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

The_Foxer

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The committee’s investigation followed reports by The Globe and Mail that the cost to build and maintain the app is on pace to reach $54-million this fiscal year. The CBSA has since said the original version of the app cost just $80,000 to build, but the price tag grew over time because of numerous updates.

80,000 to 54 MILLION?!?! For UPDATES?!?!

And now they can't even manage to turn over the invoices? Due to 'translation' issues? What language are they in? klingon? Ancient elvish? Do we need an enigma machine here or something? It's a frakkin invoice!

just another case of the kind of corruption we've seen under this gov't. Very obviously someone got rich doing nothing because they thought they wouldn't get caught and now the gov't agency is trying to protect themselves and hide the fact they allowed it to happen.

This shouldn't be a 'committee', this should be a police investigation.
 
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The_Foxer

House Member
Aug 9, 2022
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We are happy/sad that you/they found that the post that we/some random hacker made to be amusing/annoying. Please/don't contact the Liberal department of clarity for any/none of your future/present/past clarification and transparency needs. Have a good/rotten daynight.
 

Dixie Cup

Senate Member
Sep 16, 2006
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Edmonton
We are happy/sad that you/they found that the post that we/some random hacker made to be amusing/annoying. Please/don't contact the Liberal department of clarity for any/none of your future/present/past clarification and transparency needs. Have a good/rotten daynight.
That's funny but there may be some truth there
 
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The_Foxer

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That's funny but there may be some truth there
Sadly yes. You know politicians in general like to be vague, but the libs take it to an extreme while claiming transparency.

They make this guy look straight up and honest:
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
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Trenspearinsie
In the interest of transparency we cannot release these documents :)
The CBSA, the main federal agency responsible for the app, missed the committee’s original deadline, which called for the documents to be supplied by the end of October. The agency said the need to have the files translated into both official languages would cause considerable delay.

The Canada Border Services Agency has handed over hundreds of pages of documents related to the government’s use of private contractors to build the ArriveCan app, BUT the chair of the committee that requested the files over two months ago says the agency’s high level of redactions is unacceptable.

In an Oct. 17 vote supported by ALL PARTIES, MPs on the Commons government operations committee ordered federal departments to hand over, “in an unredacted format,” a wide range of documents related to the app, including a list of contractors and subcontractors, and copies of invoices.

Conservative MP and committee chair Kelly McCauley said he is disappointed the CBSA took so long to respond to the committee’s production order. Many of the documents arrived just as Parliament was about to rise until late January. How ‘bout that for a coincidence….if only Parliament & it’s committees had just relocated to Quebec where there’s now only ONE official language unlike the rest of the entire country….but that’s a different story.

“I’m very greatly concerned that documents are redacted, blocking any ability for us to see what the government was actually buying and how many units. All we get is a lump-sum price,” he said. “I suspect the committee will probably (have to?) put through another motion demanding unredacted documents.”

The company that received the most federal outsourcing work on the project, GCstrategies, relies heavily on subcontractors to deliver on its contracts. Neither the company NOR the government will reveal the identities of the subcontractors.

But above a few paragraphs ALL PARTIES agreed to getting non-redacted documents on this? Maybe the memo to the NDP/Liberal MP’s stating “NOPE” was either redacted or too secret for them to see?

Bloc Québécois MP Julie Vignola said the level of government redactions means the exact services provided and their costs remain a mystery.

NDP MP and committee member Gord Johns said the redactions contradict the government’s pledges to be transparent.
Trenspearinsie
Again, Conservative MP and committee chair Kelly McCauley said he is disappointed the CBSA took so long to respond to the committee’s production order. Many of the documents arrived just as Parliament was about to rise until late January….

Green Party MP Elizabeth May, she was probably there or maybe she wasn’t. She may or may not have an option.

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who is a committee member and the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement, said in an e-mail that IT subcontractors tend to be workers that are acting almost as employees of primary contractors (or Former Liberal Party Members, or Friends of Liberal Party Members, or outsourced to the Chinese Government, etc…). As a result, he said, there could be legitimate privacy reasons for not revealing their identities.

Mr. Housefather added that he is “far more sympathetic” to the concerns being raised over redactions to descriptions of the services provided.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
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Smells like another scandal.
Maybe we should have a Parliamentary Committee look into this and ask for the un-redacted documents by a deadline of something like last October….that all Parties can (& did) agree to…but the current Government (=NDP/Liberals) but apparently not the ones in Parliament that agreed to receiving the un-redacted documents previously….supports GCstrategies not cooperating…so this is probably another SNC-Lavalamp that the joint Liberal/NDP’er will now vote to close the Parliamentary Committee on now anyway. Transparency & Good Times.
 
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Jinentonix

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 6, 2015
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Olympus Mons
Wanna have some fun? Come tax season just send in a blank tax return, no name, no nothing and tell the fuckers to guess who's return it is and what the numbers are.
And then mail them directly to Diane Labouthier or whatever her fucking name is.

If this govt absolutely refuses to be accountable about how much they're spending and where, I see no reason for the taxpayers to be accountable to them.

Remember folks, our PM is a cunt who's playing politically partisan games with your health care. He refuses to put money into a "broken system". The system isn't broken, he's just being a little bitch boy because there's only two Liberal Premiers in the entire country and he'll be DAMNED if he's going to restore health care funding to a bunch of non-Liberal run provinces and territories.

This isn't the first time a Liberal party played stupid fucking partisan games with people's health care either. The Ontario Libtards have a history of it as well.
 

Serryah

Executive Branch Member
Dec 3, 2008
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New Brunswick
Wanna have some fun? Come tax season just send in a blank tax return, no name, no nothing and tell the fuckers to guess who's return it is and what the numbers are.
And then mail them directly to Diane Labouthier or whatever her fucking name is.

If this govt absolutely refuses to be accountable about how much they're spending and where, I see no reason for the taxpayers to be accountable to them.

Remember folks, our PM is a cunt who's playing politically partisan games with your health care. He refuses to put money into a "broken system". The system isn't broken, he's just being a little bitch boy because there's only two Liberal Premiers in the entire country and he'll be DAMNED if he's going to restore health care funding to a bunch of non-Liberal run provinces and territories.

This isn't the first time a Liberal party played stupid fucking partisan games with people's health care either. The Ontario Libtards have a history of it as well.

It's not just on Liberal Premiers/Governments of provinces.

Health care has been going to the shitter for YEARS, and that's on EVERY party elected in, say, the last 30 for not doing SFA to fix it. Here in NB, both Libs and Cons were told how bad it was going to be, and they did nothing, they even fought against fixing the problems.

So all of it can't be put on the Libs alone.

That said, I absolutely agree that if the Feds refuse to be accountable for spending, we shouldn't have to keep throwing our hard worked for cash to them to waste.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
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Regina, Saskatchewan
Who was John Cretchen’s Finance Minister that balanced the budget again? I can picture him, retired, sitting on a tractor, being interviewed probably by the CBC, but his name escapes me at this time. A round headed rotund Guy….
 

pgs

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 29, 2008
26,543
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B.C.
It's not just on Liberal Premiers/Governments of provinces.

Health care has been going to the shitter for YEARS, and that's on EVERY party elected in, say, the last 30 for not doing SFA to fix it. Here in NB, both Libs and Cons were told how bad it was going to be, and they did nothing, they even fought against fixing the problems.

So all of it can't be put on the Libs alone.

That said, I absolutely agree that if the Feds refuse to be accountable for spending, we shouldn't have to keep throwing our hard worked for cash to them to waste.
Of course every time they provide more bean counters and diversity managers but some how never hire more front end staff . Funny how much cash the bean counters eat .
 
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