Federal departments spent at least $4.8 million on tens of thousands of Microsoft licenses and subscriptions that were never used, according to government records obtained by a Conservative MP.The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) says bureaucrats purchased 33,213 unused Microsoft licenses and subscriptions at a cost of $4.8 million over the past year.Another 19,860 subscriptions also went unused, but federal officials did not disclose how much taxpayers paid for them.The figures bring the total number of unused licenses and subscriptions to 53,073, with the full cost to taxpayers still unknown.“I understand forgetting about a few trial subscriptions, but how do these bureaucrats forget about 50,000 subscriptions?” said CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano.“Cancelling unused subscriptions is the most basic step any family takes to find savings and taxpayers demand the same from the government.”The spending was revealed in a government response to an order paper question submitted by Conservative MP Adam Chambers, who requested information about Microsoft licenses purchased by federal departments over the past year, including their costs and how many remained unused.Statistics Canada reported the highest spending on unused subscriptions, paying nearly $1.2 million for 2,608 subscriptions that were never activated or used.Among those purchases were 25 Microsoft Teams Phone Standard subscriptions costing $1,746 for a pilot project. None were used.When the CTF questioned the agency about the unused subscriptions, a Statistics Canada spokesperson blamed technical problems.“Technical challenges were encountered,” the spokesperson said..Statistics Canada also spent approximately $38,528 on 10 BizTalk Server Enterprise licenses, but only five were used.“If a small business paid for 25 phone subscriptions and never used one, the owner would cancel them,” Terrazzano said.“‘Technical challenges’ isn’t an excuse for wasting taxpayers’ money.”Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada reported the largest number of unused licenses among departments, purchasing 7,443 licenses that went unused at a cost of $138,500.Employment and Social Development Canada spent $68,940 on 150 Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro subscriptions last year without using a single one.The department did not respond when the CTF requested an explanation.The Canada Revenue Agency also reported purchasing 4,588 subscriptions that were never used, but declined to disclose how much they cost taxpayers.The CRA did not respond to questions from the taxpayers' group about the purchases.Other federal departments provided incomplete information about their Microsoft spending.National Defence did not identify the types of subscriptions it purchased, while Transport Canada failed to disclose how many of its licenses were unused.Neither department responded to requests for an explanation from the CTF..Shared Services Canada reported spending approximately $27 million on Microsoft subscriptions but did not reveal how many licenses and subscriptions were purchased or how many were actually used.Terrazzano said the findings raise questions about federal spending oversight and transparency.He also pointed to former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, who previously told Canadians she had cancelled her Disney+ subscription as a personal cost-cutting measure.“A former finance minister told Canadians she cancelled her Disney+ subscription to save money,” Terrazzano said.“Now it’s time for the current finance minister to tell bureaucrats to cancel the taxpayer-funded subscriptions they’re not using.”The CTF is calling on federal departments to cancel unused subscriptions and provide a complete accounting of the money spent on software licenses.“Taxpayers are paying for all these subscriptions so departments need to be fully transparent and show taxpayers the bill,” Terrazzano said.
