Federal Chief Technology Officer Lied to Committee About ArriveCAN, MPs Told

A smartphone set to the opening screen of the ArriveCan app is seen in a file photo. (The Canadian Press/Giordano Ciampini)

The federal government’s Chief Technology Officer Minh Doan lied when he testified at committee that he didn’t know who hired GC Strategies to build the ArriveCAN app, a former Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) director has told MPs.

Mr. Doan, at the time CBSA’s vice president, was the one who made the decision to hire GC Strategies, the agency’s former director Cameron MacDonald said in his Nov. 7 testimony before the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates.

“I believe Minh Doan made the decision to go with GC strategies out of the fact that he had been told that he could not use Deloitte,” Mr. MacDonald said.

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis, one of the committee members, questioned whether Mr. Doan had deliberately lied to the committee.

“The implication of what you’re saying is that he made the choice to hire GC Strategies, and had some reason for doing so, and that he came and told the committee that he didn’t make the decision, and didn’t know who made the decision,” Mr. Genuis said.

Both Mr. Doan and former CBSA president John Ossowski told the committee on Oct. 24 they didn’t know who hired GC Strategies. “To my knowledge, I do not know, and it’s part of the investigation that’s currently underway,” said Mr. Doan at the time.

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But Mr. MacDonald, who is now an assistant deputy minister at Health Canada, said it was a lie. “Everyone knows it. We have our team here behind us. Everybody knew it was his decision to make. It wasn’t mine,” he said.

For weeks, the committee has been examining how the companies GC Strategies, Dalian, and Coradix received millions in taxpayer dollars to develop the ArriveCAN app, which was used by Ottawa to track the COVID-19 vaccination status of travellers entering Canada. Critics have claimed the app could have been developed for a fraction of its $54 million cost.

GC Strategies, Dalian, and Coradix received more than $17 million in 2022 after the CBSA had received allegations of contracting misconduct related to the ArriveCAN app. Shortly before the committee meeting, the CBSA announced it was suspending all contracts with the three companies.

CBSA Director Felt ‘Incredibly Threatened’

Mr. MacDonald said Mr. Doan called him on Oct. 28, 2022 to discuss what the committee should be told.

He said he “felt incredibly threatened“ during the call with Mr. Doan, because he was informed that then-Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino was upset with the reports around the cost of ArriveCAN and ”wanted someone’s head on a plate.”

Mr. MacDonald said Mr. Doan warned he would blame him and a former executive director at CBSA, Antonio Utano, for the scandal.

“He said ‘you know Cam, if I have to, I’m going to tell the committee that it was you,’” Mr. MacDonald said of the phone call with Mr. Doan. “To which I said ‘if you do that I will have to respond,’ and we ended the conversation.”

Mr. MacDonald told the committee that he had suggested Mr. Doan hire Deloitte to develop the ArriveCAN app, but was told the company was in the “penalty box” because an IT project it was working on was late and over budget.

Mr. MacDonald sent Mr. Doan an email on Oct. 29 which contained advice on how to explain why GC Strategies was selected. Mr. MacDonald told the committee that he wrote the email after he had “felt threatened” to try to give “Minh Doan words that he could use at this committee.”

Conservative MP Larry Brock suggested that Mr. MacDonald had been coaching the CBSA vice president on what to tell the Government Operations and Estimates committee, which could amount to witness tampering. Mr. MacDonald said he was merely offering him help and that Mr. Doan did not ask for advice on what exactly to say to the committee.

Reputation Has Been ‘Sullied’

During the committee meeting, both Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Utano said they followed all rules related to ArriveCAN. Mr. MacDonald also questioned the previous testimony of Botler AI co-founders Ritika Dutt and Amir Morv, who said there was corruption and extortion during the app’s development.

The Botler co-founders testified they raised concerns with the CBSA about the contracting arrangement in September 2021 and then sent a more detailed follow-up complaint to top officials at the agency in November.

Mr. Utano said the first complaint was an email about late payments. Mr. Utano said the payment issue was resolved the next day, and Ms. Dutt sent a follow-up email where she “expressed her appreciation for the prompt action,” and the matter was considered closed.

Mr. MacDonald said he did not understand why the Botler AI co-founder didn’t supply a copy of the email to the committee, because “any normal, common sense person that reads this email will know there are no allegations.”

Mr. MacDonald also said he did not believe the pair was treated unfairly by the CBSA, and accused them of trying to charge the federal government more money for a chatbot it did not ask for.

“The contract [with Botler AI] was for a feasibility study in six parts. So in other words, we’re paying for somebody to refurbish the kitchen. They went out back and built a swimming pool, a jungle gym, a garage, and wanted to charge the federal government hundreds of thousands of dollars for doing it,” Mr. MacDonald said. “Why would the federal government pay $26 million for a chatbot?”

Mr. MacDonald accused the Botler AI co-founders of letting their disappointment around the contract turn into “a campaign of baseless accusations against Mr. Utano and I.”

“I take my reputation seriously. I have worked awfully hard to earn one,” he said. “And I feel it’s been sullied by some of the things that have been said at this committee, in the news, and by Bottler AI.”

Several requests by The Epoch Times for comment from Mr. Doan were unsuccessful.