Judy Foote

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, December 2nd, 2013]

With regard to changes in employment insurance (EI), in each province and economic region, broken down by age (18-24, 25-54, 55 and over), and for the time period between January and June, broken down by month and totaled for each year since 2004: (a) how many unemployed Canadians (i) applied for EI, (ii) received EI, (iii) how many applicants were rejected; (b) what was the cost to process these applications; (c) what were the total costs of these benefits; (d) how many in receipt of EI benefits in 2013 have previously received EI (i) one time, (ii) two times, (iii) three times or more; (e) how many claimants with three or more claims totaling more than sixty weeks in the past five years have had to accept a job that paid thirty percent less than their last job; (f) how many claimants worked while on EI; (g) how many total applicants have dependents, and how many of these applicants were rejected; (h) of the three new classes created, how many applicants fall under (i) long tenured workers, (ii) frequent claimants, (iii) occasional claimants; and (i) how many applicants live (i) in rural areas, (ii) in urban areas?

[Ethics, December 2nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, last week we learned that Michael Runia, senior partner at Deloitte, interfered in the Duffy audit by calling the lead forensic auditor on the file. Mr. Runia is also the auditor of the Conservative Fund Canada and he made that call because Senator Irving Gerstein put him up to it.

To help the Senate investigate this breach in the integrity of its audit, will the government support calling Mr. Runia to testify before a Senate hearing?

[Medals of Bravery, December 2nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate constituents Captain Frank Skinner from Burgeo, Ben Savory from Port aux Basques, Tom Upwards from Rose Blanche, and Ed Strickland from Kippens, who recently received medals of bravery for their life-saving efforts at sea on September 21, 2004.

That night, Ed received a call from the Canadian Coast Guard coordinator in St. John's, notifying him that a 45-foot yacht had been stranded with a lost rudder as a result of Hurricane Ivan. Using critical local knowledge, the maritime rescue sub-centre—which the federal government, by the way, has since closed—contacted Ed because the water was too rough for the only vessel that search and rescue had in the area.

Frank, Ben and Tom joined Ed and sprang into action, despite ocean swells between 10 and 12 metres high and wind gusts of up to 96 kilometres an hour. Sixteen hours after leaving shore the crew finally made it back to Stephenville at 8 a.m. the next day, with the five stranded passengers aboard and the yacht in tow.

I ask all members to join me in acknowledging the brave actions of Captain Frank Skinner, Ben Savory, Tom Upwards and Ed Strickland.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, November 29th, 2013]

With regard to the $65 million dollars provided to Veterans Affairs Canada’s funeral and burial program, managed by The Last Post Fund, over two years as indicated on page 254 of Budget 2013: (a) why did the government choose to provide $63 million in fiscal year 2013-2014 and only $2 million in fiscal year 2014-2015; (b) what happens to the balance of the $65 million if The Last Post Fund fails to spend the allotment corresponding to each fiscal year; (c) which organizations or stakeholders were consulted with regard to this specific funding measure; (d) how much was this program allotted in each year since 2005; (e) how much did this program spend in each year since 2005; and (f) how much does the government expect to spend in each of fiscal years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, November 29th, 2013]

With regard to the closure of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ (DFO) library in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador (N.L.): (a) what are the anticipated costs, both (i) broken down by individual expense, (ii) in total, of closing the library; (b) does the space that housed the library belong to the government, (i) if so, what are the plans for the space, (ii) if not, how long does the government plan to continue to rent the space and for what purpose; (c) how many total items were housed in the library, and of these (i) how many are digitized, (ii) how many are not digitized, (iii) how many will be transferred to the DFO library in Nova Scotia, (iv) how many will be given away, (v) how many are going to be destroyed; (d) what criteria were used in selecting which DFO libraries to close; (e) was there a consultation period preceding the decision to close, and if so, what were the results of the consultation; (f) how many people were employed at the library in each calendar year from fiscal year 2005 until the present, broken down by (i) part-time workers, (ii) full-time workers, (iii) contract workers; (g) how many jobs will be lost as a result of the library closure; (h) will employees be given the option to relocate to the Nova Scotia library; (i) what is the plan to ensure that all resources, physical and digital, remain available to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, (i) how much does the government expect this process to cost, (ii) will any of these costs be downloaded to the library user, (iii) how will library users return physical items, (iv) who will pay for the return of items mentioned in sub-question (iii), (v) what is the expected individual cost per each physical item borrowed by people located in N.L., (vi) how is the individual cost calculated; (j) what is the plan to digitize items in cases of copyright conflict, and how much does the government expect this plan to cost; (k) what is the anticipated cost, both (i) broken down by individual expense, (ii) in total, to maintain the online portal “WAVES” system annually; (l) how many items are included in DFO’s collection of “grey material”, (i) how many of these will be digitized, (ii) what will happen to the balance of these materials; (m) what is the average elapsed time between the moment a request to make departmental publications available on WAVES is received, and the moment when the departmental publication is received; and (n) what is the anticipated time it will take for a physical item to be received in N.L. after being requested?

[Questions on the Order Paper, November 29th, 2013]

With regard to search and rescue and Canadian Coast Guard ships (CCGS) in Newfoundland and Labrador (N.L.): (a) does the government plan to replace or provide additional search and rescue lifeboats in Burin and Burgeo, N.L., (i) if so, how many new lifeboats will be allocated to each town, (ii) is the replacement of lifeboats in Burin and Burgeo part of the $488 million announcement by the Honourable Peter Mackay, P.C., M.P. on June 26, 2013, (iii) was the announcement scheduled to take place prior to the date referred to in (ii) at any time, (iv) what was the reason for changing the day of the announcement, (v) when will the boats be delivered, (vi) are there any delays in the delivery of the boats, (vii) if so, why are there delays in the delivery of the boats, (viii) does the government plan to replace or provide additional search and rescue lifeboats in other communities in Random—Burin—St. George’s, (ix) if so, which communities will have their lifeboats replaced or be provided with additional lifeboats, (x) when will the announcements for other communities take place, (xi) when will the lifeboats in these communities be delivered; and (b) what is the reason for placing the CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell on lay-up, (i) has the government consulted stakeholders on the impact to search and rescue of this measure, (ii) if so, which stakeholders were consulted, (iii) what were the positions of each stakeholder group on this measure, (iv) how many hours will it take for the CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell to return to operational status in the event of an emergency, (v) does the government intend to decommission the CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell, (vi) has there been any discussion about decommissioning the CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell, (vii) what tasks did the CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell perform, (viii) what is the government’s plan to replace this performance, (ix) which vessels will be equipped to immediately respond to an oil spill while the CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell is in lay-up, (x) which vessels will be equipped to immediately respond to major oil installation fires or fires on coastal and transatlantic vessels operating in water adjacent to the coast of N.L. while the CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell is in lay-up?

[Ethics, November 26th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP records make it clear that Stewart Olsen tried to have the audit into Mike Duffy stopped. When she could not do that, she followed PMO orders and personally moved the motion to whitewash parts of the Senate report critical of Mike Duffy, just as they had promised. The RCMP says that her answers to it are “...incomplete, and not consistent with the facts”, a polite way of saying that she is not telling the truth.

Why is she still a member of the government caucus?

[Ethics, November 26th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, Carolyn Stewart Olsen is a close confidante of the Prime Minister who he appointed to the Senate as a reward for loyal service. The RCMP records make it clear that Stewart Olsen was only too happy to assist with the audit report whitewash and that she was getting her orders right from the PMO; “...always ready to do exactly what is asked”, she wrote to Nigel Wright.

If Nigel got the boot, why is Stewart Olsen still in the government caucus?

[Ethics, November 21st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, with the PMO under RCMP investigation, court filings show that the Prime Minister's claim that no one in his office was informed about the Wright-Duffy deal is patently false.

His entire senior staff appears to be one big fraud squad: Woodcock, Rogers, van Hemmen, Hilton, Hamilton, and, of course, Conservative senators Gerstein, Tkachuk, Stewart Olsen, and LeBreton.

If the Prime Minister is truly angry about this scandal, why do all of these people still have their jobs?

[Ethics, November 19th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, for a government that now pretends it always thought the Wright-Duffy deal was distasteful, it has promoted a lot of PMO staffers for helping to cover it up. They have all been conveniently moved away from the Prime Minister.

If the Conservatives care about ethics, why are these people still on the public payroll? Did the Minister of State for Finance, the heritage minister or the natural resources minister know about their staffers' misdeeds before they were told to hire them? Will just one of those ministers stand and answer the question?