Again, going back to the subamendment and the motion we're discussing here, obviously we're talking about the contracts related to ArriveCAN. This is about the contracts related to ArriveCAN. I am trying to establish some facts. When you break down the $60-million cost, what is it about?
When you listen to some of my opposition colleagues, they stated in their discussions here in this meeting today that an $80,000 app became a $60-million app. That is false. That is not accurate. That is not sharing accurate information with Canadians.
What I wanted to do is break down the actual $60 million. Yes, $80,000 was for the original app itself, but the $60 million was for all the other back-end services and centres that needed to be stood up in order to make the app functional.
Why was it important to make the app functional? I'll give you an example.
I'm a border member of Parliament. I have the Ambassador Bridge right in my backyard. Why is that important to me? It's important to me because the Ambassador Bridge is the conduit for one-third of all trade between Canada and the United States. Some $180 billion of goods travel across that border every single year. We're talking about over two million trucks that cross the border, carrying all sorts of goods, whether they're car parts, medicine, food or equipment. That $180 billion Canadian—$137 billion U.S.—that travels across the border is important, because it actually undergirds hundreds of billions of dollars more in economic activity. The seamless travel of traffic across the border is very important, not just to me as a border MP, but also to Canadians who rely on the $180 billion of goods travelling across that border every single day. That's important.
I take issue when I hear colleagues say that it's an $80,000 app that became a $60-million app. That's not accurate. I also take issue with colleagues who say that the app does not work. I've heard almost a dozen times that it doesn't work. Sixty million travellers downloaded it 18 million times. It was used by folks to make sure the traffic travelled seamlessly across the border in my hometown.
The difference is that what the old system, the paper system would have done.... If we didn't have the ArriveCAN app, if we were dependent on the old paper system or even verbally answering questions from the border officers, that would have tied up traffic at that border. If you were to add minutes to every single vehicle that travelled across that border, it would have downstream impacts not just on my community but also on Canadian commerce, Canadian business and Canadians' health and quality of life.
There are certain things we need to establish here when we're talking about this. We take the ArriveCAN issue very seriously here. I've heard this discussion unfortunately being sidetracked by certain comments that are just not accurate. I think we need to get back to the facts. That's why it was important for me to read it.
The total tally, when you look at this document provided by CBSA, is $55 million. We know this number can't be confirmed, because there are serious questions about the accuracy of the documentation. We know there are serious questions about the accuracy of the documentation, the financial tracking and records. That is the real problem. I want us to have a laser focus on that problem and park the politics on the side a little bit when we're having a serious conversation about real challenges in the procurement process in Canada.
I want to read one more thing into the record.
There is an article in The Globe and Mail today by David McLaughlin, who is the president and CEO of the Institute on Governance. He is a former clerk of the executive council and cabinet secretary in Manitoba.
He writes here, and I want to read this because I think it's really important, that:
By almost any objective measure, the public service has not adapted to meet the heightened demands of citizens when it comes to service delivery.
That's the quote here, to begin with. It's not his quote. Then it has here:
This isn't a quote from last week's damning report on the ArriveCan app scandal by the Auditor-General, but it could have been. It's from a December report to the Clerk of the Privy Council - Canada's top public servant - on values and ethics in the public service.
This is important. These are Mr. McLaughlin's words: “The ArriveCAN scandal was a—”