The federal government has suspended an assistant deputy minister and a director-general, both without pay, in a case involving alleged misconduct in the awarding of a federal contract related to the ArriveCan app, which cost taxpayers over $54 million dollars.
Cameron MacDonald, assistant deputy minister at Health Canada, and Antonio Utano, a director-general at the Canada Revenue Agency, have criticized the move as an intimidation tactic to silence their criticism, reports the Globe and Mail. MacDonald called the move “Kafkaesque madness”, referencing situations from novels of Franz Kafka.
The duo, formerly with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), were involved in outsourcing work for the ArriveCan app and another project with Montreal software company Botler. The House committee is investigating the ballooning costs of the ArriveCan app, now exceeding $54-million, and the broader issue of federal outsourcing costs.
Allegations of contracting misconduct were raised by Botler co-founders Ritika Dutt and Amir Morv to Mr. Utano and other senior CBSA leaders, leading to an internal CBSA investigation and an RCMP inquiry. Botler’s concerns included apparent favouritism and unnecessary layers of subcontracting in government IT consulting.
During a committee hearing, Mr. Utano and Mr. MacDonald denied wrongdoing, with the latter accusing former CBSA vice-president Minh Doan of lying to MPs about the selection process for GCStrategies, the IT staffing company involved in the ArriveCan project. Their lawyer, Chris Spiteri, claims the suspension aims to tarnish their credibility and intimidate other civil servants from exposing misconduct.
CBSA, Health Canada, and the Canada Revenue Agency declined to comment on the employment status of Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Utano, citing privacy laws. However, they confirmed that allegations of employee misconduct are taken seriously and thoroughly investigated.
The committee hearings on this matter are set to continue this week, with further testimonies expected from various stakeholders involved in the case, including the likes of current CBSA president Erin O’Gorman and former CBSA president John Ossowski.
ArriveCan’s original budget was $80,000, but eventually ballooned to over $54 million. It was revealed the app was outsourced by GCStrategies, a two-person team without any offices, which then found contractors to create the app, while taking in cuts on every contract along the way.
