Debates of April 15th, 2024

Question No.2397—

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing]

Mr. Speaker, with regard to the Green and Inclusive Community Buildings, or GICB, Program and the decision to not fund the Municipality of Red Lake, Ontario, with regard to (a), the Corporation of the Municipality of Red Lake submitted an application to the GICB’s second scheduled intake for the new build “Red Lake Multi-Purpose Community Recreation Centre - Regional Events Arts and Culture Hub (REACH)” project seeking over $20 million in funding. The Municipality of Red Lake, Ontario received a regret letter on February 14, 2024.

The GICB program was very competitive and oversubscribed, with about 1900 applications requesting over $15 billion in funding since its launch. Due to the high level of interest and limited funding available, many applicants received news that their project was not selected for funding.

With regard to (b), all new build projects are evaluated on a competitive basis, with projects being scored and ranked against one another. New build projects that meet all mandatory eligibility criteria are evaluated based on the strength of the application and will receive a merit score in relation to the eligibility criteria.

Once the applicant is determined to meet the eligibility criteria, the project is evaluated against the merit criteria. Some merit criteria also have a pass score that applicants must meet to pass the overall section.

For more details on how applications in various streams are evaluated, including new builds, please refer to the GICB Applicant Guide, which can be found at https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/gicb-bcvi/applicant-guide-demandeur-eng.html.

With regard to (c), we are unable to provide the scoring details for the Municipality of Red Lake’s application in order to maintain the integrity and competitive nature of the assessment process. However, the “How will my application for funding for a new building project be evaluated?” section of the GICB Applicant Guide, which can be found at https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/gicb-bcvi/applicant-guide-demandeur-eng.html#newbuildingevaluated, contains details about the competitive basis on which applications were evaluated.

With regard to (d), since the GICB program was launched in April 2021, Infrastructure Canada has received an overwhelming response to the program from communities and organizations from coast to coast to coast. This high level of interest resulted in a significantly large volume of applications, which far exceeded the funding available for the program. In addition to the demand, the high quality of applications submitted made the selection process very difficult. As a result, despite a large volume of quality applications and a huge demand, not all projects could be selected for funding.

To ensure applicant confidentiality, Infrastructure Canada does not share specific details on individual funding applications.

Note that all approved and announced projects by Infrastructure Canada, including under the GICB program, can also be found on the Open Government website at https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/beee0771-dab9-4be8-9b80-f8e8b3fdfd9d.

Question No.2401—

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

With regard to the Department of Indigenous Services 2023-24 Departmental Plan: (a) what is the expected decrease in spending related to the sunset of funding of (i) Jordan’s Principle, (ii) the Inuit Child First Initiative; (b) what will the total departmental spending for the continued implementation of Jordan’s Principle be in (i) 2023-24, (ii) 2024-25, (iii) 2025-26; and (c) what will the total departmental spending to support the Inuit Child First Initiative be in (i) 2023-24, (ii) 2024-25, (iii) 2025-26?

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indigenous Services]

Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a)(i), there is no expected decrease in spending. Further funding will be sought as required to ensure the Jordan's Principle Initiative is fully funded. Canada is committed to making sure that Indigenous children get the care they need, when they need it, by fully funding Jordan’s Principle.

With regard to (a)(ii), there is no expected decrease in spending. Further funding will be sought as required to ensure the Inuit Child First Initiative is fully funded as per the continued commitment and work by Canada and its Inuit partners to co-develop and implement a new model.

With regard to (b)(i), at this time, the forecast for 2023-24 (up to January 31, 2024) spending is approximately $1.46 billion.

With regard to (b)(ii) and (iii),at this time, due to the demand driven nature of Jordan's principle and significant growth in request volume, future expenditures cannot be accurately estimated.

With regard to (c)(i), at this time, the forecast for 2023-24 spending is approximately $1.46 billion.

With regard to (c)(ii) and (iii), at this time, due to the demand driven nature of Jordan's principle and significant growth in request volume, future expenditures cannot be accurately estimated.

Question No.2404—

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

With regard to the Department of Indigenous Services 2023-24 Departmental Plan, broken down by fiscal year for 2023-24, 2024-25, and 2025-26: (a) what is the total number of full-time equivalents who will be removed due to the sunset of funding for the continued implementation of Jordan’s Principle; (b) what is the total number of full-time equivalents who will be removed due to the sunset of funding for the Inuit Child First Initiative; (c) what indicators does the department use to demonstrate that the department will receive fewer requests for funding under Jordan’s Principle or the Inuit Child First Initiative over the next three fiscal years; and (d) what indicators does the department use to demonstrate that the health care needs of First Nations, Métis and Inuit children will decrease in the next three fiscal years?

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indigenous Services]

Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a) & (b), the Minister of Indigenous Services and the Government of Canada are fully committed to implementing Jordan’s Principle. There are no full-time equivalent, or FTE, reductions forecasted.

Canada and its Inuit partners continue to work towards implementation of a Inuit-led co-developed model. There are no intentions to sunset the Inuit Child First Initiative and there are no full-time equivalent reductions forecasted.

In March 2024, the Indigenous Services Canada, or ISC, Departmental Plan was tabled. It reflects the planned spending and human resources as per the Main Estimates for the 2024–25 fiscal year, which includes spending for previous funding decisions, such as initiatives announced in prior federal budgets. It does not include supplementary funding decisions that occur throughout the fiscal year to ensure that previously planned government initiatives receive the necessary funding to move them forward. Supplementary Estimates are part of the normal parliamentary approval process and are published throughout the year.

With regard to (c), Jordan's Principle and the Inuit Child First Initiative monitor the number of requests determined by group and individual service models as well as by type of services requested to ascertain demand. Based on utilization patterns to date, and the increasing delivery of services and products to requesters, Canada foresees that the demand will likely increase.

With regard to (d), ISC tracks and reports on results related to health and well-being at a population level, such as physical and mental health, and access to quality federally funded health services, to measure progress and inform the services provided to support First Nations and Inuit children. This monitoring is regardless of the specific ISC services accessed by individuals.

As Jordan’s Principle and the Inuit Child First Initiatives are request driven, Canada does not monitor the health of those accessing these services, nor engage in the specific development and monitoring of indicators for tracking health care needs at the specific level. Canada does monitor the number of requests and type of services requested to ascertain demand. Based on utilization patterns to date, and the increasing delivery of services and products to requesters, Canada foresees that the demand will likely increase.

Canada ensures the necessary operational and policy resources to meet the growing requests for both Initiatives and works with its many partners and stakeholders to understand the changing needs of the children to make any necessary adjustments.

Question No.2405—

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

With regard to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the immediate and extended family or de facto dependant of a resettled Yazidi or survivor of Daesh temporary policy announced in November 2023: (a) how many applications (i) have been received, (ii) have been accepted, (iii) have been denied, (iv) are pending or under review; (b) what is the breakdown by sex (male or female) of the main applicants; (c) what is the breakdown by age of the main applicants; and (d) how many webform submissions with the keyword IRQ2023 were received?

[Paul Chiang, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, in regard to (a) to (c), to date, 1,160 forms have been received from individuals in Canada requesting members of their family be resettled under this program. These forms are only the first step of the application process, and do not constitute the complete application for permanent residence. These forms also do not provide any demographic information (including sex and age). No complete applications have yet been received or accepted into processing.

With regard to (d), between December 1 and 7, 2023, over 1,160 online submissions were received.

Question No.2406—

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

With regard to the Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP): (a) how does the government reconcile the differences between the depiction in the February update note to stakeholders stating that demand for CDAP is unprecedented and demand for Boost Your Business Technology is almost fully subscribed, and the report in the Globe and Mail that demand for Boost Your Business Technology is far below target; (b) was the program at one-eighth of the program target, or was it fully subscribed; (c) how many businesses had (i) completed a Digital Needs Assessment, (ii) signed grant agreements, (iii) received grand payments; (d) how many loan applications has the Business Development Bank of Canada approved related to the program and what is the value of those loans; (e) how many work placements has CDAP provided to students through (i) Magnet, (ii) other mechanisms; and (f) how much has Magnet been paid by the government to date related to the program?

[Bryan May, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Small Business and to the Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a), the program was announced in Budget 2021 (April 19, 2021) with ambitious targets to support all small and medium sized businesses across Canada looking to adopt digital technologies. Although uptake was slower to ramp up in the first year, the Canada Digital Adoption Program saw continued growth in the number of signed grant agreements month over month throughout 2023, and into early 2024. Increased demand combined with reductions under the Refocusing Government Spending initiative announced in Budget 2023 resulted in the program being fully subscribed to the end of the program.

With regard to (b), due to the overwhelming demand, combined with these budget reductions, the Boost Your Business Technology grant was fully subscribed on February 19, 2024, and the program subsequently closed intake for new applications.

With regard to (c)(i), since the program launched in March 2022, about 56,000 businesses have benefited from a Digital Needs Assessment.

With regard to (c)(ii), over 36,500 businesses signed grant agreements since the program launched.

With regard to (c)(iii), since launch, the Boost Your Business Technology grant has disbursed over $260 million in grants to over 18,000 businesses. Those grants remaining are either currently being processed by the program or the businesses are continuing to work with digital advisors on developing their digital adoption plans. As of February 19, 2024, The Boost Your Business Technology grant is no longer accepting new applications.

With regard to (d), as of January 31, 2024, the Business Development Bank of Canada has provided over $314 million in loans to over 5,500 businesses who have an approved Boost Your Business Technology grant.

Note that aggregate data from program intermediaries for the Grow Your Business Online funding stream, Magnet, and the Business Development Bank of Canada is reported to the Canada Digital Adoption Program on a monthly basis.

As a result, aggregate data for Grow Your Business Online and Magnet is available as of February 21, 2024. Aggregate data for the Business Development Bank of Canada is available as of January 31, 2024.

Data for the Boost Your Business Technology funding stream is available daily, and is up to date as of the date the request was made.

With regard to (e)(i), as of February 21, 2024, under the Boost Your Business Technology stream, there have been a total of 1,094 work placements through Magnet.

With regard to (ii), as of February 21, 2024, service providers delivering the Grow Your Business Online grant have supported approximately 4,000 youth placements.

With regard to (f), approximately $8 million has been provided to Magnet to date, covering wage subsidy payments to medium-sized enterprises, direct delivery costs such as providing training to youth to prepare them for their work placements, and administrative costs.

Question No.2407—

[Scot Davidson, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

With regard to taxation: how many taxpayers have ceased to be Canadian residents for tax purposes since 2015, in total, and broken down by year and income bracket?

[Marie-Claude Bibeau, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, in response to the question from my colleague, the following is the information provided by the Canada Revenue Agency, or CRA, for the time period of January 1, 2015 to February 28, 2024, that is, the date of the question.

While the data are available for extraction, the CRA has made several attempts to perform quality analysis of the data in question, but has not been able to establish an adequate methodology for accurately identifying filers that have ceased to be residents of Canada.

As a result, the data do not meet the CRA’s quality standards for release. Completing the evaluation in order to provide the information requested would require an extensive effort that is not possible in the time allotted.

Question No.2408—

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

With regard to advertising expenditures promoting the Canada Pension Plan, since 2016: (a) how much has been spent on such advertising, in total, and broken down by year; (b) what are the details of each such advertising campaign, including the (i) start and end dates, (ii) amount spent, (iii) purpose of the campaign, (iv) types of outlets that advertising was purchased in (television, newspaper, radio, social media, etc.); and (c) what are the details of all contracts awarded related to the advertising campaigns, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) amount, (iii) vendor, (iv) description of goods or services, (v) manner in which the contract was awarded (sole-sourced, competitive bid)?

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour and Seniors]

Mr. Speaker, Employment and Social Development Canada, or ESDC, conducted a records search internally to determine whether the Department had advertising expenditures promoting the Canada Pension Plan, since 2016. The search concluded that ESDC did not have any expenditures promoting specifically the Canada Pension Plan.

However, the department had a campaign from 2018 to 2023 called Services for Seniors with generic messages that encourage seniors to visit the web page www.canada.ca/seniors to find information and resources that can benefit them. The web page included, among other things, information on the Canada Pension Plan and many other programs for seniors.

Question No.2416—

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

With regard to the Treasury Board Secretariat’s monthly statistical reports on claims made related to the Phoenix pay system, broken down by each report issued since reporting began: (a) what is the total number of claims made for (i) out of pocket expenses, (ii) impacts on income taxes and government benefits, (iii) requests for advances on government benefits, (iv) reimbursements for tax advice, (v) compensation for severe impacts, (vi) general compensation for damages related to Phoenix; and (b) for each claim made in (a), how many of the claims were (i) received, (ii) accepted, (iii) rejected?

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, the Treasury Board Secretariat, or TBS, Claims Office runs its monthly statistical report on the first working day of the month. The most recent report was run on March 1, 2024.

The TBS Claims Office uses a specially designed Client Relationship Management, or CRM, system that is internal to TBS and has as its primary function the capability to manage and track the submission and processing of claims. As the CRM system has limited capability to gather and produce detailed statistical reports on a historical basis, the information provided is cumulative from the date of inception to the date of the report.

With regard to (a)(i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v) and (vi), s of March 1, 2024, the TBS Claims Office has received the following total number of claims for the following: out-of-pocket expenses: 2,701; impacts on income taxes and government benefits: 1,516; requests for advances on government benefits: 20; reimbursements for tax advice: 4,026; compensation for severe impacts: 1,272; and general compensation for damages related to Phoenix: 28,620.

Note that the total number of claims made per category does not include cancelled claims. Reporting errors (now corrected) had previously included cancelled claims in the overall total number of claims received.

Also note that the TBS Claims Office monthly statistical report only tracks the number of claims received and processed by the TBS Claims Office. Claims for Phoenix-related damages processed and paid by other means are not captured in the TBS Claims Office reporting, rather are reported annually in the Public Accounts of Canada as payments of claims against the Crown. As such, a specific breakdown of the total number of general damages claims received since the signing of the Memoranda on Phoenix-related Damages is not possible.

With regard to (b)(i), (ii) and (iii), or each claim referred to in (a), the following is the number of claims received for out of pocket expenses: 2,701; impacts on income taxes and government benefits: 1,516; requests for advances on government benefits: 20; reimbursements for tax advice: 4,026; compensation for severe impacts: 1,272; and general compensation for damages related to Phoenix: 28,620. The following are the number of claims accepted for out of pocket expenses: 2,231; impacts on income taxes and government benefits: 1,011; requests for advances on government benefits: 17; reimbursements for tax advice: 3,928; compensation for severe impacts: 267; and general compensation for damages related to Phoenix: 23,753. The following are the number of claims rejected for out of pocket expenses: 427; impacts on income taxes and government benefits: 445; requests for advances on government benefits: 3; reimbursements for tax advice: 90; compensation for severe impacts: 637; and general compensation for damages related to Phoenix: 4,788.

The difference between the overall number of claims received and the number of claims reported as accepted and rejected is due to the number of claims currently in progress.

Question No.2417—

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

With regard to the Treasury Board Secretariat’s monthly statistical reports on claims made related to the Phoenix pay system, broken down by report since reporting began: (a) what is the total number of severe impact claims filed each month, broken down by (i) compensation for individuals on maternity, parental or disability leave, (ii) discriminatory practice, (iii) lost occupational capacity, (iv) lost security clearance, (v) bankruptcy, (vi) significant credit rating impact, (vii) resignation from the public service, (viii) mental anguish, (ix) other personal and financial hardship; and (b) for each category in (a) what is the number of claims that were (i) accepted, (ii) rejected?

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, the Treasury Board Secretariat, or TBS, Claims Office runs its monthly statistical report on the first working day of the month. The most recent report was run on March 1, 2024.

The TBS Claims Office uses a specially designed Client Relationship Management, or CRM, system that is internal to TBS and has as its primary function the capability to manage and track the submission and processing of claims. As the CRM system has limited capability to gather and produce detailed statistical reports on a historical basis, the information provided is cumulative from the date of inception to the date of the report.

With regard to (a)(i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi), (vii), (viii) and (ix), as of March 1, 2023, the TBS Claims Office received a total number of claims broken down by the following categories: compensation for individuals on maternity, parental or disability leave: 75; discriminatory practice: 38; lost occupational capacity: 32; lost security clearance: 6; bankruptcy: 20; significant credit rating impact: 53; resignation from the public service: 23; mental anguish: 409; and other personal and financial hardship: 519.

Note that any claimants file under this general heading of damages, however upon further examination by the TBS Claims Office, and in consultation with the claimant, the claims are reassigned under the corresponding specific category of damages where they are best assessed. The CRM system does not have the capability to track the number of “Other personal and financial hardship” claims that have been reassigned and assessed under the more appropriate specific category of damages.

With regard to (b)(i) and (ii), the total number of claims that were accepted by category is as follows: compensation for individuals on maternity, parental or disability leave: 7; discriminatory practice: 0; lost occupational capacity: 0; lost security clearance: 0; bankruptcy: 0; significant credit rating impact: 3; resignation from the public service: 0; mental anguish: 138; and other personal and financial hardship: 4.The following is the total number of claims that were rejected by category: compensation for individuals on maternity, parental or disability leave: 68; discriminatory practice: 38; lost occupational capacity: 32; lost security clearance: 6; bankruptcy: 20; significant credit rating impact: 50; resignation from the public service: 23; mental anguish: 271; and other personal and financial hardship: 515.

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 responses to Questions Nos. 2372 to 2378, 2383, 2385 to 2391, 2396, 2398 to 2400, 2402, 2403 and 2409 to 2415 could be made orders for return, these returns would be tabled in an electronic format immediately.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Question No.2372—

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

With regard to funding for the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary: (a) what is the government’s annual spending per province since 2019; and (b) what is the government’s annual spending per unit in Quebec since 2019?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2373—

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

With regard to government-owned buildings or land: (a) how many buildings or pieces of land are unoccupied or vacant, in total, and broken down by metropolitan area; and (b) what are the details of each building or piece of land in (a), including the (i) physical address, (ii) size of the land, (iii) square footage of vacant buildings, (iv) current use, if any?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2374—

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

With regard to land owned or leased by the government: how much land and how many buildings are leased from third-party landlords as a percentage of the total of all government land and buildings?