Debates of June 22nd, 2022

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

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

Mr. Speaker, notwithstanding the fact that the member is absolutely incorrect, as indeed Kingston is the best riding in the country, he is now providing his own personal opinion on a petition. During petitions, members are only supposed to present a petition, not provide their own commentary on it.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

I thank the hon. member for the intervention. I think West Nova is the best riding, or maybe Avalon. On that point of order, there are a whole bunch of them.

I will remind the members that when we present petitions, we try to keep to the basis of the petition.

The hon. member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I will stand by my words. Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon is the number one riding in Canada, and I am pleased to represent it every day.

My constituents are calling upon the Department of Citizenship and Immigration to do a much better job with giving Canadians realistic processing times for applications and permits, such as temporary resident visas and permanent residence. Newcomers want to get the necessary permits to live and work in Canada in a timely manner, but many applications are sitting in limbo even when there are no further details required to process them.

My constituents are therefore calling upon the Government of Canada and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration to provide a more efficient service so that immigrants and refugees do not have to wait years for a response to their applications for various permits, as well as to provide accurate timelines for processing those applications.

Questions on the Order Paper

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

Mr. Speaker, the following questions will be answered today: Nos. 561, 563 and 565.

Question No.561—

[Ryan Williams, Conservative, Bay of Quinte, ON]

With regard to memorandums, briefing notes, or other documents prepared by or for Employment and Social Development Canada, since January 1, 2016: (a) what are the details of all briefing notes or memorandums prepared on Canada’s labour force participation rate, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) sender, (iii) recipient, (iv) title, (v) subject matter, (vi) summary of the content, (vii) file number, (viii) type of document; and (b) what are the details of all briefing notes or memorandums prepared on Canada’s productivity rate, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) sender, (iii) recipient, (iv) title, (v) subject matter, (vi) summary of the content, (vii) file number, (viii) type of document?

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment]

Mr. Speaker, each month Statistics Canada conducts the labour force survey, which is used to produce labour market indicators such as the participation rate. ESDC closely monitors Statistics Canada updates of labour market participation rate and uses this key metric in several labour market diagnostics, as well as to support planning, development and evaluation of various employment programs delivered by the department.

Having surveyed the work required to respond to this request, ESDC has concluded that the production and validation of a response to this question would require significant manual information gathering. As our systems do not index memoranda and briefing notes by their contents, it is not possible to complete such a search within the required time frame.

For records back to 2019, the Open Canada website at https://open. canada.ca/en/ proactive- disclosure provides proactive disclosure of briefing packages, such as briefing note titles, question period notes, etc., which might be useful to narrow the scope of the request on the two topics of labour force participation rate and productivity rate.

Question No.563—

[Dan Muys, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

With regard to the recommendation by the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities to abolish the Canada Infrastructure Bank: does the government respect the work of the committee, and, if so, when will it abolish the Canada Infrastructure Bank?

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, with regard to the recommendation by the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities to abolish the Canada Infrastructure Bank, the government continues to review the findings of the report and associated recommendation and will provide a response.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank, the CIB, works with all orders of government and private partners, including indigenous investment partners, to help to transform how infrastructure is planned, funded and delivered to Canadians.

The CIB is involved in more than 30 infrastructure partnerships and has committed over $7.2 billion in capital, attracting over $7.6 billion in private and institutional investment.

Budget 2022 announced measures to increase the CIB’s impact by broadening the types of private sector-led projects it can support. Further, under the emissions reductions plan, it is expected to invest $500 million in large-scale zero-emission vehicle charging and refueling infrastructure.

The CIB is supporting key projects like high-frequency rail, helping to transition Atlantic Canada off coal through clean power transmission, and supporting the Manitoba fibre plan to provide broadband access to households and businesses.

Question No.565—

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

With regard to the government-wide directives in response to the first recommendation of the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, "That the Government of Canada stipulate in all future requests for proposals for collecting data of Canadians that Canadians have the option to opt out of the data collection and that instructions for the method for opting out be easily understood, widely communicated and remain publicly available,": (a) on what date will the government implement changes to abide by the recommendation; and (b) what specific directives or action has been taken by the government to implement the recommended changes?

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the President of the Treasury Board)]

Mr. Speaker, the government is currently studying the recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in its recent report tabled in the House of Commons, “Collection and Use of Mobility Data by the Government of Canada and Related Issues”. The government will table a response, as requested by the committee, within the timelines required by the Standing Orders of the House of Commons.

It is important to note that in addition to the obligations in the Privacy Act, TBS’s policy on privacy protection and its underlying instruments, such as the directive on privacy practices, currently include strong requirements for institutions relating to the collection, notification, use, and disclosure of personal information as defined in section 3 of the act.

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

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

Mr. Speaker, if revised response to Question No. 444, originally tabled on May 13, 2022, and the government's response to Questions Nos. 562, 564 and 566 could be made orders for returns, these returns would be tabled immediately.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Question No.444—

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

With regard to expenditures on public relations or media training, or similar type of services for ministers or their offices, including the Office of the Prime Minister, since January 1, 2019: what are the details of each such expenditure, including the (i) date of the contract, (ii) amount, (iii) vendor, (iv) individual providing the training, (v) summary of services provided, including the type of training, (vi) person who received the training, (vii) date of the training?

(Return tabled)

Question No.562—

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

With regard to the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Armed Forces, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, since January 2020: what are the details of any contracts or partnerships with non-Canadian entities or states to conduct operations within Canada, including the (i) start and end dates, (ii) contracting parties, (iii) file number, (iv) nature or description of the work, (v) value of the contract?

(Return tabled)

Question No.564—

[Dan Muys, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

With regard to government expenditures on Cisco and Cisco Systems products or services since January 1, 2020, including those obtained or purchased through a third party vendor: what are the details of each expenditure, including the (i) date, (ii) amount or value, (iii) vendor, (iv) description of goods or services, including the volume, (v) file number, (vi) manner in which the contract was awarded (sole-sourced, competitive bid, etc.)?

(Return tabled)

Question No.566—

[Tako Van Popta, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

With regard to government programs conducting surveillance or gathering information from Canadians through their phones or other mobile devices, including programs involving anonymized data: what are the details of these programs since January 1, 2020, including, for each, (i) the name of program, (ii) the date the program began, if it began after January 1, 2020, (iii) the description of the data being collected, (iv) the purpose of the program, (v) the description of how the data is collected, (vi) the department or agency responsible for overseeing the program, (vii) whether or not the privacy commissioner was consulted before the program was implemented, (viii) the concerns raised by the privacy commissioner, (ix) how each concern was addressed, (x) the end date of the program, (xi) the number of Canadians who had their data tracked?

(Return tabled)

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

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

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Motions for Papers

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

Mr. Speaker, I would ask that all notices of motions for the production of papers be allowed to stand.