Mr. Chair, we have heard today from PHAC that in the initial meetings with CBSA in March 2020, there was a lack of formal governance.
The AG's report says that “no formal agreement existed” between the two departments for the next 15 months. There was no designated lead, no project objectives and goals, no budgets, no cost estimates and no risk management activities. This, to me, is beyond comprehension.
Section 1.63 of the AG's report says, “A letter of intent between the agencies was signed in July 2021”. That, to me, is 16 months late. In the real world, a letter of intent between two parties is what you start with.
I'd like to hear from PHAC on what took so long to get a letter of intent signed.