Debates of Nov. 4th, 2024

Question No.2982—

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

With regard to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) digital initiative: (a) what are the start and end dates of the cutover period during which there will be no activity related to the processing of accounting for imported goods or processing of refunds of duties and taxes; (b) what are importers supposed to do during this period; (c) what specific measures, if any, are in place to ensure that the CARM transition does not cause harm or disrupt any businesses; (d) what measures are in place to ensure that bonds and access to bonds required for merchandise importation are not a problem for businesses during the transition; and (e) is the government projecting that any financial harm will occur to any businesses as a result of constraints faced during the transition, and, if so, (i) how many businesses are projected to be impacted, (ii) what measures is the government taking to address those harms or constraints?

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, with regard to part (a), the Canada Border Services Agency, CBSA, assessment and revenue management, CARM, cutover period will extend from October 4, 2024, at 4 p.m. ET, to October 21, 2024, at 3 a.m. ET.

With regard to part (b), during this period, the submission of electronic accounting documents, B3s, must be held by trade chain partners until CARM functionality and the commercial accounting declaration, CAD, is available on October 21, 2024. However, paper accounting documents will continue to be accepted and processed at CBSA commercial offices. The ability to release commercial goods at the border and maintain border fluidity is not impacted during the CARM cutover period. The CBSA’s system to process commercial releases, known as the accelerated commercial release operations support system, ACROSS, is not impacted by cutover activities and remains available with the exception of a maintenance window that will extend from the evening of Saturday, October 5, 2024, to the morning of Sunday, October 6, 2024.

With regard to part (c), the CBSA has developed transition measures to ensure continued border fluidity and timely submission of accounting and payment of duties after CARM implementation on October 21, 2024. A full account and description of the CARM transitional measures can be found at https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/cn-ad/cn24-27-eng.html.

With regard to part (d), regulatory changes will come into force on October 21, 2024. These regulations will introduce a 180-day transition period following CARM implementation, from October 21, 2024, to April 19, 2025, to allow time for importers to obtain financial security. This will give importers and their service providers time to adapt to the new financial security model and avoid border disruptions.

With regard to part (e), the government is not projecting that any business will be subjected to financial harm during the transition period. During the cutover period and for a period of 90 calendar days following the October 21, 2024, implementation, the CBSA will not be issuing late accounting penalties, late payment penalties or late payment interest. The CBSA may adjust this to further mitigate the transition to CARM system if it is deemed necessary.

Question No.2983—

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

With regard to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the hours of operation at all land ports between Canada and the USA: (a) is the CBSA currently considering or planning (i) any reduction in hours or service at any land points of entry, (ii) to close down any land points of entry; (b) if the answer to (a)(i) or (a)(ii) is affirmative, what reductions or closures are being considered or planned; (c) what are the details of any consultations and studies related to any reductions or closures, broken down by point of entry, including (i) who was consulted, (ii) by what method was the consultation posted; and (d) does the CBSA have any plans to use the ArriveCAN application or digital identification to replace staffed border crossings in favour of automated crossings at any land points of entry, and, if so, which points of entry will be impacted by these changes, and by what date?

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, with regard to part (a)(i), the Canada Border Services Agency, CBSA, has been analyzing changes to hours of service. With regard to part (a)(ii), the CBSA has no intention to close ports of entry.

With regard to part (b), the CBSA must assess the allocation of its resources against its operations. Recent analysis has focused on the number of cars per hour and locations where the United States Customs and Border Protection, CBP, hours of service differ from CBSA’s. No closures are being planned.

With regard to part (c), there has been no public consultation to date on this. The CBSA works closely with the CBP on matters that affect both sides of the border. The CBSA is committed to proactively notifying the public ahead of any adjustments to services and operations.

With regard to part (d), there is no linkage to new technology. Any new technologies that will be introduced as part of traveller modernization will complement and assist border services officers in doing their work.

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

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

Madam Speaker, if the government's response to Questions Nos. 2963 to 2965, 2967 to 2969, 2971 to 2975, 2977 to 2981, 2984 and 2985 could be made orders for return, these returns would be tabled in an electronic format immediately.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Question No.2963—

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

With regard to full-time Governor in Council appointees: (a) what GCQ 9 classified positions are currently (i) vacant, (ii) filled; (b) what GCQ 10 classified positions are currently (i) vacant, (ii) filled; and (c) for each filled position in (a) and (b), who was appointed to the position?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2964—

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

With regard to the filing requirements for the GST and HST for businesses, broken down by calendar year from 2018 through 2023, and by province or territory: how many businesses filed their GST return using (i) only electronic returns, (ii) paper returns for some, or all, of their filings?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2965—

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

With regard to travel expenditures incurred by the government, broken down by department, agency, Crown corporation, or other government entity: what were the total travel expenditures, broken down by object code and type of travel (i.e. 0251 Public servant travel - OperationaI activities, 0264 Non-public servant travel - Training, etc.) incurred during the (i) 2022-23, (ii) 2023-24, fiscal year?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2967—

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

With regard to Jasper National Park, since 2015: (a) did any government department or agency do any consultations on the impact of the invasive mountain pine beetle, fire management, and fire preparedness, and, if so, (i) which groups and people were consulted, (ii) how much money was spent on the consultation process, (iii) what were the results or recommendations of the consultations, (iv) when were the consultations conducted, (v) how were the consultations conducted; (b) what briefings on the impact of the invasive mountain pine beetle, fire management, and fire preparedness were produced for the Privy Council Office, the Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the Office of the Prime Minister or any other government department; (c) what conversations, online, written, spoken, or otherwise, took place amongst Parks Canada or Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) officials in determining efforts to mitigate the impact of the mountain pine beetle; (d) following the mountain pine beetle infestation, what consideration led to the decision by the Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to withhold the data on how many hectares of dead pine were left standing in Jasper National Park, and what are the details of all notes, minutes of meetings, briefings or any other documents related to this matter, including, for each, the (i) internal tracking number, (ii) date, (iii) title, (iv) type of document, (v) sender, (vi) recipient; (e) how many hectares of dead pine were left standing in Jasper National Park; (f) following the release of 2021 Briefing Book and its advice that “There is still much work to do to mitigate Mountain Pine Beetle related impacts particularly in the forests surrounding communities within the Rocky Mountain National Parks, e.g. Jasper”, what consideration was undertaken by the Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change or ECCC to address this concern, and what are the details of all notes, minutes of meetings, briefings or any other documents related to this matter, including, for each, the (i) internal tracking number, (ii) date, (iii) title, (iv) type of document, (v) sender, (vi) recipient; (g) following the 2022 Parks Canada Implementation Report to Parliament that warned precautions were inadequate and that “Fire has not yet been applied for Whitebark Pine restoration”, what consideration was undertaken by the Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change or ECCC to address this concern and what are the details of all notes, minutes of meetings, briefings or any other documents related to this matter, including, for each, the (i) internal tracking number, (ii) date, (iii) title, (iv) type of document, (v) sender, (vi) recipient?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2968—

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

With regard to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) risk assessments on imports of honeybee hives, nucleus colonies, package bee imports, and honeybee queens: (a) what are the details of all documents prepared related to the 2003 and 2013 CFIA assessments about the possibility of opening the border with the United States for such imports, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) subject matter, (iii) type of document, (iv) department’s internal tracking number, (v) sender, (vi) recipients, (vii) summary of the contents; (b) what is the reason that a risk assessment for such imports was not undertaken between 2013 and 2023; (c) what are the details of all documents related to the matter in (b), including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) subject matter, (iii) type of document, (iv) department’s internal tracking number, (v) sender, (vi) recipients, (vii) summary of the contents; (d) what are the details of the proposed 2024 CFIA risk assessment for the import of honeybee hives, nucleus colonies, package bee imports, and honeybee queens from the United States, including, (i) which groups and people were consulted, (ii) how much money was spent on the consultation process, (iii) what were the results or recommendations of the consultations, (iv) when were the consultations conducted, (v) how were the consultations conducted; and (e) what are the details of all notes, minutes of meetings, briefings or any other documents related to matters in (d), including, for each, the (i) internal tracking number, (ii) date, (iii) title, (iv) type of document, (v) sender, (vi) recipient, (vii) summary of the contents?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2969—

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

With regard to the $75 million allocated to the National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking announced on September 4, 2019: (a) what is the breakdown of how the $75 million was spent, including (i) which departments and agencies received funding, (ii) how much each received, (iii) how much was allocated for each initiative, program or organization; (b) what are the details of all projects and programs which have been provided funding, to date, through the strategy, including, for each, the (i) name, (ii) project description, (iii) amount, (iv) date of the funding, (v) start date of the project or program, (vi) end date of the project or program, (vii) duration of the project or program funded, (viii) recipient, (ix) location; and (c) what criteria or process was used to determine which projects were funded and how much each project received?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2971—

[Warren Steinley, Conservative, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

With regard to the Lake Diefenbaker Irrigation Projects, since January 1, 2020: (a) how much funding has been provided by the government for any such projects, in total and broken down by individual project; and (b) has the government received any requests for such projects which it has not yet funded, and, if so, what are the details of the requests and the reason why they have not yet been funded?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2972—

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

With regard to visitor visa applicants and assessments done by the government, including agencies such as the Canada Border Services Agency at border crossings: what are the criteria used to assess the admissibility of applicants, including the amount of funds that applicants must have, broken down by type of visa?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2973—

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

With regard to the Minister of Public Safety's announcement on May 8, 2023, about the government investing $390 million "in programs to help stop gun crime and gang violence before it starts": (a) how much of the $390 million has been spent to date in total, broken down by province or territory; (b) which organizations received the funding and how much did each receive; (c) what were the guidelines used to determine the eligibility of a funding recipient; and (d) what metrics and accountability measures is the government using to ensure that organizations use the funding in an appropriate fashion?

(Return tabled)