Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) director Chulaka Ailapperuma admitted he breached ethics by drinking and dining with contractors, according to Blacklock's Reporter. Ailapperuma, who had received a now-revoked Public Service Award of Excellence for his work on the $59.5 million failed ArriveCan program and is now the subject of numerous audits and investigations, justified his actions by claiming money was never discussed during these social outings. He did, however, confess it was “an error in judgment.” “I wouldn’t say any financial or contractual discussions were had,” Ailapperuma testified at the Commons Public Accounts Committee Tuesday. “It was the day-to-day grind of ArriveCan that was discussed.”“There was no grind,” replied Conservative MP Michael Barrett.“It was only grift. Their business was drumming up more business.”Ailapperuma said in 2020 he attended two drinking sessions with millionaire ArriveCan contractors, a whiskey tasting and a separate night out over food and liquor at an Ottawa restaurant, Joey Lansdowne. “I don’t think it is common practice. At that time ArriveCan was a very intense project,” said Ailapperuma. “We were spending long hours working on ArriveCan and I saw this as team celebration and I wanted to socialize with some of my teammates.”“I made an error in judgment. I do regret not informing my superiors as well as going to the event.”The events were hosted by GC Strategies Inc. of Woodlawn, ON, a two-person contractor found to bill the equivalent of $2,600 an hour. RCMP on April 16 raided the company’s offices.Barrett questioned the Joey Lansdowne event. “How many people were there?” he asked.“Maybe five people,” replied Ailapperuma.Who organized the dinner?” asked Barrett. “I believe it was Mr. Firth,” replied Ailapperuma, referring to GC Strategies’ managing partner. “Did anyone talk to him?” asked Barrett. “Other than greetings and offhand conversations about how life is, I didn’t speak to him specifically,” replied Ailapperuma.“That seems a bit incredible,” said Barrett in disbelief. “We have this dinner, drinks are flowing, we have contractors of the government, subcontractors of the government, and nobody is talking to them? That doesn’t sound believable. Do you think that sounds believable?”“We were talking about people’s lives, our day-to-day family issues, as if it was a social gathering. We did not talk specifically, absolutely, we did not talk about any contracting issues or any financial matters,” replied Ailapperuma.“So five people who only have ArriveCan in common sit down in a bar and they didn’t talk about ArriveCan, they talked about kids’ soccer schedules?” asked Barrett. “Anything we talked about ArriveCan was about the challenges of implementing ArriveCan,” replied Ailapperuma."You didn’t consider there was a problem, you still don’t consider there to be a problem, and you’re the director of the Canada Border Services Agency: Does that sum up the situation quite adequately?” Bloc Québécois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné asked.“At the time I was a manager,” replied Ailapperuma.“I would just like to remind you because I think it is my role to do so: Your wages at the Agency for the last several years were paid out of taxpayers’ pockets,” said Sinclair-Desgagné. “The money wasted on these contracts to the tune of millions of dollars, that is taxpayers’ money, not your money. So when you tell me you were a manager and had no input and now you’re acting director and you still have no input, it strikes me you are basically telling us you don’t give a damn about taxpayers’ money.”“There are a number of employees at the Agency who clearly violated the basic Code Of Conduct and still hold their positions and are being promoted. This was problematic conduct to put it mildly.”“We and the public, taxpayers who are paying employees’ wages, want to know what is going to happen to those employees who lacked judgment, who broke the rules and wasted taxpayers’ money. People want to know.”
