`A collection of baseless accusations'
SUSPENDED CIVIL SERVANTS CLAIM THEY'RE BEING UNFAIRLY BLAMED FOR ARRIVECAN APP SCANDAL
Two suspended civil servants told MPs Thursday they are being railroaded to cover up for their superiors at the Canada Border Services Agency over the ArriveCan scandal.
Cameron MacDonald, who was an assistant deputy minister at Health Canada, and Antonio Utano, who was a director general at the Canada Revenue Agency, have since been suspended.
Both men worked on the ArriveCan app at the CBSA at the time of its launch during the pandemic. They were suspended without pay after the border agency shared a preliminary report from an internal investigation about their conduct.
MacDonald said the report is littered with exaggerations and falsehoods.
“The reality is this document is nothing more than a collection of baseless accusations, unsupported by any other evidence; accusations of wrongdoing, supported by cherry-picking emails and calendar entries. It should be called the preliminary statement of falsehoods.”
Both men testified before a parliamentary committee in November. Utano said they are being punished for speaking out.
“CBSA is punishing us because we told the truth, because we told this committee they have been misled by senior officials from CBSA,” Utano said.
Utano brandished a knapsack with ArriveCan's logo on it, which he said was provided by a vendor. He said the knapsack was disclosed through the appropriate channels and asked committee members to consider what a small gift it was.
“Is this bribery?” he asked committee members while holding the bag.
Both men said they also participated in a virtual whiskey tasting and another dinner, but insisted they disclosed all of their contacts to their superiors.
MacDonald and Utano said they did not have any opportunity to weigh in on the internal investigation CBSA is pursuing, which has led to their suspension. MacDonald later said that they were invited to participate, but want more information before they are willing to sit for an interview.
“We have confirmed in writing more than three times that we are willing to participate. We're just looking for a fair shot,” he said.
ArriveCan was launched in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to verify vaccination records and record customs declarations of Canadians entering the country from overseas.
After multiple media reports about the spiralling costs of the app and previous committee testimony, the Auditor General reported earlier this month that she found a blatant disregard for general accounting practices as the app was rushed into development.
The government's dependence on sole-sourced external contractors drove up the price of the app, and those costs weren't properly tracked, she noted.
She estimated the app cost roughly $59.5 million, but the management of the project was so poor that it's impossible to know the final amount for sure.
The first ArriveCan contract was initially valued at just $2.35 million.
She said she found missing documentation about who selected GC Strategies, the main contractor, and sloppy record-keeping overall.
MacDonald said it was Minh Doan, his then-boss and now the government's chief technology officer, who selected GC Strategies to develop the app. He accused of Doan, current CBSA chief Erin O'Gorman and other senior officials of having lied when they appeared before the committee.
A Montreal IT firm Botler has also raised concerns, arguing MacDonald directed Botler to work with GC Strategies on other IT contracts.
Committee member and NDP MP Taylor Bachrach said he struggled to understand how internal reports, the auditor general and others had all found other information.
“I'm finding this a little difficult to follow how we're to understand all of these contradictions that keep popping up in the testimony,” he said. “We have Ms. O'Gorman, we have the Auditor General, we have the Bottler report. We have all of these things. And you're essentially saying that all of these people are not representing the truth.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said it's “obvious” contracting rules weren't followed, and that although the app was developed at the start of the pandemic when everything was in question, there was still a need to follow rules.