Facing questions about a $54 million price tag for the federal government’s ArriveCan app, a Liberal member of parliament said won’t apologize for an app that “saved the lives of tens of thousands of Canadians.”
The figure was offered by Mount Royal member of parliament Anthony Housefather, who serves as the parliamentary secretary to Public Services and Procurement Minister Helena Jaczek.
Housefather was responding to a question from Conservative MP and health critic Michael Barrett. Barrett cited a Globe and Mail report about how tech experts were “confounded” by ArriveCan’s $54 million price tag, 36 times the $1.5 million they estimated a similar project in the private sector would cost.
“What Canadians need is an about face from the Liberal government on its wasting of Canadian tax dollars, like it did on the $54-million ArriveCan app that tech experts are confounded by it costing more than a low seven figures at worst,” said Barrett. “If Canadian tech experts do not know why it spent this much money, what we want to know, what Canadians want to know, is which Liberal insiders got rich on these contracts?”
Answering on behalf of the Trudeau government, Housefather was unrepentant.
“I will make no apology for an app that saved the lives of tens of thousands of Canadians. This was part of a global health strategy in order to protect Canadians,” Housefather said. “Where the honourable member insinuated the price was entirely related to developing the app, that price related to development, accessibility, support, maintenance and multiple different contracts. It was not related just to the development of the app.”
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather says ArriveCan saved "tens of thousands" of lives. I asked him to elaborate and he told me he was referring to Canada's Covid measures in general, of which ArriveCan was a part. pic.twitter.com/64cPIluW47
— Andrew Lawton (@AndrewLawton) October 8, 2022
Asked by True North to provide a source for the claim that ArriveCan saved “tens of thousands” of lives, Housefather said he was referring to Canada’s Covid measures in general, and not the app specifically.
“What I meant was that the health measures taken by the Government of Canada and provincial governments saved thousands of lives and ArriveCan was part of these measures,” Housefather said.
Housefather also directed True North to a subsequent answer he gave in French.
“The app was put in place at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to protect the health of Canadians,” Housefather said, according to the English Hansard translation. “Thousands of lives were saved as a result of actions taken by the government to protect the health of Canadians.”
ArriveCan was launched in April 2020 and until Oct. 1 was mandatory for anyone entering Canada, including citizens. The app required users to upload their personal information, including a photo of their passport and proof of vaccination, and answer Covid screening questions, before reaching a port of entry.
The federal government has indicated it will continue using ArriveCan in the future for general border screening, though the app is no longer mandatory.
