MPs are demanding more documentation about GC Strategies as they investigate the business operations of the ArriveCan contractor in developing the unsuccessful COVID Alert app.
GC Strategies Inc., located in Woodlawn, Ont., was paid more than $1 million for “professional services” as part of a 2020 contract, details of which have only recently come to light, as first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter.
Bloc Québécois MP Julie Vignola said she wanted more clarity on how consulting firms could secure such contracts.
The COVID Alert app, announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on June 18, 2020, was a voluntary initiative encouraging smartphone users to report positive COVID-19 tests. The goal was to alert other users who had been in close contact with those who tested positive.
The app was discontinued in 2022 after failing to gain substantial interest and costing $31 million.
Documentation revealed that on Dec. 2, 2020, GC Strategies was compensated $1.4 million for “software development professional services” related to the COVID Alert app, although no specific rationale for the payment was provided.
“It worked more or less, more ‘less’ than on the ’more’ side, I’d say,” Ms. Vignola noted, reflecting on the app’s performance.
The requested documents are due to the committee by March 15.
The committee’s decision stood despite efforts by Liberal MPs to prevent the release of internal emails.
MP Irek Kusmierczyk criticized the extensive document requests, citing concerns over the significant allocation of staff and resources to what he described as an “expedition” for the word “alert.” Mr. Kusmierczyk questioned the cost-benefit of producing potentially hundreds of thousands of pages of documents.
Conservative MPs, however, dismissed these concerns. MP Garnett Genuis accused Liberals of being overly concerned with resource allocation for document production while seemingly indifferent to the resources spent on the app itself.
“As we prosecute the ArriveScam scandal we see Liberals are so concerned about resources when it comes to the small matter of producing documents for a parliamentary committee but seem completely unconcerned about the use of resources involved in this scandal in the first place,” he said.
The committee has also initiated an unprecedented 10-year audit of federal payments to GC Strategies following evidence that the consulting firm, consisting of only two members, was awarded $19.1 million for the ArriveCan app. The firm then subcontracted the work to other suppliers while retaining a 30 percent commission.
