QUESTION PERIOD — Public Services and Procurement
Procurement Process
October 26, 2023
Senator Gold, over the last two years, your government paid a company called GC Strategies over $164 million for IT work. It is the same company responsible for the $54-million ArriveCAN app. This company has two owners but no employees. Neither of those two owners do any IT work. They subcontract all the work, and, of course, that’s a practice that allows the government to hide key information from public scrutiny.
Senator Gold, who in the Trudeau government made the decision to hire this company? Who in your government thought that the height of the pandemic was the time to go with a small, unproven company — with no employees and no expertise — to develop an app that you keep describing as being so pivotal in the government’s response to COVID? To which members of the Trudeau government are these insiders connected?
Thank you for your question. I have stated on a number of occasions — and I will not repeat — the reasons why the government took quick action during the pandemic. The pandemic is now behind us. Things have emerged, as you have properly pointed out, whether in costs or otherwise. In some respects, as senators will know and as I have stated here, the RCMP is investigating allegations of wrongdoing. Those investigations are ongoing, and are being done properly and independent of the government.
All other speculations, insinuations and the like will have to await the disclosure of the results of those investigations.
Rapid decisions are welcome, but transparent, accountable decisions in Parliament are more welcome.
Senator Gold, we now know that another company that secured a contract with your government blew the whistle on the irregular practices associated with the GC Strategies and your government as early as September 2021. Why did your government ignore the warnings of these whistle-blowers and continue to outsource even more work to GC Strategies to the tune of an additional $17 million? Is that why your government also now refuses to cancel these unreasonable fines that were levied to Canadians through ArriveCAN? Is it because Liberal insiders just need to get paid?
Again, Senator Housakos, you are implying wrongdoing and many things without evidence and I will not dignify those by engaging with you on that, except to say that allegations of wrongdoing, such as they may be, are being investigated whether internally or, as I mentioned before, by the RCMP.
