QUESTION PERIOD — Public Services and Procurement
Procurement Process
February 6, 2024
Senator Gold, with the Auditor General’s report due to be released next week, here’s what we do know about this unmitigated disaster called “ArriveScam.” It cost far more than it should have at well over $54 million. Your government is now under an RCMP investigation as a result. Seventy-six per cent of the subcontractors on the app were found to have done no work.
You shut down the committee looking into this matter. You kept the Auditor General in the dark about the RCMP investigation, and you reprimanded whistle-blowers. Everything about this app has been fraudulent from the beginning, including your government using it to unlawfully strand Canadians overseas, send others to unlawful detention and leave others with exorbitant and unlawful fines.
Senator Gold, how can your government in good conscience continue to make Canadians pay these outstanding fines related to “ArriveScam”? Will you finally do the right thing and waive these fines for hard-working Canadians?
I am not advised of any plans to waive such fines. I am advised, though, that serious investigations are under way. There is an internal investigation by the Canada Border Services Agency, or CBSA, and, as you know, the CBSA has referred this matter to the RCMP.
As you also know, the CBSA has suspended contracts relevant to this matter. We await the report of the Auditor General with interest. The government will, as always, consider seriously the recommendations of that Auditor General report.
All this just acknowledges how this whole affair has been laced with fraudulent and bad will on the part of the government.
Senator Gold, you’ve destroyed lives. Still, many Canadians are left scrambling to come up with money to pay these fines. And for what? So some Liberal buddies can line their pockets at the expense of hard-working Canadians.
Senator Gold, can you at least tell us that your government is no longer doing business with GC Strategies? Have you removed them from the approved list of vendors? Have you suspended all contracts with this organization, which clearly did not provide the services that they were paid to provide to Canadians?
I don’t have information with regard to your question. I will simply say that allegations of fraud and the like are, I suppose, within your parliamentary privilege, honourable senator, but the fact is that investigations are ongoing. The government looks forward to the results of those investigations. But pending those results, it is simply rhetoric to characterize it as you have.
