Latest news with #ArriveCan
Toronto Sun
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
Internal ArriveCan investigators' report sealed by federal court order: Report
A Federal Court order has sealed an internal ArriveCan investigators' report long sought by MPs according to Blacklock's Reporter. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The distribution of the report's findings was blocked by Justice Henry Brown at the request of Cameron MacDonald, a former Canada Border Services Agency director who was briefly suspended over the $63-million program. 'The allegations each side makes against the other are most serious,' wrote Brown in issuing a temporary injunction against 'distributing or disseminating' the report into ArriveCan irregularities. Court records show the report was done on Feb. 11. In his testimony at parliamentary committee hearings, MacDonald admitted to having drinks with federal contractors. However, he denied any responsibility for inside dealing that made millions for ArriveCan suppliers. 'The applicant attests he was not involved in the procurement process,' wrote Brown. 'This is contested.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'The underlying facts in this case are heavily contested,' wrote the court. 'The parties dispute the timeline, purpose, merits and procedural fairness of this investigation and report.' An internal preliminary statement of facts completed in 2023 by the Border Services Agency has never been made public. In 2024, excerpts were read into the record of the Commons government operations committee by Ontario Conservative MP Larry Brock. The statement of facts alleged 'serious employee misconduct, so serious that you required the RCMP to investigate at least two criminal charges, fraud and bribery,' he said. Page 10 of the report alleged an ArriveCan contractor 'solicited a bribe.' The documents also suggested a federal manager attempted to destroy thousands of ArriveCan records sought by investigators. Auditor General Karen Hogan said irregularities in ArriveCan contracting raised suspicions of serial lawbreaking in a June 10 report titled 'Professional Services Contracts With GC Strategies Inc.' 'I have no reason to believe this is unique,' she said. MacDonald's 2024 testimony at the government operations committee had him denying any role in cost overruns. 'I delivered a detailed costing of $6.3 million,' said MacDonald adding he was 'not responsible for the $60 million budget.' Auditors to date have not explained the 900% cost overrun. Editorial Cartoons World Toronto & GTA Toronto & GTA Toronto Maple Leafs
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Decades-old problems are plaguing federal contracting system, watchdog says
As the Liberal government attempts to clean up federal contracting, the procurement watchdog says the current system is in desperate need of "fundamental change" and is calling for the creation of a central body to oversee all government purchasing. "The same issues are identified year after year and most span decades," a report from the Office of Procurement Ombud Alexander Jeglic says. The report, released Tuesday morning, highlights a number of potential solutions to clean up a procurement system it characterizes as being plagued by long-standing issues. It says the "most critical change required" is the creation of a chief procurement officer (CPO). "This is really a special moment in time," Jeglic said in Ottawa Tuesday. "Our office has heard time and time and time again that the system is too complex."This doesn't come from a unique perspective; this comes from all perspectives across the procurement environment," he added. "The time to make those substantive changes is now." The CPO would be a central body that oversees government purchases, simplifies contracting processes and fills in accountability gaps that exist between various departments involved, the report says. "The current procurement system is marked by silos of responsibility and accountability that sometimes overlap with each other or leave glaring gaps. When accountabilities and responsibilities in a procurement system are not exceptionally clear, it becomes very difficult to address the problems plaguing the system," the report says. Other jurisdictions, including the U.K., have such a central body, it notes. Jeglic said this and other changes are needed because Canadian vendors are saying it's easier for them to sell their goods abroad than it is to sell them to the federal government in their own country. "We can no longer sustain Band-Aid solutions. We have to address the foundational issue that our system is too complex and it's not working for all participants," he said. Jeglic's report also called for the creation of a "vendor's performance-management system" — a way to keep track of a company's history with government contracts. He also wants the federal government to develop a single set of federal procurement rules that apply universally across government departments. His report also calls for increased use of artificial intelligence to help streamline the contracting and purchasing process in government by taking over repetitive administrative tasks. Jeglic's fifth recommendation is for the federal government to develop a way for all government departments to share information and results on the procurement process so all departments have access to the same information. Federal contracting and procurement has been under a microscope in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, Auditor General Karen Hogan reported excessive reliance on contractors was a major factor contributing to the controversial ArriveCan app's ballooning $59.5-million price tag. That report also said there were several omissions in financial record-keeping for the pandemic-era project that made it almost impossible to determine final costs. In the wake of that report, the feds have referred several cases of suspected contractor fraud to the RCMP and have filed a civil lawsuit against a number of contractors and one IT subcontractor. Hogan conducted a subsequent audit of government contracts awarded to GC Strategies — the main contractor for the ArriveCan project. That report, released last month, highlighted several "deficiencies in how public servants applied federal procurement rules." Just prior to the release of last month's audit, the government banned GC Strategies from bidding on federal contracts for seven years. Tuesday's report comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney has promised to boost defence procurement to reach NATO spending targets. Carney has promised that Canada will be spending two per cent of its GDP on defence by March. To that end, Defence Minister David McGuinty announced $850 million in infrastructure upgrades to CFB Trenton on Monday. Jeglic's report notes that defence spending currently involves a number of various departments and says the government should consider creating a separate CPO for defence. Alternatively, the government could hand over all military procurement activities to one department, either the Department of National Defence or Public Services and Procurement Canada.
Time of India
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Canadian Foreign Min Anita Anand makes statement in House on 1 Canadian death aboard AI 787-8 flight - The Economic Times Video
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand condoled the demise of the Canadian, as well as 240 other passengers who died in a plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12. The Conservatives in Canadian parliament also cornered Liberals and PM Mark Carney over contracts to GC Strategies, which is in RCMP investigation over the ArriveCan controversy during COVID-19. The parliament also debated over invites to India and Saudi Arabia to G7 in Canada.
Toronto Sun
11-06-2025
- Business
- Toronto Sun
GOLDSTEIN: Ignoring contracting rules costs taxpayers billions: auditor general
Auditor General of Canada, Karen Hogan, holds a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. Photo by Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS Federal auditor general Karen Hogan on Tuesday reported widespread incompetence in the awarding of government contracts by the public service, resulting in billions of dollars of taxpayers' money being wasted. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account What's even more alarming is that everyone in the system knows it and no one is doing anything about it. Given that, what is the point of having an auditor general if every time she exposes incompetence and waste, the government pays lip service to implementing her recommendations and then goes back to doing the same things that led to the issue being investigated by the auditor general in the first place? In her latest report, this concern arises from Hogan's deep dive into federal contracts awarded to Ottawa-based GCStrategies Inc. a two-person Ottawa-based IT staffing firm — meaning it doesn't do the work but contracts it out to other companies — to develop the infamous ArriveCan app. That was supposed to cost $80,000. As far as Hogan could determine — because the record keeping was so bad — it ended up costing almost $60 million. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. This time Hogan, at the request of the House of Commons, examined a near-decade of 106 professional services contracts awarded to GCStrategies from 2015 to 2024 by 29 federal departments and agencies, one Crown corporation and one agent of Parliament, valued at up to $92.7 million with $64.5 million actually paid out. Among her findings: — in 58% of the contracts examined that were awarded without tendering, federal departments failed to assess whether doing so would have resulted in lower costs to taxpayers. –in more than 80% of the contracts examined that were awarded without competition or with only one valid bid, government departments failed to verify that the fees paid did not exceed market rates. — in almost 50% of the contracts examined, federal departments couldn't show the work was delivered, even though payments were made. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. — in 33% of the contracts examined, federal departments couldn't show the firms contracted were capable of completing the work. –in 21% of the contracts examined, federal departments lacked documentation showing valid security clearances for contractors working on government networks containing sensitive information. The most alarming conclusion by Hogan was her observation that she has no reason to believe these government failures were confined to this one vendor. She noted the same thing happened last year when she examined 97 contracts awarded by 10 federal departments and agencies and 10 Crown corporations valued at $209 million with $200 million paid out, to McKinsey & Company for consulting services from 2011 to 2023. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Hogan — who didn't make any recommendations to improve procurement policies saying the problem isn't a lack of policies but failure to follow them — said she believes the same thing is happening throughout the federal government. Writ large, that's why, to cite just one of countless examples, the estimated cost to taxpayers for Canada acquiring 88 F-35 fighter jets — another issue Hogan examined in her report — increased by almost 50% from $19 billion in 2022 to $27.7 billion in 2024, with at least another $5.5 billion needed to make the purchases fully operational. Read More Without drawing conclusions from these specific examples, the fact the same failures keep happening over and over again year after year across the federal government, raises the question of whether beyond incompetence, political corruption is involved, which is beyond the auditor general's purview. Whether, for example, political pressure is being put on public servants to ignore procurement rules in favour of handing contracts to favoured companies and if so, why? RECOMMENDED VIDEO Celebrity NHL Editorial Cartoons Columnists Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Star
11-06-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
Ottawa repeatedly violated procurement rules in giving ArriveCan firm nearly $100 million in contracts, auditor general finds
OTTAWA — Federal government organizations repeatedly violated procurement rules as they awarded GCStrategies Inc., the main firm behind the pandemic ArriveCan scandal, nearly $100 million in contracts over a nine-year period without proper oversight, Canada's auditor general has concluded in a new report. Rebuking contracting practices under the Trudeau government in yet another damning report, auditor general Karen Hogan found federal agencies failed to justify procurement methods and contract costs, follow security measures and monitor the work of GCStrategies, ultimately falling short in showing value for the money spent and even paying contractors without proof work was done.
