) when will preparations for the implementation of the national action plan, including a statistical overview of suicide in Canada, be tabled in Parliament?

(Return tabled)

Question No.434—

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

With regard to transcriptions or transcripts procured by the government since January 1, 2016, and broken down by department or agency: (a) what is the (i) date of the proceeding or event, (ii) location of the proceeding or event, (iii) description or summary of the proceeding or event, (iv) main participants speaking at the proceeding or event, (v) subject matter of the proceeding or event, for each transcription prepared in this period; (b) what was the cost of each transcription in (a); (c) who requested each transcription in (a) be prepared; and (d) what was the total amount spent on transcriptions or transcripts, broken down by year?

(Return tabled)

Question No.435—

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

With regard to the Canada training credit (CTC): (a) how much has the CTC cost the government, or is currently forecasted to cost, for (i) 2019–20, (ii) 2020–21, (iii) 2021–22, (iv) 2022–23, (v) 2023–24; (b) how do the actual costs, or currently forecasted costs, in (a) compare to the projections in budget 2019; (c) for any costs in (b) that are lower than the projections in budget 2019, why have the projections been revised for lower cost and lower uptake; (d) what is the breakdown by (i) age, (ii) federal income tax bracket, (iii) province, (iv) type of the two eligible educational institutions that tuition or other fees were paid to, (v) average refund received, (vi) median refund received, of the 400,000 individuals who claimed this credit in 2020 as referenced in part 4 of the Department of Finance’s “Report on Federal Tax Expenditures - Concepts, Estimates and Evaluations 2022”; (e) how much has been spent by government departments or agencies to administer the CTC since 2019; (f) what is the number of employees directly or indirectly involved in the administration of the CTC; (g) how much has been spent by government departments or agencies to advertise or otherwise promote the CTC since 2019; and (h) what is the breakdown of (g) by type of advertising or promotion?

(Return tabled)

Question No.437—

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

With regard to the government's response to question Q-306 and its reference to the 40 individuals, associations and organizations who were sent the email to promote the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS): (a) what are the names of these 40 individuals, associations and organizations; (b) how were they chosen; and (c) which ones responded to the email indicating an interest in sharing information about the NSS?

(Return tabled)

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Madam Speaker, I ask that all remaining questions be allowed to stand.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Is that agreed?