Debates of Sept. 20th, 2022

(Return tabled)

Question No.679—

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

With regard to income support benefits and the population groups designated by the government as “hard-to-reach populations” or “vulnerable populations,” since November 2015, broken down by year and by type of income support benefit, including the Canada Child Benefit, the Canada Workers Benefit, the Old Age Security, the Guaranteed Income Supplement and the GST credit: (a) what are the designated groups; (b) what was the benefit take-up rate for each group in (a); (c) among the rates in (b), which rates exclude people who did not file a tax return; (d) what is the estimated gap between the rates in (b) and those observed in the general population; (e) among the groups in (a), what is the estimated number of people who are eligible for a benefit yet did not receive it; and (f) what is the estimated rate of people required to file a tax return who did not yet file one?

(Return tabled)

Question No.680—

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

With regard to claims for regular employment insurance benefits, between January and June 2022, broken down by month: (a) what was the processing time for claims, broken down by (i) average length of time, (ii) median length of time; (b) how many claimants received their benefit after 28 days; (c) of the claimants in (b), how long did it take for them to receive their benefit, broken down by (i) average length of time, (ii) median length of time; (d) of the total claims submitted, how many claims are still pending; and (e) how many officers are processing claims?

(Return tabled)

Question No.681—

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

With regard to programs addressing food insecurity, since November 2015, broken down by year and by program: (a) what is the total funding received; (b) of the funding in (a), what is the total funding disbursed; (c) what is the total number of applications; (d) of the applications in (c), how many applications were (i) approved, (ii) denied; (e) what is the timeline for assessing, reviewing and approving or rejecting an application, broken down by (i) average time, (ii) median time; (f) of the applications in (e), what percentage met the service standard; (g) has the government finalized the development of a national emergency preparedness and response plan for Canada’s food system and, if not, why not; and (h) what is the current rate of food insecurity as measured by Statistics Canada?

(Return tabled)

Question No.682—

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

With regard to the investment of more than $800 million in community-led harm reduction, treatment, and prevention initiatives the government has indicated it has committed since 2015 to address the overdose crisis: (a) how much funding has been allocated to date; (b) where has the funding been allocated to date, including, for each project, the (i) organization, (ii) project title (iii) description, (iv), primary focus, (v) location, (vi) contribution agreement amount from the federal government, (vii) project duration?

(Return tabled)

Question No.683—

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

With regard to the Shared Health Priorities bilateral agreements, since fiscal year 2016-17, broken down by province or territory and fiscal year: (a) which federal investments have been directed towards (i) increasing the availability of mental health and addiction services in the community, excluding hospital and family physician funding, (ii) improving access to school-based programs for early prevention, detection and treatment, (iii) mental health promotion and mental illness prevention, (iv) expanding access to crisis intervention services and integrated multidisciplinary professional services, including peer support workers and mental health professionals on crisis response teams; (b) what measures or indicators are being tracked to monitor the effectiveness of the investments in (a); and (c) what reports, studies, or analyses has the government made publicly available concerning the effectiveness of these investments?

(Return tabled)

Question No.688—

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

With regard to the effects of climate change in Tibet, the Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992), and the United Nations’ (UN) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports: (a) has the government ever raised (i) concerns regarding the detrimental effects of climate change and Chinese development policies on Tibet’s fragile ecosystem, and, if so, when, where, and with whom have these concerns been raised, (ii) environmental concerns relating to Tibet during UN climate change conferences, or other global climate change conferences; (b) has the government called for an external investigation of alleged violations of the human rights of environmental activists inside Tibet, and, specifically, has the government raised concerns about the imprisonment of the Tibetan nomad environmental activist A-Nya Sengdra who was imprisoned for his activism in 2019; (c) has the government called for an external investigation of human rights violations in Tibet concerning the mass removal of nomadic pastoralists; and (d) has the government raised with China the issue of expansive damn-building in Tibet, its impacts on Tibet’s fragile ecosystem, and whether there has been consultation with local Tibetan communities?

(Return tabled)

Question No.689—

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

With regard to Canada’s trade relationship with China and human rights violations in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) and Tibetan areas of China, such as Sichuan, Qinghai, Yunnan, and Gansu: (a) has Canada raised concerns over human rights violations during its possible Canada-China Free Trade agreement (FTA) exploratory discussions; (b) has Canada consulted with Tibetan human rights advocacy groups during its public consultations on a possible Canada-China FTA, and, if so, (i) how many were consulted and what were their names, (ii) what was the full report of their concerns and recommendations; (c) does Canada and China’s joint feasibility study examining the potential economic benefits of a FTA for both countries include considerations of human rights violations; (d) how does Canada ensure that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the United Nations Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights are upheld within its Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement with China; (e) has the Canadian government prohibited the importation of goods from Chinese companies violating the Customs Tariff section 132(1)(m)(i.1) which prohibits the importation of goods that are produced wholly or in part by forced labour, and, if so, (i) how many companies were banned, (ii) when was this done, (iii) what are their names; and (f) has Global Affairs Canada conducted any investigation into recent reports stating that an estimated 500,000 Tibetans have been placed into labour camps similar to the ones in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region?

(Return tabled)

Question No.691—

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

With regard to the 2018 Canada–Quebec Integrated Bilateral Agreement for the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program: what are the details of all the relevant documents supporting the government’s decision to unilaterally amend the content of the bilateral agreement, including (i) communications such as letters, emails and messages from the ministers’ offices and departments concerned, (ii) the terms and conditions of programs and funding, (iii) final reports from the management and oversight committees and subcommittees, (iv) signed amendments, (v) notes and memos?

(Return tabled)

Question No.692—

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

With regard to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program, since the date the program was created, broken down by the size of the business applying (small, medium, large): (a) how many audits have been conducted; (b) how many notices of determination have been sent to applicants; (c) for the notices in (b), what is the dollar value; (d) what is the dollar value of the total amounts previously paid that have been reimbursed; and (e) of the amounts reimbursed in (d), what is the dollar value of the total (i) applicable interest, (ii) penalties?

(Return tabled)

Question No.693—

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

With regard to the whistleblower allegations concerning the Canada Revenue Agency advance pricing arrangement (APA) program, as reported by La Presse on May 24, 2022, since November 2015, and broken down by fiscal year: (a) how many APA agreements have been concluded; (b) what was the processing time for each of the agreements concluded in (a); (c) of the agreements concluded in (a), how many were retroactive agreements; (d) for each of the agreements in (a), what is the dollar value of the foregone tax revenue; (e) for each of the requests in (c), what is the dollar value of the foregone tax revenue; (f) for the agreements in (c), what was their processing time; (g) of the agreements in (a), which ones were not recommended by public servants; and (h) does the minister or their exempt staff participate in the decision-making process for accepting requests and concluding agreements, and, if so, to what extent and for which agreements?

(Return tabled)

Question No.694—

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

With regard to the whistleblower allegations about the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) Advance Pricing Arrangement program and the Minister of National Revenue’s statement in the House that “the investigation carried out by an independent tax expert showed that the terms of the agreement were favourable to the agency and did not provide any type of preferential treatment to the taxpayers involved”: (a) when was the minister informed of the allegations that the CRA had entered into certain arrangements without due diligence; (b) what is the job title of the individual who (i) made the decision to launch an investigation, (ii) made the decision to engage an independent tax expert, (iii) was responsible for setting the tax expert’s terms of reference, (iv) was responsible for hiring the tax expert; (c) with respect to the points in (b), was the minister or her exempt staff involved in these decisions, and, if so, to what extent; (d) what are the details of the process that led to the hiring of the tax expert; (e) what is the name of the tax expert; (f) what was the value of the contract awarded to the tax expert; (g) what were the details of the tax expert’s terms of reference; (h) on what date did the investigation start; (i) did the investigation start before the tax expert was hired; (j) what are the job titles of the individuals in charge of the investigation; (k) what are the job titles of the individuals who answered the investigator’s questions; (l) what are the titles and numbers of the documents analyzed as part of the investigation; (m) what laws and regulations were consulted as part of the investigation; (n) when did the investigation end; (o) what is the job title of the individual who made the decision to end the investigation; (p) what are the detailed findings of the investigation; (q) was the minister involved in the investigation, and, if so, to what extent; (r) were the exempt staff in the minister’s office involved in the investigation, and, if so, to what extent; (s) when was the minister informed of the investigation findings; (t) was the minister or her exempt staff involved in (i) drafting the investigation report, (ii) reviewing the investigation report; (u) are there different versions of the investigation report, and, if so, why and what are the version titles and numbers; and (v) was the investigation conducted an independent one?

(Return tabled)

Question No.696—

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

With regard to the government's plans and statistics related to the disposal of medical waste produced during the COVID-19 pandemic, including used rapid test kits: (a) what is the government's waste management plan for medical waste; (b) what are government's estimates on the amount of medical which has ended up in (i) landfills, (ii) the Great Lakes, (iii) the ocean, since the pandemic began, broken down by type of waste; (c) what measures, if any, did the government put into place to prevent used rapid test kits from ending up with other garbage; and (d) what (i) amount, (ii) percentage, of medical waste generated, since March 2020, has been exported to a foreign country?

(Return tabled)