Canada Border Services Agency misses deadline to hand over ArriveCan invoices, declines to identify subcontractors

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
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Regina, Saskatchewan
A former border agency official who handled ArriveCan contracting files said she’s been suspended as a form of retribution by senior managers because she refused to give false testimony as part of an internal probe into alleged contracting misconduct.

The border agency is conducting an internal investigation into allegations of cozy ties between private contractors and public servants involved in government contracting. Diane Daly told a House committee Wednesday that her interview earlier this year as part of that probe was hostile and she was pressed to pin blame on people who had done nothing wrong.
“I’m here to tell the truth but I’m very concerned that if I tell the truth here, I’m going to lose my job,” Ms. Daly said, her hands shaking at times as she read from written notes.

Ms. Daly said she’s been a public servant for nearly 20 years, but it was her first time speaking to a parliamentary committee. She testified Wednesday before the public accounts committee, which is leading one of more than a dozen reviews into ArriveCan spending and broader concerns related to federal contracting. The RCMP has said it is investigating ArriveCan and other contracting matters.

Ms. Daly was a senior adviser at the Canada Border Services Agency’s Border Technologies Innovation Directorate during the period that the agency launched and managed the ArriveCan app, an initially mandatory software tool aimed at facilitating cross-border travel during the pandemic’s frequently changing health requirements. The app remains as a voluntary option.

(it sure wasn’t for commercial drivers, voluntary I mean)
 
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Dixie Cup

Senate Member
Sep 16, 2006
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A former border agency official who handled ArriveCan contracting files said she’s been suspended as a form of retribution by senior managers because she refused to give false testimony as part of an internal probe into alleged contracting misconduct.

The border agency is conducting an internal investigation into allegations of cozy ties between private contractors and public servants involved in government contracting. Diane Daly told a House committee Wednesday that her interview earlier this year as part of that probe was hostile and she was pressed to pin blame on people who had done nothing wrong.
“I’m here to tell the truth but I’m very concerned that if I tell the truth here, I’m going to lose my job,” Ms. Daly said, her hands shaking at times as she read from written notes.

Ms. Daly said she’s been a public servant for nearly 20 years, but it was her first time speaking to a parliamentary committee. She testified Wednesday before the public accounts committee, which is leading one of more than a dozen reviews into ArriveCan spending and broader concerns related to federal contracting. The RCMP has said it is investigating ArriveCan and other contracting matters.

Ms. Daly was a senior adviser at the Canada Border Services Agency’s Border Technologies Innovation Directorate during the period that the agency launched and managed the ArriveCan app, an initially mandatory software tool aimed at facilitating cross-border travel during the pandemic’s frequently changing health requirements. The app remains as a voluntary option.

(it sure wasn’t for commercial drivers, voluntary I mean)
Will there be consequences for those who screwed this up? Will the money be repaid to Canadian taxpayers?
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
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Regina, Saskatchewan
Federal records show that ArriveCan emails were destroyed by Canada Border Services Agency’s former chief information officer days after an access-to-information request was made for them, according to Blacklock Reporter’s. Whoopsies!

The Access to Information Act forbids destruction of records with a maximum penalty of a two-year jail term and a $100,000 fine.

Minh Doan, the ex-chief information officer for the CBSA, reported on Feb. 27, 2023, that he accidentally destroyed emails on his government-issued laptop.

That was after Doan was told of a request for “all records of communication” with GC Strategies Inc., a Woodlawn, Ont., contractor, now being investigated for fraudulent billing.

Doan said that he destroyed his laptop files accidentally.
Auditor General Karen Hogan said in a Feb. 7 report that numerous rules were broken when it came to ArriveCan.

“The bookkeeping I looked at is the worst I have seen,” Hogan testified Feb. 12 at the public accounts committee.

“We paid too much for this. Was it efficient and provided good value for money? That’s where I would tell you no. The government has paid too much.”
 
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Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
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“This report has no (new) recommendations but (rather) confirms weaknesses raised in previous audits. Rather than repeat previous recommendations on procurement, this audit re‑confirms that policy should be well understood and properly applied.”
I don’t dare dream Canada’s problems are that easy to solve. But we can’t solve the big ones without insisting on some basic standards for the smaller ones. Carney can’t personally watch over the entirety of federal-government contracting, but he should be giving his ministers some very pointed marching orders: No more ArriveCans.
 
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Taxslave2

House Member
Aug 13, 2022
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If ministers in charge of major blunders suffered consequences for their failures, like losing a portion of their solid gold pension, and/or demoted, perhaps there would be fewer blunders of this kind.
 
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pgs

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 29, 2008
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B.C.
If ministers in charge of major blunders suffered consequences for their failures, like losing a portion of their solid gold pension, and/or demoted, perhaps there would be fewer blunders of this kind.
Whereas if the put
and accomplished people into cabinet who can ensure the bureaucrats accomplish the government’s agenda and actually work for the good of Canada . I will go back to crying in my beer ,As if the only criteria isn’t votes
 

Dixie Cup

Senate Member
Sep 16, 2006
6,203
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Edmonton
“This report has no (new) recommendations but (rather) confirms weaknesses raised in previous audits. Rather than repeat previous recommendations on procurement, this audit re‑confirms that policy should be well understood and properly applied.”
I don’t dare dream Canada’s problems are that easy to solve. But we can’t solve the big ones without insisting on some basic standards for the smaller ones. Carney can’t personally watch over the entirety of federal-government contracting, but he should be giving his ministers some very pointed marching orders: No more ArriveCans.
Well, incompetence is an issue as well so while he may want to give his ministers "some very pointed marching orders" it won't necessarily happen based on previous experience under Trudeau whose Ministers were not only incompetent but inept!!