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

With regard to the government's approach to stolen goods or contraband being exported: (a) what is the government's policy regarding the inspection of outbound cargo at Canadian border crossings, overall and for each type of crossing (land, air, sea, rail); (b) what percentage or frequency of outbound cargo was inspected annually, broken down by mode of transport (land, air, sea, rail), by port of entry and by year, since January 1, 2020; (c) what enforcement actions have been taken in cases where transportation, shipping, rail or cargo companies, failed to hold containers flagged as suspicious or potentially linked to stolen goods, in total, and broken down by (i) type of enforcement action, (ii) type of company, (iii) perpetrating company, (iv) year, since January 1, 2020; and (d) for each case in (c), what, and how much, contraband or illegal goods were discovered?

With regard to the government’s provision of goods and services to irregular border crossers seeking asylum: (a) what items are provided to entrants at the time of their crossing; (b) what items are provided to entrants once they are relocated to accommodations; and (c) what is the cost of provisions to entrants, broken down by each item, with its associated per-unit cost?

With regard to the $1.3 billion to bolster security at the border and strengthen the immigration system, announced by the government in December 2024: (a) how much of the $1.3 billion has been distributed to date; and (b) what is the itemized breakdown of how it has been distributed, including the dates of all distributions?

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 the five-year lease that Public Services and Procurement Canada contracted with ILG LTÉE (Pierre Guay) in August 2021, to consolidate previous leases and retrofit two existing buildings (337 and 339 Guay Road, Lacolle): (a) did the lease, which was to run from April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2027, end with the closure of Roxham Road, at midnight on March 25, 2023; (b) if the new five-year lease contracted with ILG LTÉE did not end with the closure of Roxham Road on March 25, 2023, when did it end; (c) if the new five-year lease contracted with ILG LTÉE did not end as of November 6, 2024, when will it end; (d) if the new five-year lease contracted with ILG LTÉE did not end on March 25, 2023, is it possible to obtain the total amounts paid to ILG LTÉE since that date; and (e) if the new five-year lease contracted with ILG LTÉE did not end on March 25, 2023, is it possible to obtain the total amounts that remain to be paid to ILG LTÉE until the end of the contract?

With regard to the Canada Border Services Agency Asset and Revenue Management system, since December 1, 2016: (a) what are the total expenditures related to the program, broken down by year; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by type of expense; (c) what are the details of all contracts signed by the government related to the system, including, for each, the (i) date, (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), (vi) title of the government official who approved the contract; (d) for each contract in (c) that was awarded through a competitive bid process, how many bids were received; (e) what is the target accuracy rate for information contained in the Canada Border Services Agency Asset and Revenue Management system; (f) what is the cloud compute consumption in terms of graphics processing units for the Canada Border Services Agency Asset and Revenue Management system; (g) broken down by month, and week if available, since 2016, how many hours was the Canada Border Services Agency Asset and Revenue Management system (i) online, (ii) offline; (h) broken down by year and month, how many complaints were received, and at what rate; and (i) broken down by year, how many times have costs or cost estimates related to the program been revised and what are the details of each instance, including the (i) date, (ii) previous cost, (iii) revised cost, (iv) reason for the revision?

With regard to the Canada Border Services Agency's Release Prior to Payment Privilege program: (a) as at the Release Prior to Payment Privilege program's transition period end date of May 20, 2025, at 3:00:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, how many importer program accounts were enrolled in the Release Prior to Payment Privilege program, including as part of the program's transition plan or after October 21, 2024; (b) of the importer program accounts reported in (a), what is the percentage of the total importer program accounts; (c) of the importer program accounts reported in (a), how many (i) provided the required financial security and thereby maintained Release Prior to Payment Privilege privileges by the program's transition period end date of May 20, 2025, at 3:00:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, and what is the percentage of total importer program accounts, (ii) imported only goods not subject to duties and taxes (e.g., zero-rated goods) between October 21, 2024, and May 20, 2025, at 3:00:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, and what is the percentage of total importer program accounts, (iii) imported dutiable or taxable goods between October 21, 2024, and May 20, 2025, at 3:00:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time but did not satisfy financial security requirements and were removed from the program, and what is the percentage of total importer program accounts, (iv) did not import any goods between October 21, 2024, and May 20, 2025, 3:00:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time and were removed from the program, and what is the percentage of total importer program accounts; (e) as at the Release Prior to Payment Privilege program's transition period end date of May 20, 2025, at 3:00:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, how many importer program accounts were ineligible for Release Prior to Payment Privilege; (f) between October 21, 2024, and the Release Prior to Payment Privilege program's transition period end date of May 20, 2025, at 3:00:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, how many importer program accounts submitted requests for a reduction of financial security amounts, and how many were (i) granted, (ii) denied; (g) of the requests for reduction of financial security reported in (f), what was the amount of the financial security demanded by the Canada Border Services Agency and the amount of reduction requested, broken down by importer program account; and (h) of the requests for reduction of financial security reported in (f) that were denied by the Canada Border Services Agency, what were the reasons for each denial, broken down by importer program account, and what were the reasons provided to each requester?

With regard to the consultative process for Bill C-2, An Act respecting certain measures relating to the security of the border between Canada and the United States and respecting other related security measures: (a) what meetings or correspondence did the ministers and staff responsible for the preparation of Bill C-2 undertake with (i) women and gender equality organizations, (ii) migrant and refugee rights organizations; (b) did the government seek a legal opinion from the Privacy Commissioner concerning the legal validity of Bill C-2, prior to introducing it in the House of Commons; and (c) what steps did the government take to ensure that Bill C-2 was compliant with the 1951 Refugee Convention, prior to introducing it in the House of Commons?