(Ottawa) The Auditor General is unable to determine the exact cost ofArriveCan due to the poor accounting records of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), she notes in a devastating report unveiled Monday. Karen Hogan still estimates that the application, which initially cost $80,000, cost taxpayers around $59.5 million.
What there is to know
- Questionable practices surround app development ArriveCan.
- It was launched by the government in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic to manage the arrival of travelers to Canada.
- The initial version of the app cost $80,000, but the cost has skyrocketed to $59.5 million, according to the Auditor General.
“This is probably one of the worst financial record keepings I have ever seen,” Karen Hogan said at a press conference, taking care to point out that she has been carrying out this type of audit for several decades. And the pandemic cannot be used as an excuse, she stressed.
She is surprised by the “lack of basic information” to justify the consultants’ invoices and the fact that there was “no place to attribute them” in the CBSA’s financial records in order to ensure follow-up adequate for the project. His questions, those of parliamentarians and the population therefore remain unanswered.
Mme Hogan said he was unable to know whether any documentation had been deleted or whether it simply never existed. The CBSA launched an investigation in 2022 into the conduct of some of its employees in this matter, and two of them no longer work there. She also transmitted certain information to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Karen Hogan, Auditor General of Canada
The app ArriveCan, developed in the emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic, initially cost $80,000. However, it required 177 updates between its launch at the end of April 2020 and the lifting of health measures in October 2022.
Travelers were required to indicate their vaccination status and contact information upon arrival in Canada before quarantining. Its use is no longer compulsory since 1er October 2022, but it can still be used to make customs and immigration declarations at major airports across the country.
“Blatant non-compliance with practices”
The thirty-page report “demonstrates blatant non-compliance with basic management practices.” The Auditor General reports numerous gaps and weaknesses at all stages of the project, from design, monitoring and, finally, reporting.
She notes that 18% of the invoices audited in her sample did not contain enough information for her to be able to determine whether they were expenses related to ArriveCan or another project.
We found that in many cases, detailed information on the work performed was not included on the invoices and related time sheets submitted by contractors that the Agency had approved.
Excerpt from the Auditor General’s report
The largest share of the 59.5 million went to the consulting firm GC Strategies. The government paid $19.1 million to the two-employee company, according to estimates from the Auditor General. The awarding of the first contract to GC Strategies is however unclear, since it participated in the development of the criteria for the call for tenders.
The firm also invited the senior officials responsible for the file to a whiskey tasting. Under their code of conduct, they should have notified their superior, whether they participated or not, to avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest.
Red flags from February 2022
The parliamentary leader of the Bloc Québécois, Alain Therrien, recalled that his party had raised problems as early as February 2022. “The federal government, clearly, let things go as if, for it, sound management of public finances was not not on the agenda,” he lamented.
The leader of the Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, went even further. “I think it’s corruption,” he said at a press briefing. The app, which he dubbed “ArriveScam,” cost “750 times more” and there is no evidence that “75% of contractors” actually did the work they were paid to do. he justified.
The New Democratic leader, Jagmeet Singh, did not go so far as to cry corruption, but tried to link this affair to the rising cost of living, like the Conservatives. “This is an example of how the Liberals are out of touch and their waste hurts people,” he said.
The rules were not followed
“We always have a ministerial responsibility to ensure that taxpayers’ money is well spent,” acknowledged the Minister of Public Safety, Dominic LeBlanc. It is a responsibility that we take seriously. »
He noted that the rules had not been followed in the case ofArriveCan. “And I have full confidence in the president of the CBSA to take all the necessary measures,” he added.
The Auditor General recommends, among other things, that the Agency demonstrate greater rigor in its record keeping and in the awarding of contracts.