The Trudeau Liberals have abruptly scrubbed dozens of Government of Canada web pages detailing more than $24 billion in payments to COVID-19 contractors, per Blacklock’s Reporter. The publicly-accessible database was deleted only weeks after Treasury Board President Anita Anand promised to “make sure we have transparency in government contracting.”“As of Tuesday July 9 the webpages of COVID-19 contracting are no longer available publicly on the Department of Public Works’ website,” said Jeremy Link, spokesperson for the department. ”From the early days of the pandemic the webpages were developed as part of the department’s commitment to being open and transparent about Canada’s response effort to COVID-19 with the understanding they would serve a temporary purpose.”Details of contracting will only be disclosed “upon request,” said Link. The accounts were “archived” but not publicly inaccessible. Some 34 webpages had detailed line by line payments to mainly sole-sourced suppliers for goods from vinyl gloves to ventilators. Payments totaled $24,405,139,945.Treasury Board President Anita Anand in June 19 testimony at the Commons Government Operations Committee promised “trust and transparency” in public spending. “We are aiming to make more transparent some of the documents of the federal government,” she said.Anand in March 20 committee testimony went further in promising “improvements to the proactive disclosure of government contracts” so taxpayers could track spending. “We want to make sure we have transparency in government contracting,” she said.“We will ensure the leaders of our public service manage their organizations efficiently and in a manner that maintains public confidence. But parliamentary scrutiny and approval of expenditure plans are only part of the equation.”“Canadians expect us to execute effectively and maintaining public confidence in democratic institutions must be our priority especially at this point in time.”“(Taxpayers) expect their government to invest their money wisely and responsibly.”The Department of Public Works gave no reason for abruptly deleting the COVID-19 accounts on July 9. It followed numerous Access To Information requests for delivery schedules by Blacklock’s that made it possible to calculate unit charges for goods like ventilators, the publication reported. Cabinet had repeatedly invoked commercial privacy in refusing to say how much it paid per unit at taxpayers’ expense.The webpages were first posted after the government operations committee passed a 2021 motion that mandated disclosure of financial accounts every 30 days.“We owe it to Canadians,” Conservative MP Kelly McCauley, now-chair of the committee, said at the time. “There are untold billions being spent and we owe it to Canadians and Members of Parliament to see this spending.”
