Debates of May 9th, 2022

Question No.402—

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

With regard to applications by federal employees for exemptions to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate on religious or medical grounds: (a) for each federal department or agency, how many exemption applications on medical grounds were received; (b) for each federal department or agency, how many exemption applications on religious grounds were received; (c) how many applications in (a) and (b) were approved; (d) how many of the rejected applications in (a) and (b) have prompted grievances by the respective employees’ unions; (e) of the grievances in (d), how many have been resolved to date; (f) of the grievances in (e), how many were resolved by accepting or confirming rejection of the application respectively; (g) what guidance did the government provide to management in federal departments and agencies with respect to evaluating applications in (a) and (b); (h) what criteria did management use in evaluating applications in (a) and (b); and (i) how were discussions between management and employees applying the exemptions in (a) or (b) documented?

(Return tabled)

Question No.404—

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

With regard to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and the commitments in the 2016 and 2017 federal budgets to spend, respectively, $444.4 and $523.9 million (combined total of $968.3 million over five years) to combat tax evasion, as well as the claim by the CRA that “The CRA remains on track to spend the budget investments over the 5-year period for which they have been outlined”: (a) as of the end of the fiscal year 2016-17, how much of the $41.8 million budgeted for cracking down on tax evasion and combatting tax avoidance in budget 2016 had actually been (i) spent, (ii) used, to fund employee benefit plans; (b) as of the end of the fiscal year 2017-18, how much of the $62.8 million budgeted for cracking down on tax evasion and combatting tax avoidance in budget 2016 had actually been (i) spent, (ii) used, to fund employee benefit plans; (c) as of the end of the fiscal year 2017-18, how much of the $54.9 million budgeted for cracking down on tax evasion and combatting tax avoidance in budget 2017 had actually been (i) spent, (ii) used, to fund employee benefit plans; (d) as of the end of the fiscal year 2018-19, how much of the $85.7 million budgeted for cracking down on tax evasion and combatting tax avoidance in budget 2016 had actually been (i) spent, (ii) used, to fund employee benefit plans; (e) as of the end of the fiscal year 2018-19, how much of the $78.1 million budgeted for cracking down on tax evasion and combatting tax avoidance in budget 2017 had actually been (i) spent, (ii) used, to fund employee benefit plans; (f) as of the end of the fiscal year 2019-20, how much of the $98.6 million budgeted for cracking down on tax evasion and combatting tax avoidance in budget 2016 had actually been (i) spent, (ii) used, to fund employee benefit plans; (g) as of the end of the fiscal year 2019-20, how much of the $77.6 million budgeted for cracking down on tax evasion and combatting tax avoidance in budget 2017 had actually been (i) spent, (ii) used, to fund employee benefit plans; (h) as of the end of the fiscal year 2020-21, how much of the $155.5 million budgeted for cracking down on tax evasion and combatting tax avoidance in budget 2016 had actually been (i) spent, (ii) used, to fund employee benefit plans; and (i) as of the end of the fiscal year 2020-21, how much of the $127.6 million budgeted for cracking down on tax evasion and combatting tax avoidance in budget 2017 had actually been (i) spent, (ii) used, to fund employee benefit plans?

(Return tabled)

Question No.405—

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

With regard to the response to question Q-143, tabled in the House of Commons on January 31, 2022, on which, on page six of the English version the fourth line from the bottom reads “3236.0-Massage Therapists 672”, and broken down by fiscal year starting in 2015-16: (a) how many temporary foreign workers in this employment sector (i) applied for work permits, (ii) received work permits, (iii) came to Canada and were employed in this sector; (b) what is the numerical breakdown of permits sponsored by individual companies and organizations; (c) what steps were taken to ensure that these individuals were not forced into sexual human trafficking when in Canada; (d) how many of these individuals were alleged or found to have been trafficked into sex work; and (e) what enforcement action was taken by (i) Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada, (ii) Employment and Social Development Canada, (iii) the Canada Border Services Agency, (iv) the RCMP, (v) provincial police, (vi) municipal police, (vii) any other government department or agency, to protect individuals that were alleged or found to have been trafficked into sex work?

(Return tabled)

Question No.406—

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

With regard to the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP), human trafficking and sexual slavery: (a) since the use of the TFWP to actively recruit and sell individuals into sexual slavery in the early 2000s, what internal policy safeguards does (i) Employment and Social Development Canada, (ii) Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, (iii) the Canada Border Services Agency, (iv) the RCMP, have in place to prevent the program from being exploited as a human trafficking route as it once was; (b) what protections are in place for vulnerable individuals in job categories that are used as sex work in Canada such as, but not limited to, massage therapists; (c) how many complaints has each department or agency received, broken down by fiscal year, starting in 2015-16 to present, and job category for unwanted sexual harassment, sexual assault and sexual trafficking; (d) of the complaints in (c), how many were (i) investigated, (ii) founded, (iii) unfounded, and what enforcement actions were taken; and (e) are Canadian companies still eligible to receive temporary foreign workers if complaints against them were founded, and, if so, why?

(Return tabled)

Question No.407—

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

With regard to the mandate letter of the Minister of Health and the direction in the letter to invest in the study of the long-term health impacts of COVID-19, including the effects of long COVID on different groups, notably vulnerable populations and children: what is the total funding allocated for this purpose, broken down by (i) fiscal year, (ii) department or agency, (iii) initiative, (iv) amount?

(Return tabled)

Question No.409—

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

With regard to the Climate Action Incentive Fund (CAIF) in Manitoba, broken down by year since 2019: (a) how much revenue was collected through the government’s carbon tax, broken down by how much was collected in each (i) municipality, (ii) university, (iii) hospital; and (b) how much of that collected revenue was returned through the CAIF’s Municipalities, Universities, Schools and Hospitals Retrofit stream, broken down by (i) municipality, (ii) university, (iii) hospital?

(Return tabled)

Question No.410—

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

With regard to the Lake Audy Campground in Riding Mountain National Park, broken down by year since 2017: (a) how much revenue was collected by Parks Canada from camping fees, broken down by type of campsite, including (i) regular campsite, (ii) group camping, (iii) oTENTik camping; and (b) how many registered campers visited the Lake Audy Campground, broken down by type of campsite, including (i) regular campsite, (ii) group camping, (iii) oTENTik camping?

(Return tabled)

Question No.412—

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

With regard to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF): (a) what is the total inventory by number for (i) radiation protective HazMat suits with breathing gear, (ii) filled oxygen tanks, (iii) robotic, handheld, vehicle mounted, personal dosimeter and radiation detection devices, (iv) decontamination stations, (v) positive pressure safety shelters; and (b) for each item mentioned in (a), (i) where are the items stored, (ii) what are the expiration dates, (iii) on what day were they most recently inspected, (iv) what number passed inspection, (v) what number is currently assigned to CAF personnel deployed in Eastern Europe?

(Return tabled)

Question No.417—

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

With regard to the government’s use of Microsoft Teams, broken down by department: (a) how many employees use Microsoft Teams, reflected as a number and total percentage; and (b) what is the chat-retention policy of the department for one-to-one, group and meeting chat messages?

(Return tabled)

Question No.418—

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

With regard to the Prime Minister's trip to Europe from March 6 to 11, 2022: (a) excluding security personnel, what are the names and titles of the passengers on the Prime Minister's flights to and from Europe; (b) what are the (i) dates, (ii) times, (iii) location of each meeting attended by either the Prime Minister, other ministers, or any other government representative during the trip; and (c) for each meeting in (b), who were the attendees, including what organization each attendee was representing?

(Return tabled)

Question No.419—

[Matt Jeneroux, Conservative, Edmonton Riverbend, AB]

With regard to the government's Black Entrepreneurship Program: (a) how much of the $265 million allocated to the program has been distributed to date; and (b) what are the details of all projects which have been funded through the program, including, for each, the (i) recipient, (ii) amount of federal contribution, (iii) project description, (iv) date of the announcement, (v) date the recipient actually received the federal funding, (vi) project location, (vii) file number?

(Return tabled)

Question No.420—

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

With regard to electric vehicle charging stations located on property owned by the government, including Parliament Hill, or by government agencies such as Parks Canada: what was the daily average number of cars that used each charging station, broken down by month, since January 1, 2020, and by location of the charging station?

(Return tabled)

Question No.424—

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

With regard to bonuses paid out to government officials in the 2020-21 fiscal year, broken down by department or agency: (a) what was the total amount paid out in bonuses; and (b) how many and what percentage of officials (i) at or above the executive (EX) level (or equivalent), (ii) below the EX level (or equivalent), received bonuses?