Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) management said it was satisfied with ArriveCan, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. "I am very proud of the app," said former CBSA president John Ossowski at a House of Commons Government Operations Committee (CGOC) meeting. "ArriveCan helped to administer the pandemic border measures, but I relied on my officials to deal with the procurement details." Cabinet mandated in 2020 cross-border travellers use ArriveCan to submit proof of vaccination prior to arrival in Canada. The mandate expired in 2022. Cabinet said in an inquiry of ministry tabled in the House of Commons in 2022 ArriveCan cost $19.8 million. Actual expenses were $54 million. Evidence uncovered by parliamentary committees show sole-sourced contractors pocketed millions in fees. CBSA contracting practices are the subject of two Canadian government audits and an RCMP investigation. Two CBSA managers have been suspended without pay. “I am trying to find out what happened,” said CBSA President Erin O’Gorman. Conservative MP Stephanie Kusie (Calgary-Midnapore, AB) asked why the managers were suspended without pay. O’Gorman said it was not for her to talk about. “While we still don’t know everything, what we do know is not OK,” she said. “I am concerned, and I want to get to the bottom of it.”Conservative MP Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan, AB) asked her if she was proud of ArriveCan. While it had problems, she said it did its job. Since ArriveCan is no longer required to travel, Liberal MP Jenica Atwin (Fredericton, NB) questioned if she learned any lessons from it. Despite Atwin wanting an answer, she said she was “very concerned about the public nature of this investigation.”O’Gorman concluded by saying she was “trying to get to the bottom of what happened.”“I am impatient to do so, and I regret the people involved have the added stress of the public aspect of this,” she said. “I look forward to a final investigation.”A Canadian consultant who wanted to run ArriveCan boasted to clients he had a secret connection in Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office testified on Wednesday he made it all up. READ MORE: Consultant says he lied about having contact in Freeland’s office“I don’t even have those relationships,” said TeaLav Consulting Limited Director Vaughn Brennan. “I don’t have a Rolodex.”
