Due to inadequate financial record-keeping, the total cost of the contentious ArriveCan app cannot be ascertained, according to a recent audit general report.
This is only one of the conclusions made by Canada’s Auditor General Karen Hogan in her critical assessment on the pandemic-era instrument.
Hogan concluded that the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Public Services and Procurement Canada, and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) “repeatedly failed to follow good management practices in the contracting, development and implementation of the ArriveCan application.”
Hogan spoke before the House Public Accounts Committee on Monday, saying, “This is probably the first example that I’ve seen such a glaring disregard for some of the most basic and fundamental policies and rules.”
Only a few months after ArriveCAN was made optional, very few travelers are utilizing it.
According to Trudeau, it was “illogical” to contract out the creation of the ArriveCAN app.
According to Hogan, there were “omissions everywhere” in the financial documentation.
She addressed the committee’s members, “I have to say I am deeply concerned by what this audit didn’t find.”
“We didn’t find records to accurately show how much was spent on what, who did the work, or how and why contracting decisions were made — and that paper trail should have existed.”
