Questions and responses 45th Parliament, 1st session May 26, 2025, to present

With regard to the government's chartering and deployment of Black Hawk helicopters for Canada-U.S. border surveillance: (a) what are the details of each contract or agreement related to Black Hawk helicopter leases signed since January 1, 2024, including the (i) date it was signed, (ii) vendor, (iii) contract value, (iv) start and end dates of the lease, (v) number of Black Hawk helicopters leased, (vi) manner in which the contract was awarded (sole-sourced or competitive bid); (b) for each contract in (a), (i) what is the per-hour flight rate, or per-day flight rate, (ii) what are the terms of renewal, termination, and extension (notice periods, cancellation rights), (iii) was any of the procurement or bidding process expedited in any way, and, if so, how; (c) what are the details, including the amounts, of any additional costs incurred by the government to date related to the Black Hawk usage (maintenance, fuel, insurance, etc.), and, for each amount, is it included in the contract value or is it an additional cost; (d) what is the total amount paid to pilots, crew and other aviation personnel to operate these helicopters (i) in total to date, (ii) per hour, and is the amount included in the contract value; (e) what are the nationalities of the pilots and crew; (f) what is the breakdown of the operational budget (fuel, maintenance, spare parts, insurance, ground support, hangar or storage, training); (g) has any additional staffing (support, command, surveillance analysts) been hired as part of this program, and, if so, what are their roles and costs; (h) what geographic sectors and border segments have been monitored by these helicopters, broken down by province or territory; (i) what number of flight hours have been flown to date, broken down by helicopter, if possible; (j) how many times has suspicious or illegal activity been monitored by the Black Hawk helicopters, in total and broken down by month, and what is the breakdown by type of intervention (arrest, search, etc.) that followed and by outcome; and (k) what is the breakdown of illegal contraband seized as a result of the Black Hawk surveillance, in total and by month?

With regard to government measures to monitor the border: (a) what is the total number of helicopters used at the border, broken down by those (i) owned, (ii) leased; (b) for helicopters leased, which companies are they leased from; (c) what is the total number of patrol boats in use, broken down by type of boat and whether the boats are owned or leased; (d) for patrol boats being leased, which companies are they leased from; (e) what is the total number of drones used at the border, broken down by type of drone and whether they are owned or leased; and (f) for drones leased, which companies are they leased from?