Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is urging the RCMP to widen the inquiry into the growing ArriveCan scandal and possible criminal wrongdoing.In a strongly worded letter to Mountie Commissioner Mike Duheme, Poilievre strongly suggests that Liberal cabinet ministers were either complicit or guilty of purloining millions of taxpayers dollars at the height of the pandemic.“In short, millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted by Trudeau government officials who rigged the contracting process for a preferred company,” he said.On Monday, the Auditor General tabled a report in Parliament which concluded the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Public Health Agency of Canada and Public Services and Procurement Canada failed to follow good management practices in the contracting, development and implementation of the ArriveCAN application. .In particular, the audit found that CBSA had a complete disregard for policies, controls and transparency throughout the contracting process. ArriveCAN was originally budgeted for $80,000, but it ended up costing Canadians at least $60 million or 750 times over budget. The Procurement Ombudsman found that part of this cost was attributed to the 76% of subcontractors that were part of the winning bid but did no work on the contract. There were also “severe” violations of the CBSA Code of Conduct, including failure to disclose whiskey tastings and extravagant dinners paid for by lobbyists and private interests. In Question Period on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the accusations unfounded.That’s not withstanding that the application itself also didn't work, as 10,000 Canadians were mistakenly forced into quarantine. “This is completely unacceptable and reeks of corruption at the highest levels,” he wrote. “This entire affair, at the very least, constitutes a serious breach of trust by public officials.”
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is urging the RCMP to widen the inquiry into the growing ArriveCan scandal and possible criminal wrongdoing.In a strongly worded letter to Mountie Commissioner Mike Duheme, Poilievre strongly suggests that Liberal cabinet ministers were either complicit or guilty of purloining millions of taxpayers dollars at the height of the pandemic.“In short, millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted by Trudeau government officials who rigged the contracting process for a preferred company,” he said.On Monday, the Auditor General tabled a report in Parliament which concluded the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Public Health Agency of Canada and Public Services and Procurement Canada failed to follow good management practices in the contracting, development and implementation of the ArriveCAN application. .In particular, the audit found that CBSA had a complete disregard for policies, controls and transparency throughout the contracting process. ArriveCAN was originally budgeted for $80,000, but it ended up costing Canadians at least $60 million or 750 times over budget. The Procurement Ombudsman found that part of this cost was attributed to the 76% of subcontractors that were part of the winning bid but did no work on the contract. There were also “severe” violations of the CBSA Code of Conduct, including failure to disclose whiskey tastings and extravagant dinners paid for by lobbyists and private interests. In Question Period on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the accusations unfounded.That’s not withstanding that the application itself also didn't work, as 10,000 Canadians were mistakenly forced into quarantine. “This is completely unacceptable and reeks of corruption at the highest levels,” he wrote. “This entire affair, at the very least, constitutes a serious breach of trust by public officials.”
