Debates of May 1st, 2024

Question No.2424—

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

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the question, what follows is the response from the CRA as of March 14, 2024, which is the date of question.

In regard to part (a) of the question, the CRA administers tax laws and various benefit programs for the Government of Canada and several provinces and territories. Audits are an important part of the CRA’s range of activities aimed at making sure the tax system is fair for everyone. The CRA selects files for audit based on a variety of risk factors.

To safeguard the integrity of the tax system, the CRA does not comment on which factors it uses to determine the risk within a tax filing. Additionally, the protection of taxpayer information is of utmost importance to the CRA. To respect the confidentiality provisions of the acts it administers, the CRA cannot provide taxpayer information or comment on specific taxpayer files, which it may or may not be reviewing.

Regarding part (b), as part of the application process for scientific research and experimental development, or SR and ED, tax incentives, applicants are required to disclose the percentage of their funds resulting from federal grants, contracts and provincial funding. However, applicants are not required to identify the precise source of such funding. Consequently, the CRA is not in a position to comment on how many SR and ED claimants have received Sustainable Development Technology Canada, or SDTC, funding or which SDTC recipients may be the subject of a CRA audit.

Question No.2428—

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

With regard to the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario: (a) what was the total amount spent by the agency on advertising and outreach during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 fiscal years; (b) what are the details of the agency’s advertising and outreach initiatives; (c) what metrics were used to determine the success of such endeavours; and (d) were the targets met?

[Filomena Tassi, Liberal, Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario]

Mr. Speaker, in response to part (a), the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, FedDev Ontario, delivers programs and services to support innovation and economic growth in southern Ontario. Its mandate covers the region as defined by 37 Statistics Canada census divisions. Actively promoting FedDev Ontario programs and funding opportunities is part of the agency’s core business, and therefore the total cost of this advertising and outreach is not systematically tracked. FedDev Ontario concluded that producing and validating a comprehensive response to this question would require a manual collection of information that is not possible in the time allotted and could lead to the disclosure of incomplete and misleading information.

Details of travel associated with outreach activities by senior agency officials are proactively disclosed and published on the Open Government portal at https://search.open.canada.ca/travel/.

In response to part (b), FedDev Ontario makes use of free social media and regularly engages with stakeholders and communities across the region to promote programming and funding opportunities for southern Ontario businesses and organizations.

In response to part (c), FedDev Ontario tracks engagement and impressions on social media, traffic to the agency website, and application downloads.

In response to part (d), the agency does not have any specific targets associated with advertising and outreach. Reporting against FedDev Ontario’s key targets and results can be found in the agency’s departmental results report, DRR, at https://feddev-ontario.canada.ca/en/transparency/departmental-results-report.

Question No.2432—

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

With regard to the letter sent to the Minister of Health by the office of the Member from Chatham-Kent—Leamington in December 2023, and the minister's mandate letter of July 2023: (a) why were representatives from Health Canada (HC) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) not made available to attend the CFIA Food Security Roundtable in Chatham-Kent, Ontario on March 24, 2024; and (b) what are the current best practices for industry and various levels of government, including HC, in the event of a pathogenic or contamination crisis, when importing and exporting Canadian greenhouse and mushroom products to and from the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement and the European Union?

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, in response to (a), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, CFIA, has other means to engage with stakeholders, including with the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers and Mushrooms Canada. It engages regularly with stakeholders on regulatory, policy and program developments. This engagement helps inform proposed changes to CFIA policies and procedures, programs, services, regulations and legislation. For example, the CFIA met with the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers to proactively share information prior to the coming into force of the safe food for Canadians regulations and answer questions to help this group prepare their businesses.

The CFIA also collaborates with the industry to help them be prepared for emergency situations. For example, the CFIA met with a number of industry associations, including the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, in February 2023 to test a new notification process for various scenarios developed by the Canadian plant health council, CPHC, aiming to enhance inter-organizational communications amongst various groups.

On a more operational level, the CFIA conducts day-to-day interactions with various stakeholders during inspections. These stakeholders include individual companies, such as those involved in food production, processing, distribution and retail. During these inspections, stakeholders have an opportunity to speak with inspectors and ask questions to help them ensure they are complying with the regulations.

In response to (b), all food sold in Canada, whether domestic or imported, must comply with Canada’s federal acts and regulations, including the Food and Drugs Act and the Safe Food for Canadians Act. This legislation includes prohibitions against contamination and misrepresentation of food. In addition, under the safe food for Canadians regulations, SFCR, importers are required to have a licence and a preventive control plan to import food into Canada. Also, the SFCR requires operators to conduct investigation when a food may present a health risk. Should a food be recalled because it presents a risk of injury to human health, the operator must notify the CFIA and implement their recall procedures.

When there is reasonable ground to believe that a food presents a risk of injury to human health, the CFIA initiates a five-step process in order to determine whether a food recall should be initiated. This process includes the following: trigger, food safety investigation, risk assessment, recall process and follow-up. The risk assessments are conducted either by the CFIA, in the form of technical risk assessments, TRAs, when risk-based guidelines, policies and standards exist, or based on existing Health Canada risk assessments. For instance, TRAs for listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods are conducted by the CFIA. In cases where no standard exists or during outbreak scenarios, Health Canada performs health risk assessments. The purpose of these assessments is to determine the level of risk a specific food presents to Canadians by evaluating the likelihood of exposure to the food and the potential severity of the illness or injury to inform risk management actions.

Both the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement and the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement require parties to the agreement to inform each other in a timely manner of relevant food safety concerns related to a product traded under these agreements.

The following information is publicly available: “How we decide to recall a food product”, available at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency at https://inspection.canada.ca/food-safety-for-consumers/how-we-decide-to-recall-a-food-product/eng/1332206599275/1332207914673#a2; “About CUSMA”, available at https://www.international.gc.ca/trade-commerce/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/cusma-aceum/about-cusma-a-propos-aceum.aspx?lang=eng; Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, available at https://www.international.gc.ca/trade-commerce/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/ceta-aecg/index.aspx?lang=eng.

Question No.2434—

[Jasraj Singh Hallan, Conservative, Calgary Forest Lawn, AB]

With regard to the government’s approval of the merger of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Canada: (a) was the Minister of Finance aware of HSBC mortgage fraud allegations before she approved the merger, and, if so, when was the Minister of Finance aware of those allegations at HSBC Canada; (b) were any recommendations given by the Department of Finance to the Minister of Finance regarding the allegations of mortgage fraud taking place at HSBC Canada, and, if so, who provided the recommendations and what were they; (c) has HSBC Canada reported any suspicious mortgage‑related transactions to the Department of Finance since 2015, and, if so, what is the number of reported transactions, broken down by year since 2015; (d) how many of the reported suspicious transactions in (c) involved a mortgage borrower who is not a Canadian citizen; (e) were the allegations of mortgage fraud taken into account when the decision was made to allow the merger of RBC and HSBC Canada, and, if not, why not; (f) has the Minister of Finance received any concerns from any government departments, agencies, officers of Parliament, or the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments regarding the allegations of mortgage fraud at HSBC Canada, and, if so, what are the details, including (i) who raised the concern, (ii) what concern was raised, (iii) the date, (iv) the minister’s response; (g) have any suspicious transactions related to mortgages been reported by HSBC Canada since the RBC‑HSBC Canada merger was approved, and, if so, how many; and (h) who will be responsible for paying any fines issued to HSBC Canada, following the completion of the merger, for failure to comply with anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing rules, the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, the Bank Act, or other laws in Canada?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, on acquisition applications subject to ministerial approval, the department relies on a rigorous review process undertaken by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, OSFI, to provide the Minister of Finance with advice on matters relevant to the application. The relevant matters for the minister’s consideration are set out in section 396 of the Bank Act. Given its role as a regulator, the Department of Finance will not comment on any supervisory or regulatory process.

Canadians must have confidence in the integrity and security of their financial institutions. In this regard, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, FINTRAC, and OSFI continue to engage with financial institutions to promote, monitor and enforce compliance with anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing and prudential lending requirements respectively. FINTRAC and OSFI engage closely and regularly to share supervisory insights and coordinate supervision of federally regulated financial institutions in Canada.

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

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

Mr. Speaker, furthermore, if a revised response to Question No. 2007, originally tabled on January 29, and the government's responses to Questions Nos. 2420 to 2423, 2425 to 2427, 2429 to 2431, 2433, and 2435 to 2437 could be made orders for return, these returns would be tabled in an electronic format immediately.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Question No.2007—

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

With regard to the $669,650 contract awarded to KPMG to provide advice on how to save money on consultants: (a) what advice did KPMG provide to the government; and (b) does the government consider the advice to be worth $669,650?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2420—

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

With regard to suicide among trans and gender-diverse Canadians: (a) are there any data collection efforts to measure the rate of suicide and suicide attempts among these Canadians; and (b) are there any policy initiatives to address the issue of suicide among these Canadians?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2421—

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

With regard to the contracts awarded by the Government of Canada or any other government agency for the Canada Border Services Agency's (CBSA) Assessment and Revenue Management project since February 7, 2018, broken down by supplier: what are the details of all these contracts, including, for each, (i) the date the contract was signed, (ii) the value of the contract, (iii) the title of the public servants who approved the contract, (iv) the start and end dates of the work, (v) a detailed description of the goods or services provided, (vi) specifics on the way the contract was awarded (sole source or competitive bidding process), (vii) the status of the contract, namely, whether the contract was delivered and completed and whether the deliverables met the requirements of the CBSA and any other department or agency involved?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2422—

[Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, Bloc, Terrebonne, QC]

With regard to the awarding of non-competitive contracts, broken down by department, agency or body and by year, from 2006 to present: for each contract, what is the (i) total amount awarded, (ii) reason, if any, for awarding the contract, (iii) name of the organization that received the contract?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2423—

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

With regard to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF): (a) what grading or scoring system is used by the CAF when determining whether someone gets promoted, including (i) what the scores based on, (ii) what importance or weight each item carries, (iii) what grade or score is required to be eligible for or to obtain a promotion; (b) what is the current breakdown of members of the CAF by demographic; and (c) how many and what percentage of members of the CAF received promotions, broken down by each demographic that the CAF tracks and by year, for the past five years?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2425—

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

With regard to the temporary public policy to facilitate temporary resident visas (TRV) for certain extended family affected by the crisis in Gaza, since January 9, 2024: (a) how many crisis web form applications have been received by the department, and how many sponsored individuals are represented; (b) how many unique reference codes have been issued and how many anchors and sponsored individuals are represented; (c) how many crisis web form applications have been rejected and (i) how many sponsored individuals are represented, (ii) what was the reason for the rejection; (d) how many crisis web form applications are still being processed and how many sponsored individuals are represented; (e) how many unique reference codes have been used to complete TRV applications; (f) how many TRV applicants have completed biometric processing at a biometric collection processing site prior to January 9, 2024; (g) how many TRV permits have been issued to those who have completed their biometrics prior to January 9, 2024; (h) how many TRV applicants have completed biometric processing at a biometric collection service point since January 9, 2024, and how many of them have been issued a TRV permit; (i) how many TRV applications have been rejected, and what was the reason for rejection; (j) how many TRV applications have been stamped and approved; (k) how many successful applicants were sent to the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) to be allowed to exit Gaza to migrate to Canada; (l) how many TRV applicants have had personal details, which were shared in the application process, other than a full name, date of birth, sex, passport or national ID details, mobile phone number, or current location by district, shared with Israeli authorities; and (m) how many TRV applicants have had information disclosed or additional background information forms shared with Israeli authorities?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2426—

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

With regard to application backlogs and processing times at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to date: (a) how many temporary resident applications, permanent resident applications, and citizenship applications are in backlog, broken down by individual stream, including pilot programs; (b) what is the month-to-month reduction or increase in the number of applications in backlog, broken down by each individual stream, including pilot programs for the previous 60 months; and (c) how many applications have been processed and accepted for each individual stream, broken down by year, and by province or territory?

(Return tabled)

Question No.2427—

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

With regard to the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario: (a) what was the total amount spent by the agency on consultations and consultants during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 fiscal years; and (b) what are the details of all contracts related to the consultations or consultants in (a), including, for each, the (i) date of the contract, (ii) vendor, (iii) amount or value, (iv) description of the goods or services provided, (v) manner in which the contract was awarded (i.e. sole-sourced, competitive bid)?