Government records show that only 11% of air travellers have used the ArriveCan app since it became optional. Previously, the app was required for all travellers until Oct. 1, 2022.. ArriveCAN .In an Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the House of Commons, the department of Public Safety showed out of the 9.97 million air travellers who arrived in Canada during the first quarter of this year, a total of 1.13 million individuals used the ArriveCan app, which is approximately 11%..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the usage rates were even lower, “less than 1%,” at international airports in Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Ottawa..The figures were tabled at the request of Conservative MP John Nater (Perth-Wellington, ON), who asked “How many travellers entered Canada after Jan. 1 and how many submitted their information through ArriveCan prior to their arrival?”.Cabinet had justified ArriveCan as a time saver for travellers by submitting personal information and vaccination status to customs agents before arrival. Program costs totalled $54 million, prompting the Commons to vote last Nov. 2 for a special spending audit. Results are pending..“We know this was a huge waste of our money,” Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre said at the time. .“The government spent $54 million on an app that could have been developed over a single weekend for $250,000.”.“Moreover, we know that the app was unnecessary,” said Poilievre. .“Canadians have been able to cross the border without it for decades and even centuries. Why did this app suddenly become necessary?”.According to estimates from the Public Health Agency (PHA), making the app mandatory saved travellers “about five minutes” at border crossings..“It saved about five minutes at the border for each traveller, which significantly reduced overall processing time and points of contact at ports of entry,” the PHA earlier wrote in a submission to the Commons Government Operations committee. No rationale was provided for the five-minute estimate..“The agency required a technological solution to digitize the collection of traveller information upon entry to Canada,” wrote managers. .“Heavy reliance on the travel contact information paper forms at the outset of the pandemic led to a number of inefficiencies.”.The claim of saving five minutes by using the app contradicted the testimony given by the Customs and Immigration Union during a committee hearing on September 27. According to a union executive, the lineups for ArriveCan were so lengthy that drivers at land crossings could not make it to the bathroom..“I am hearing from one of our officers at Niagara Falls that he’s had travellers who come through who had actually urinated and defecated themselves having been stuck in the car for so long, to give you an idea of how terrible and drastic the situation at our borders was and how terribly short-staffed we are,” testified Mark Weber, union president. .“I think that says it all.”
