Questions and responses 42nd Parliament, 1st session December 3, 2015, to September 11, 2019

With regard to expenditures related to the preparation and presentation of Budget 2018: what are the details of all expenditures, including (i) date, (ii) vendor, (iii) amount, (iv) description of goods or services, (v) contract date and duration, (vi) number?

With regard to land protection and the $1.3 billion announced in Budget 2018: (a) what amount will go to conservation, monitoring endangered species and awareness, including funding for educational activities, research and data collection, population sampling and monitoring, and funding to restore destroyed or damaged ecosystems, broken down by (i) year, (ii) program, (iii) budget, (iv) spending to date; (b) how many nature conservation and protection programs situated less than 200 km from the U.S. border are currently underway and funded by the government, broken down by budget and location; (c) what are the government’s targets for respecting the Aichi agreements, broken down by (i) date, (ii) target description, (iii) whether the targets have been met; (d) what programs involving protecting endangered species, conservation, and education and awareness are in place or will be implemented by the government from which local and regional organizations could benefit, and (i) what are the publication and submission dates for funding applications, and when could the organizations expect to receive funding, (ii) for each program, what are the scientific criteria for the selected projects, (iii) what are the funding criteria to participate in these programs; and (e) how many reports have been written since 2015 by Environment and Climate Change Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada on protecting species at risk and nature conservation for the respective minister’s office, broken down by (i) title, (ii) date sent, (iii) website address, if the reports are available to the public?

With regard to Bill C-74, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 27, 2018 and other measures: does the government consider the 556-page bill to be an omnibus bill and, if not, what is the threshold for omnibus legislation which the bill fails to meet?

With regard to the book cover for Budget 2018: (a) how much did the government spend on the cover, including any artwork, graphic design, or photography; and (b) what is the breakdown of all expenses, including, for each expense, the (i) amount, (ii) date, (iii) vendor, (iv) description of good or service, (v) file number?

With regard to the provision on page 72 of Budget 2018 about the sharing of Canadians' tax data with foreign countries: what is the complete list of countries with which the government is prepared to share Canadians' tax information?

With regard to the funding announced in the 2018 Budget in response to the opioid crisis, and specifically the funding commitments mentioned on pages 170 and 171 of the Budget Plan, broken down by funding commitment: what are the details of all funding which has actually been delivered to date, including (i) recipient, (ii) date, (iii) amount, (iv) location, (v) project description or purpose of funding?

With regard to the investment of $3.3 million announced in Budget 2016 to support an in-depth assessment of VIA Rail’s high-frequency rail proposal and the additional investment of $8 million announced in Budget 2018 to support the continued in-depth assessment of VIA Rail’s high-frequency rail (HFR) proposal for the Quebec City-Windsor corridor: (a) how much of the $3.3 million and $8 million have been spent to date, broken down by (i) feasibility studies, (ii) contractors; (b) how many employees are assigned to the assessment; (c) has VIA Rail provided the government with studies on the high-frequency rail proposal; (d) if the answer in (c) is affirmative, will Transport Canada publish the entirety of these studies and their findings on its website; (e) how many studies and assessments have been conducted on this subject by Transport Canada to date and, if applicable, (i) what were the findings of each of these studies, (ii) will the entirety of these studies and their findings be published on Transport Canada’s website, (iii) what was the cost of each of these studies, (iv) when did Transport Canada conduct each of these studies; (f) why were the findings of the $3.3 million first phase of the assessment insufficient to approve funding for HFR; and (g) what data were missing from the $3.3 million first phase of the assessment that were required in order to fund HFR?

With regard to the $173.2 million announced on page 211 of the budget plan to support security operations at the Canada-U.S. border and the processing of asylum claimants arriving in 2018-19: (a) what is the breakdown of this amount by department, program and province, both financially, expressed in dollars, and in human resources, expressed in full-time equivalents; and (b) to determine that this amount can meet demand, what is the number of migrants that the government expects to be crossing the Canada-U.S. border in 2018-19 and what is the breakdown by province?

With regard to public consultations planned in Budget 2018 concerning retirement income security following the "Sears" case, between February 2018 and November 2, 2018, broken down by month: (a) did the Minister of Seniors conduct public consultations; (b) if the answer to (a) is affirmative, which individuals and organizations did the Minister of Seniors consult; (c) what are the recommendations or conclusions of the persons and organizations consulted, broken down by person and organization consulted; (d) in which municipalities did these meetings take place; (e) in which electoral districts did these meetings take place; and (f) were the Members of Parliament representing the constituencies referred to in (e) invited to these meetings?