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

With regard to the statement on page 210 of budget 2025, "Implementing a Fleet Divestment Strategy: [...] The Department of National Defence will divest fleets reaching end of service life, saving costly repairs and sustainment costs. Divestment will be coordinated with investments in modernized replacement capabilities": (a) which fleets will be subject to divestment, broken down by platform; (b) what is the timeline for each platform divestment; (c) what is the number of units in each fleet subject to divestment, broken down by platform; and (d) what is the breakdown of the expected $1.1 billion in cost savings by fleet and platform type?

With regard to the new Capital Frameworks presented in Annex 2 of budget 2025, for each of capital transfers, capital-focused tax incentives, amortization of federal capital assets, private sector research and development, support to unlock large-scale private sector capital investment, and measures to grow the housing stock: (a) what specific criteria will be used to determine into which category or framework a given spending item will fall; (b) which department or agency, and who within that department or agency, will be responsible for applying the criteria in (a); and (c) how will spending items under the new categories be reported in the estimates and Public Accounts?

With regard to the 2025 budget and the government’s proposal to expand eligibility for the Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit by adding bismuth, cesium, chromium, fluorspar, germanium, indium, manganese, molybdenum, niobium, tantalum, tin and tungsten: (a) what is the impact of this decision on the modelling of greenhouse gas emissions projections, broken down by province, for each emissions projection scenario and for every milestone year between 2026 and 2050; and (b) for all the documentation relating to this decision, including the scientific advice, briefing notes, studies and memoranda used by or provided to the Privy Council Office, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, the Department of Finance, Cabinet and the Prime Minister’s Office, what are their details, including (i) the date, (ii) the sender, (iii) the type of document, (iv) the title of the document, (v) a summary of the message’s content?

With regard to the absence of significant new greenhouse gas reduction measures in budget 2025: for all documents, including scientific analyses, transition scenarios, emissions trajectory modelling, sectoral analyses, economic assessments, internal technical guidance, documents sent to Cabinet, preliminary or unpublished versions, and analyses of rejected options, what are the details, including (i) the date, (ii) the sender, (iii) the type of document, (iv) the title of the document, (v) a summary of the contents?

With regard to the commitment in budget 2025 to automate federal benefits: (a) broken down by department and agency, how many employees or full-time equivalents are projected to work on this program in (i) fiscal year 2025-26, (ii) fiscal year 2026-27, (iii) fiscal year 2027-28; (b) what resources are projected to develop new technology solutions, including procurements of new databases or systems; (c) what is the projected yearly expenditure for benefits that will be claimed under this automatic program; (d) what are the eligibility criteria for this program; (e) how many of the 5.5 million targeted individuals are considered non-filers (for example, no previous interaction with the Canada Revenue Agency); (f) what safeguards are in place to ensure that automated benefits are not received by ineligible persons (for example, incarcerated, deceased, out of country, self-employed, participating in the underground economy); and (g) what planning has been undertaken, and what timeline is in place, to expand this project to all tax filers?

With regard to budget 2025 and the proposed cash payment of $2 billion over five years, starting in 2026–27, to Natural Resources Canada for the creation of the Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund and to allocate $50 million over five years to Natural Resources Canada, starting in 2026-27, to implement this fund: (a) what is the impact of this decision on the modelling of greenhouse gas emissions projections, broken down by province, for each emissions projection scenario and for all milestone years from 2026 to 2050; and (b) for all documentation related to this same decision, including scientific opinions, briefing notes, studies and briefs used by or provided to the Privy Council Office, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, the Department of Finance Canada, the Cabinet, and the Prime Minister's Office, what are the details, including (i) the date, (ii) the sender, (iii) the type of document, (iv) the title of the document, (v) a summary of the content of the message?

With regard to the federal government’s oversight of Canadian financial institutions and the measures proposed in Bill C-15, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on November 4, 2025, sections 333–336: (a) what measures has the government taken since 2015 to ensure that banks compensate victims of fraud, particularly in cases where fraud occurred through methods clearly inconsistent with the customer’s typical transaction patterns or with the facilitation of bank staff or digital vulnerabilities; and (b) what legislative or regulatory changes, if any, is the government planning that would be comparable to the anti-fraud protections comparable to those enacted in Australia or the United Kingdom, such as mandatory reimbursement of fraud victims unless adequate safeguards are proven, binding authority for the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments, or mandatory public reporting of violations?