Questions and responses All Sessions January 17, 1994, to present

With respect to staffing at the Department of Veterans Affairs: for each Veterans Affairs employee whose job was eliminated during the period from 2006 to 2014, broken down by year, what are the (i) specific work locations, (ii) program activities, (iii) sub-program activities, (iv) sub-sub-program activities, (v) job descriptions?

With respect to research conducted or funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs: (a) how much has been spent each year on such research; and (b) what is the (i) name, (ii) description, (iii) purpose of each research project, including duration, broken down by year from 2006 to 2014?

With respect to staffing at the Department of Veterans Affairs from 2006 to 2014: (a) how many caseworkers were employed by the department, broken down by (i) specific work locations, (ii) program activities, (iii) sub-program activities, (iv) sub-sub-program activities, (v) year; and (b) what is the departmental target for caseloads for each caseworker, broken down by year?

With regard to the Northern Gateway Project: (a) did the government request an assessment or legal opinion from any department or agency as to whether consultations conducted by the Joint Review Panel on the Northern Gateway Project fulfilled the Crown’s duty to consult with Aboriginal peoples, and if so, what were the contents of those assessments, broken down by (i) department or agency, (ii) date; (b) did the government provide oversight for, monitor or evaluate the adequacy or sufficiency of the Joint Review Panel’s Aboriginal consultation efforts throughout the panel process, and if so, what were the findings of said oversight, monitoring and evaluation, broken down by (i) department or agency, (ii) date; (c) which Aboriginal communities or groups did the Joint Review Process engage with during the five phases of consultation described in the "Aboriginal Consultation Framework for the Northern Gateway Pipeline Project" document, broken down by (i) phase, (ii) Aboriginal community or group, (iii) year; (d) how much participant funding was requested by Aboriginal communities or groups throughout the Joint Review Panel Process, broken down by (i) Aboriginal community or group, (ii) year funding was provided; and (e) how much participant funding was provided to Aboriginal communities or groups throughout the Joint Review Panel Process, broken down by (i) Aboriginal community or group, (ii) year funding was provided?

With regard to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program: (a) what oversight mechanisms are in place to monitor compliance; (b) who conducts workplace inspections; (c) how many persons responsible for inspection have been employed each year since 2006 inclusive; and (d) how many workplace inspections have been carried out each year since 2006, broken down by (i) province or territory of workplace, (ii) Census Metropolitan Area or Economic Region?

With regard to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, since 2011 inclusive: (a) for each province or territory, and for each Census Metropolitan Area or Economic Region, what is (i) the total number of applications for a Labour Market Opinion, (ii) the number of applications approved, (iii) the number of applications denied, (iv) the average length of time between the receipt of an application and the issuance of the decision; and (b) for each province or territory, what is (i) the total number of applications for an Accelerated Labour Market Opinion, (ii) the number of applications approved, (iii) the number of applications denied, (iv) the average length of time between the receipt of an application and the issuance of the decision?

With regard to the Youth Employment Strategy: (a) what are the sub-program and sub-sub-program activities within the program architecture; (b) how much was expended annually by each sub-program and sub-sub-program since 2006-2007; (c) how many clients were served annually by each sub-program and sub-sub-program since 2006-2007; and (d) how many applications were not approved in each fiscal year since 2006-2007 (i) due to lack of funding, (ii) due to applicant not meeting the eligibility criteria?

With regard to the Building Canada Fund 2007-2014: (a) what was the final application deadline in each province and territory for the (i) Major Infrastructure Component, (ii) Communities Component; (b) what project applications were not approved due to (i) lack of funding, (ii) failure to meet the eligibility criteria, (iii) all other reasons; (c) what was the last project to receive approval in each province and territory; (d) when did the last project receive approval in each province and territory; (e) what projects as of March 31, 2013 have contribution agreements in place to receive funding in future years; (f) how much funding is allocated to each of those projects; and (g) in what year or years is each project expected to receive its funding?

With regard to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Privy Council Office, what are the details of the letter of understanding between the Prime Minister’s former Chief of Staff, Nigel Wright, and Senator Mike Duffy regarding the payment of $90,127 to cover Senator Duffy’s living expenses?

With regard to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Privy Council Office: (a) how many records exist regarding the letter of understanding between the Prime Minister’s former Chief of Staff, Nigel Wright, and Senator Mike Duffy regarding the payment of $90,127 to cover Senator Duffy’s living expenses; and (b) what are the details of each record?

With regard to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Privy Council Office, what are the details of the letter of understanding between the Prime Minister’s former Chief of Staff, Nigel Wright, and Senator Mike Duffy regarding the payment of $90,127 to cover Senator Duffy’s living expenses?

With regard to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Privy Council Office: (a) how many records exist regarding the letter of understanding between the Prime Minister’s former Chief of Staff, Nigel Wright, and Senator Mike Duffy regarding the payment of $90,127 to cover Senator Duffy’s living expenses; and (b) what are the details of each record?

With regard to overseas tax evasion for the period from February 6, 2006 to September 30, 2012: (a) how many Canadians have been identified as having undeclared overseas bank accounts; (b) how many accounts have been identified; (c) how many identified Canadians have availed themselves of the Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA); (d) how many identified Canadian accounts have settled with the CRA; (e) how much money has the CRA assessed as a result of investigating these secret overseas bank accounts (i) in unpaid taxes, (ii) in interest, (iii) in fines, (iv) in penalties; (f) how much of the money in (e) has been collected; (g) how many of the cases are under appeal; (h) how many cases remain open; (i) how many more cases does the CRA anticipate will be opened; (j) how many cases have been closed (i.e. the full amount of taxes, interest, fines and penalties has been collected); (k) how much money in (j) has been collected (i) in unpaid taxes, (ii) in interest, (iii) in fines, (iv) in penalties; (l) how many account holders in the cases have made partial payment; (m) of the partial payments made, (i) what was the largest amount, (ii) what was the smallest amount, (iii) what was the average amount; (n) how much does the CRA anticipate it has yet to collect (i) in taxes, (ii) in interest, (iii) in fines, (iv) in penalties; (o) of the amounts of money contained in overseas accounts declared or discovered by CRA (i) what was the largest amount, (ii) what was the smallest amount, (iii) what was the average amount; (p) how many of the identified Canadians with overseas bank accounts (i) have had their account(s) audited, (ii) have had their account(s) reassessed, (iii) have been the subject of a compliance action; (q) how many of the identified Canadians with overseas bank accounts (i) have not had their account(s) audited, (ii) have not had their account(s) reassessed, (iii) have not been the subject of a compliance action; (r) how many tax evasion charges were laid; (s) has the government made any changes to the VDP in the past 24 months; (t) how many Canadians have been convicted of tax evasion; and (u) how many Canadians have been convicted of tax evasion related to money and other assets held overseas?

With regard to access to information requests, broken down by each department or agency of government subject to the Access to Information Act: (a) what is the practice to release records in digital form pursuant to a request made under the Act and in what electronic format are such records released to a requester; (b) following an access to information request, are records released in the original format in which they were created and if another format is used, what is it; (c) if records are released in digital format, why, and if not, why not; (d) in what policy, circular, notice, memorandum, directive, or other document is the department or agency's policy concerning release or non-release of electronic records contained?

With regard to Aboriginal affairs, what are the titles, dates, and file numbers of any reports, studies, files, or dossiers, dated between January 1, 2006, and May 31, 2011, held by any department or agency, concerning the Labrador Metis Association, Labrador Metis Nation, or NunatuKavut?

With respect to Overseas Development Assistance: (a) what amount of money has been earmarked for fiscal year 2012-2013 for (i) democracy promotion projects, (ii) good governance projects; and (b) which Canadian organizations have been granted funding for democracy promotion and good governance projects in (i) Egypt, (ii) Tunisia, (iii) Libya?

With respect to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade: (a) for which specific countries do Canadian embassies provide human rights reports to the government; (b) in which specific countries do these reports include a report on religious freedom; and (c) for any report on religious freedom since January 1, 2006, what was the date of the report and the country to which it pertained?

With respect to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade: (a) how many employment positions for locally-engaged staff at Canadian embassies and consulates have been terminated in fiscal years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, specifying which embassy or consulate; and (b) how many locally-engaged employees at Canadian embassies and consulates have had their employment terminated in fiscal years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, specifying which embassy or consulate?

With regard to government Web sites: (a) when did the Supreme Court of Canada change from a “.ca” to a “.gc.ca” Web domain suffix; (b) what was the reason for the change; and (c) who initiated the change?

With regard to government Web sites: (a) is there a government-wide standard for the retention or maintenance of (i) press releases, (ii) other documents on departmental or agency Web sites; and (b) if the answer to (a) is in the affirmative, (i) what is the standard, (ii) in what document is that standard established, (iii) when was the standard established or most recently re-established?