Ottawa, ON – Kelly Block, Conservative Shadow Minister for Public Services and Procurement, and Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative Quebec Lieutenant, released the following statement on the investigation that revealed that 76 percent of ArriveCan contractors did zero work on the $54 million app:
“A damning watchdog report has revealed that federal officials in the Trudeau Government rigged the ArriveCan contract so it would end up with the well-connected, two-person consulting firm, GC Strategies. In total, these two individuals did not work on the app, yet received $11 million dollars from taxpayers. Multiple investigations into ArriveCan have revealed millions in taxpayer dollars sent to connected insiders and consultants. And that government officials have been suspended without pay for their involvement in the app and inappropriate relationships between government officials and contractors, and more, including GC Strategies hosting an “ArriveCan Whisky Tasting” with government officials to celebrate the app.
“Since this scandal came to light, whistleblowers have been silenced and government officials have been suspended without pay for telling the truth at Committee. Now, as the allegation of corruption grows more severe, the RCMP has decided to investigate the contracts for potential criminality.
“Experts have estimated that ArriveCan could’ve been built in a weekend for $200,000. But instead, the Trudeau Government decided to waste $54 million in taxpayer dollars on this unnecessary and broken app. Unfortunately for Canadians, these recent allegations of abuse are starting to make the extreme $54 million price tag make sense.
“Despite this fiasco surrounding GC Strategies, this two-person IT consulting firm has been awarded nearly $60 million in contracts from the Trudeau Government since 2017, even receiving contracts after they charged the Canadian taxpayer $11 million for the dysfunctional ArriveCan app. Eight years ago, Trudeau promised to cut consultant contracts. This is just one more broken Liberal promise that Canadians are on the hook for.
”Canadians deserve transparency regarding how many consultants and well-connected insiders were awarded government contracts. In 2022, third-party consultants like GC Strategies, were awarded $17.7 billion in contracts, while ordinary Canadians are struggling to pay for groceries or heat their homes.
“It’s clear that the ArriveCan scandal is just the tip of the iceberg. Common sense Conservatives will turn over every document and consulting contract to get to the bottom of the Trudeau Government’s abuse of taxpayer dollars.”