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

With regard to drones manufactured in China that are currently owned by the government, broken down by department or agency: (a) how many such drones are owned; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by make and model; (c) what are the drones used for; (d) what security assessments, if any, have been done by the government in relation to its usage of the drones, and what were the findings of the assessments; and (e) what steps, if any, are in place to ensure that information gathered as a result of the drones' usage does not end up in the possession of government or government-connected entities in China?

With regard to the Trans-Canada Highway between the Manitoba border and Thunder Bay, Ontario: (a) have any studies been undertaken to determine the cost of designating Highway 17 as dual-use infrastructure, and, if so, what are the details, including (i) the date, (ii) who conducted the study, (iii) the projected cost; and (b) have any studies been undertaken to determine the cost of twinning Highway 17 from the Manitoba border to Thunder Bay, and, if so, what are the details, including (i) the date, (ii) who conducted the study, (iii) the projected cost?

With regard to long-term drinking water advisories for First Nations communities: which First Nations communities where long-term drinking water advisories are currently in place have received federal funding for water treatment facilities or new water treatment infrastructure, and what are the details of each, including (i) the name and location of the community, (ii) when the funding was received, (iii) how much funding was received, (iv) the project description, (v) the date on which construction on the project began, (vi) the expected project completion date, (vii) the expected date when the boil water advisory will be lifted?

With regard to the flights taken by the Prime Minister and the Canadian delegation to Norway and the United Kingdom in March 2026: (a) what are the details of the C-130 flight which landed in Norway and was used in the arrival photo op with the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defence, including the (i) date, (ii) origin and destination of each leg, (iii) titles of passengers; (b) where and when did the (i) Prime Minister, (ii) Minister of National Defence, board the C-130 aircraft, and how long was the flight from that location to the photo op in Norway; (c) what were the fuel costs associated with sending the C-130 to Norway for the photo op and returning it to its original location; and (d) what are the details of the flight logs for all government Challenger, Polaris, and other aircraft which travelled to either Norway, the United Kingdom, or locations between Ottawa and those destinations on the Prime Minister's trip, including Yellowknife and Italy, including, for each, the (i) type of aircraft, (ii) date, (iii) times, (iv) origin, (v) destination, (vi) names and titles of the passengers?

With regard to Section 6 of the Buy Canadian Policy regarding exceptions and ministerial approvals: (a) how many "Buy Canadian" exceptions have been (i) requested, (ii) granted, broken down by department or agency; (b) for each exception, which minister provided the written approval; (c) what was the specific justification for each exception; and (d) what was the total (i) number, (ii) value, of contracts for which these exceptions were granted?

With regard to funding for the Canadian Firearms Program as mentioned in the Supplementary Estimates (B), 2025-26: since the program was established, how many firearms has the government collected, and, for each, (i) what is the brand and model, (ii) what was the acquisition or collection cost, (iii) what were the city and province or territory in which the firearms were collected, (iv) how much was spent on acquiring, storing, or processing each firearm, (v) were the firearms destroyed or disposed of?

With regard to the Canada Revenue Agency's virtual assistant technology chatbot "Charlie": (a) what are the expenditures to date associated with the development, operation and maintenance of Charlie, in total and broken down by (i) fiscal year, (ii) type of expense (software, training, licensing, etc.); (b) how many taxpayer interactions have been handled by Charlie since 2021, broken down by (i) month, (ii) topic area (individual taxes, business taxes, benefits, etc.); (c) what are the details of any contracts or agreements with third-party artificial intelligence providers or consultants for developing and maintaining Charlie, including, for each, (i) the vendor, (ii) the value, (iii) the date and duration, (iv) the description of the work performed, (v) whether the contract was sole-sourced or competitively awarded; and (d) what metrics, data or performance measures does the Canada Revenue Agency use to evaluate Charlie's effectiveness, including (i) how many times the chatbot has been used, (ii) how many questions it has answered correctly, (iii) how accuracy is measured, (iv) what improvements have been made as a result of those evaluations?

With regard to Community Futures Program funding awarded to Community Futures Ontario: (a) what percentages and amounts of funds in the contribution agreements were allocated to Community Futures Development Corporations in Northern Ontario, for each of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 fiscal years; (b) what are the projections for the percentages and amounts of funds in the 2025-26 contribution agreement that will be allocated to Community Futures Development Corporations in Northern Ontario; and (c) what is the breakdown of (a) and (b) by federal riding?

With regard to the departmental result indicator for the amount leveraged per dollar invested, by Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario projects, for which the target is 1.80: (a) what is the explanation for the result decreasing from 2.02 in 2021-22 to 1.61 in 2023-24; and (b) what is the rationale for not meeting the 1.80 target in 2023-24?

With regard to the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario’s target in the 2023-24 Departmental Results Report, to render a decision on applications within 80 working days of the receipt of a complete application and to issue payment on eligible claim submissions within 35 working days: (a) what is the rationale for why these targets are not being met 15% of the time; and (b) how many applicants have waited longer than 80 working days for a decision to be rendered?

With regard to the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario: what is the total value of the agency's grants and contributions for the fiscal years 2023-24 and 2024-25, broken down by federal electoral district?