Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon to the members of the standing committee. My name is Rob Stewart, and I'm the deputy minister of international trade. Until October 16 of this year, I was the deputy minister of public safety, and I believe that is the reason you are askin

Government Operations committee  I don't know the answer to that, as a matter of fact. It was, in my understanding, part of a suite of digital tools the CBSA was developing with the aim of digitizing the border and better managing the border. When the pandemic arrived, I believe it was converted to the use as a

Government Operations committee  I do not believe so.

Government Operations committee  Not at all.

Government Operations committee  No. Again, and I can't provide assurance, but as a general matter, when an organization like CBSA, which is a very large organization with many IT applications and many other services that require contracting, does that, they do it under the authority delegated to them. They are

Government Operations committee  It was not delegated to anyone in my department. It was done under the authority of the president of CBSA and CBSA as an institution, which is a direct report to the Minister of Public Safety. The Department of Public Safety's role, and my role, was to participate in the discussi

Government Operations committee  It came up early in the discussions as we were managing what was, at that time, the very rapid closure of—or limits put on—the Canadian border. That would have been in March 2020. I can attest to the fact that the minister at that time, Minister Blair, was very anxious to have th

Government Operations committee  In my best guess on that, it was March 2020.

Government Operations committee  It would be President Ossowski and his team.

Government Operations committee  That is correct.

Government Operations committee  No, CBSA would have employed—and I believe they did employ—the services of Public Services and Procurement Canada, which has standing offers for the provision of services. They would have said, “This is what we need.” They would have gone to the PSPC department and had them prepa

Government Operations committee  No.

Government Operations committee  The president of CBSA, and CBSA as an organization, would have chosen and developed ArriveCAN as the tool. The minister had approval of the launch of the tool.

Government Operations committee  That's correct.

Government Operations committee  I believe it to be CBSA.