Debates of Sept. 15th, 2025

Question No.106—

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

With regard to usage of the government's fleet of Challenger aircraft, since October 1, 2024: what are the details of the legs of each flight, including the (i) date, (ii) point of departure, (iii) destination, (iv) number of passengers, (v) names and titles of the passengers, excluding security or Canadian Armed Forces members, (vi) total catering bill related to the flight, (vii) volume of fuel used, or an estimate, (viii) amount spent on fuel?

(Return tabled)

Question No.107—

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

With regard to usage of the government's fleet of Airbus and Polaris aircraft, since October 1, 2024: what are the details of the legs of each flight, including the (i) date, (ii) point of departure, (iii) destination, (iv) number of passengers, (v) names and titles of the passengers, excluding security or Canadian Armed Forces members, (vi) total catering bill related to the flight, (vii) volume of fuel used, or an estimate, (viii) amount spent on fuel, (ix) type of aircraft?

(Return tabled)

Question No.108—

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Leduc—Wetaskiwin, AB]

With regard to hotels and accommodations paid for by the government for asylum seekers, since January 1, 2022 and broken down by month: (a) what are the names and locations of the hotels and other accommodations which the government has paid to accommodate asylum seekers; and (b) what are the details of each hotel or accommodation in (a), including, for each, (i) the owner, (ii) the monthly amount paid by the government for accommodation, (iii) how many asylum seekers were accommodated?

(Return tabled)

Question No.109—

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton—Bkejwanong, ON]

With regard to the distribution of fuel charge proceeds to small and medium-sized businesses, through the Canada Carbon Rebate for Small Businesses, as authorized under section 165 of the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act and section 127.421 of the Income Tax Act: (a) what is the total amount distributed to small and medium-sized businesses under the Canada Carbon Rebate since the program’s inception, broken down by (i) province or territory, (ii) year, (iii) industry sector (e.g., manufacturing, retail, hospitality), (iv) type of payment or credit provided; (b) for each fiscal year since the inception of the program, what (i) amount was allocated by the government to be returned to small and medium-sized businesses through the Canada Carbon Rebate, (ii) amount was ultimately distributed, (iii) is the explanation for any discrepancies between the amounts allocated and the amounts distributed; and (c) what explains the $108 million difference between the $3.3 billion intended to be returned to businesses based on net fuel charge proceeds for the 2019–20 to 2023–24 years, as reported in the 2024 Public Accounts (Volume I, page 16) and the $3.192 billion attributed to the Canada Revenue Agency for this same purpose, as reported in the Main Estimates?

(Return tabled)

Question No.112—

[Jamil Jivani, Conservative, Bowmanville—Oshawa North, ON]

With regard to the government’s approach to dealing with labour shortages: (a) how much was spent in the last fiscal year, by the government, in relation to retraining Canadian workers in industries with labour shortages, in total and broken down by industry; and (b) what specific incentives, if any, are currently in place to encourage businesses in industries with labour shortages to retrain and hire Canadian workers to fill these positions?

(Return tabled)

Question No.113—

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

With regard to tax fraud and bogus refund schemes identified by the Canada Revenue Agency for each of the last five years: (a) what is the total estimated amount lost to such schemes, broken down by year, and by type of scheme; (b) how many people have been criminally charged in relation to such a scheme conducted in the last five years; and (c) broken down by type of scheme, what specific policy or technological changes have been implemented to stop the fraud or scheme from occurring in the future?

(Return tabled)

Question No.114—

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

With regard to the Canada Revenue Agency’s Quantum 2.0 project: (a) what is the current total cost of the project, to date, overall and broken down by type of cost; (b) what is the current estimate of the final cost of the project; (c) what was the original completion date; (d) what is the current expected completion date; (e) what are the primary reasons for the delay and any cost overruns; and (f) have any independent third-party review or audits of the project been conducted, and, if so, what are details of each, including their findings?

(Return tabled)

Question No.115—

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

With regard to the Canada Revenue Agency and the tax gap: (a) why has the Agency not released any tax gap data more recently than 2018; (b) what is the Agency’s current estimate of the federal tax gap, for each of the last five years; (c) what are the top three contributing categories to that gap in each of those years; (d) what is the government’s position on requiring the Agency to report the federal tax gap on a regular and ongoing basis; (e) what specific performance metrics does the Agency currently use to evaluate the effectiveness of its modernization initiatives and fraud detection strategies; (f) how are these metrics in (e) reported to Parliament and made accessible to the public; (g) what percentage of the total fraud cases detected in each of the last five years were identified through manual review versus digital tools; and (h) does the Agency have any plans to reduce the number of manual reviews and increase the number of files reviewed by automated or artificial intelligence based screenings, and, if so, what are the details of such plans?

(Return tabled)

Question No.116—

[Rob Morrison, Conservative, Columbia—Kootenay—Southern Rockies, BC]

With regard to government employees who were on "other leave with pay" (699) during the 2024-25 fiscal year, and broken down by department, agency, or government entity, and by month: (a) what was the total number of hours or days of "other leave with pay" utilized; (b) what is the total number of public servants who have utilized "other leave with pay"; and (c) what is the total number of employees who were on 699 leave and the total number of hours attributed to 699 leave, for reasons related to (i) work or technology limitations, (ii) the inability to work remotely while diagnosed with, experiencing symptoms of or self-isolating because of, COVID-19, (iii) caregiving responsibilities resulting from school or daycare closures, or COVID-19 illness or isolation requirements, (iv) the inability to work remotely while at high-risk, or while having someone in one’s care who is at high-risk, of severe illness from COVID-19?

(Return tabled)

Question No.117—

[Rob Morrison, Conservative, Columbia—Kootenay—Southern Rockies, BC]

With regard to the Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat: (a) since January 1, 2022, what is the total number of meetings supported by the Secretariat, and for each meeting, what are the details, including, the (i) date of the meeting, (ii) nature or subject of the meeting, (iii) total cost, broken down by type of expense (e.g., travel, accommodation, personnel, venue rental, etc.); (b) what is the detailed proof of the “significant cost efficiencies and economies of scale” referred to in the Main Estimates, 2025-26, and attributed to the Secretariat; (c) what is the annual budget specifically allocated for salaries at the Secretariat, since January 1, 2022; and (d) what are the details of any consulting or similar service contracts signed by the Secretariat, since January 1, 2022, to maintain and improve its services since its creation, including, for each contract, the (i) date it was signed, (ii) vendor, (iii) value, (iv) description of the goods or services provided, (v) manner in which the contract was awarded (sole-sourced or competitive bid)?

(Return tabled)

Question No.119—

[Ned Kuruc, Conservative, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

With regard to the renovations of Centre Block on Parliament Hill: (a) how much steel has been purchased to date in relation to the project; (b) of the steel purchased to date, what are the details, including the (i) manufacturer, (ii) country of origin; and (c) what is the project’s policy with regard to prioritizing the purchase of Canadian steel, if any, and on what date did said policy come into effect?

(Return tabled)

Question No.121—

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, SK]

With regard to costs associated with the legal proceedings and investigations resulting from the Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa in January and February 2022 and the associated declaration of a public order emergency: (a) what are the total legal costs incurred to date; (b) what is the breakdown of the costs by year in which they were incurred; and (c) what is the breakdown of the costs by (i) type of expenditure (lawyers, investigators, prosecutors, etc.), (ii) type of proceedings associated with the expense (Public Order Emergency Commission, criminal prosecution, civil proceedings, etc.)?

(Return tabled)

Question No.123—

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

With regard to expenditures related to the Prime Minister and his accompanying delegation’s trip to Europe in March 2025: (a) what are the total costs incurred by the government to date, broken down by type of expense (accommodation, per diems, hospitality, etc.); (b) what are the details of all accommodation expenses incurred by the government, including, for each, the (i) name of the hotel, (ii) room rate, (iii) number of rooms booked at each rate, (iv) dates of the booking, (v) number of nights for which each room was booked, (vi) total accommodation expenses incurred at each property; (c) were there any hospitality expenditures incurred, and, if so, what are the details, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) event description, (iii) location, (iv) cost, in total and broken down by item, (v) event description, (vi) number of attendees; (d) are there any costs incurred or expected to be incurred by the government that are not included in the response to (a), and if so, what are those costs or expected costs, broken down by item and type of expense; (e) excluding security, what were the names, titles and organizations represented by the delegation members; and (f) what was the detailed itinerary of (i) the Prime Minister, (ii) other Ministers who were on the trip?