The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - How did the Trudeau Liberals turn $80,000 into $60 million？

00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm your

00:00:14.400 host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton Corps with the likes Brock with new

00:00:17.920 content for you every single Tuesday, 1 30 p.m. Eastern Time. We ask that you like, comment,

00:00:23.040 subscribe and share this program because on this show, in just a moment, we are going to be talking

00:00:28.580 about the Arrive Can or Arrive Scam, as it's also known because some people got rich on your money.

00:00:34.760 To talk about this and much, much more, we have Stephanie Cusey, the Member of Parliament for

00:00:38.520 Calgary-Mindipour, also the Shadow Minister for the Treasury Board. Thanks for coming back on.

00:00:43.140 Thank you so much, Jamie, for having me. It's always a pleasure to be here at this fine

00:00:46.560 institution of conservatism, The Blueprint. I appreciate you saying that. Now,

00:00:50.420 unfortunately, it's not under good circumstances because we are looking at a massive scam to the

00:00:55.320 Canadian public. Obviously, the Arrive Can app that nobody seemed to want, nobody seemed to ask

00:01:00.340 for. That cost $54 million. But it was later shown that a bunch of tech companies, two in particular,

00:01:08.480 did it over the weekend for a cost of $80,000 roughly each. So a huge amount of money is being

00:01:14.600 looked at right now. Maybe you can update us because the committee did work last week. It was a

00:01:20.220 constituency week. They spent a few days last week going through the Arrive Can scandal that seems

00:01:26.220 to have been unwrapping in front of us that the media barely covered. So maybe you can tell us a

00:01:31.600 bit about it. Yeah, I can't even make this stuff up. Like they say, the truth is stranger than fiction.

00:01:36.360 Yeah. And we definitely see it with the Arrive Scam app. This is an app that was created by two

00:01:42.840 individuals. Actually, it wasn't even created by, it was this whole thing was run by two guys in their

00:01:47.300 basements. That's exactly it. Contractors, subcontractors. And that's another big piece of

00:01:53.560 this is that subcontractors aren't even covered by oversight of the government. So we don't even

00:01:59.080 really know what those subcontractors did, how this got done. But you're right, this is an app that

00:02:04.880 over a weekend, a group of university students, I believe, was able to create for $80,000. The original

00:02:13.140 cost of this was supposed to be less than $20 million. The next number that we got was $54

00:02:19.400 million. We thought, this is crazy. It gets worse than that. Last week, when we had the Auditor

00:02:25.060 General release her report, it's now closer to $60 million. And they think that it could be even

00:02:31.820 more than that, because they're not certain about all of the documentation that was submitted. There

00:02:38.080 were just so many discrepancies with the documentation. So this now is an app that has

00:02:43.760 cost the taxpayers in excess of $60 million. An app, like you said, that nobody wanted.

00:02:51.920 It didn't even work correctly. It didn't even work correctly. Like it put people in quarantine that

00:02:55.140 didn't deserve to be there. 10,000 Canadians were sent to quarantine unnecessarily as a result of this

00:03:00.660 arrived scam app. And you know, we have yet in our testimony, the ability to find someone who

00:03:07.220 actually thinks that this was not only procured, procured and built in a responsible manner for

00:03:14.520 Canadians. Everyone we're getting in front of us at committee is telling us that this was a complete

00:03:20.900 debacle. It was not done well. As I said, the Auditor General gave a report last week, close to $60

00:03:26.400 million. Of that $12 million, they don't even know if it went to the arrive can app. Originally,

00:03:32.200 we thought that GC Strategies was getting $11 million and turned out to be $19 million. Now we know

00:03:38.360 they've had a quarter of a billion dollars of work with this liberal government, with this Trudeau

00:03:44.300 government. Can you imagine, Jamie, you and a friend splitting a quarter of a billion dollars for

00:03:49.160 doing nothing in your basement together? That is the story of the arrive can app. But there's more,

00:03:54.100 but there's more. How can there be much more? This is like, it's, I can't make this, this, this,

00:03:58.340 I always say it's like I'm on the lifetime network, Jamie. It's, it's that bad. We have, uh,

00:04:04.120 credibility of, uh, credible, um, stories of documents being destroyed by the chief information

00:04:12.560 officer who was overseeing arrive can app. We have, uh, discrepancy as to who made the final decision

00:04:18.840 of the arrive can app. And then we have the implication of a, a small, uh, IT firm based out

00:04:26.580 of Montreal that tells us that, uh, arrive can goes much deeper than just the CBSA that they have,

00:04:34.020 um, they have, uh, interface not only with the department of justice, but with levels as high as

00:04:40.740 the deputy prime minister. So this is all intermingled with each other, uh, arrive can,

00:04:45.840 and it's just, it's unbelievable that, uh, this app, which could have been made for $80,000 is now

00:04:51.880 up to the price of a minimum of $60 million. But worse than that, it points to the complete

00:04:58.820 incompetence of this government. If this is happening with a single app, Jamie, this is absolutely

00:05:04.640 happening all across government. We have no doubts about that. And as well, it also speaks to something

00:05:11.760 that our, our official opposition, the conservatives have done a very good job of shining a light on.

00:05:17.960 And that is the excessive contracting by this Trudeau government, up 60% since prime minister

00:05:24.320 Trudeau got into office rather than relying on our internal capabilities of the public service,

00:05:30.640 their specialties. And it's just, it's astounding to me the way that this is out of control in terms

00:05:36.480 of the costing, the way procurement has not been followed. We have the procurement ombudsman in

00:05:41.180 three weeks ago. He, he was not pleased with a single thing that he saw about this arrive can app.

00:05:47.500 He, he said in no uncertain terms that procurement standards, the ones that exist, and certainly we've

00:05:53.780 learned from this, that there have to be changes that have to be made, but the ones that exist,

00:05:58.220 they were not held to the standard as well with arrive can. So we have the auditor general,

00:06:01.880 the procurement ombudsman, um, uh, all of these individuals saying that, and the, the, as well,

00:06:07.340 the information, um, commissioner who was here on Tuesday, not, not a single person saying that

00:06:13.280 this was a good app. This was value for money for Canadians. Canadians were had on this app. And

00:06:18.540 like I said, the thing most concerning to me is it speaks to the incompetence of this government

00:06:23.780 and possibly even the, the bad intention of this government that they didn't, um, that they,

00:06:30.620 they didn't make an effort earlier on when they saw the train going off the tracks to try and do

00:06:35.400 something. And their deputy ministers didn't either. We've seen that time and time again when deputy

00:06:40.040 heads have come and testified in front of the committee. So it is a crazy story. And I just,

00:06:45.620 I really hope that Canadians are following along with, uh, with us at committee and with our social

00:06:50.260 media to, to even have an understanding of how incompetent and unethical this government is.

00:06:55.720 Well, this lack of respect for Canadians, obviously the government doesn't have a cent that it must

00:07:00.800 tax, borrow or print a combination thereof can actually debauch the economy of their currency as

00:07:06.620 well. Um, at the same time, this is a massive pattern of this government that they don't really

00:07:13.260 seem to care. Look at the weed charity scandal. Right. Right. Got money. Oh, we got caught. We had to pull

00:07:18.660 some back. We'll do this. Uh, Frank Bayless, the former legal MP who got a contract to make,

00:07:24.380 I believe it was ventilators that never actually stopped the fight into the government. Like all

00:07:29.460 these contracts being made, all this money going out, very little accountability coming back.

00:07:34.600 And at the end of the day, we're paying for it in the form of this inflationary crisis that

00:07:39.400 Canadians are dealing with. No, you're absolutely correct. And I mean, to add to that with the green

00:07:45.240 slush fund, um, you know, last year, my focus was really on McKinsey in terms of once again,

00:07:50.960 showing how much control outside consultants have on the work of the government. And as I said,

00:07:57.440 currently we have a 60% increase with this Trudeau government, um, in, in outside consulting. So

00:08:04.320 it, I think it even raises concerns for Canadians, not only in regards to the value for money,

00:08:10.880 which clearly was not received for this arrive can app, but also who are, who is making these

00:08:16.320 decisions are, you know, ministers are supposed to have oversight of their departments. And it's

00:08:23.160 just, it's so clear that, uh, ministers were not being, um, responsible for this project as well as so

00:08:31.740 many other projects below them and are, I think, receiving, receiving advice and receiving perhaps

00:08:38.800 even influence from those who aren't from elected office, these outside consultants, but that's

00:08:43.560 what this... Somebody's making money. Somebody's making money. How could you, as someone working

00:08:47.240 in the department or someone who has to sign off on this, this program, look at the cost and say,

00:08:52.240 you know what, that's 50 million, 54, 60. That seems a bit high for an app. Like how many companies in

00:08:59.360 the private sector would pay this kind of money for an app? I doubt there would be as many apps as there

00:09:04.180 are now if it costs that much. Yeah. I'm, you, you raise a really good point. And that's one thing

00:09:09.180 that the auditor general said in her report is that she, the paperwork was so bad. The paper trail was

00:09:15.720 so bad. She couldn't even determine if, uh, there was work that was paid for that wasn't even completed

00:09:24.120 that as a result of the, the task authorities that were without complete documentation. Uh, it just,

00:09:30.080 it shows that processes aren't being done properly under this government, that this high level of,

00:09:35.780 uh, of incompetence. So, you know, it is a very big concern. Uh, and as I said, what bothers me the

00:09:42.080 most is that this is $54 million, now $60 million, as I said, at a minimum in a time where we just found

00:09:51.280 out there was a $23.6 billion deficit, uh, between April and December. Like if, if this is happening

00:09:59.360 with, with this one project that we've been able to shine a light on for Canadians, then how do we

00:10:05.360 know that that other $23.6 billion isn't being spent in the same, uh, carefree way without oversight,

00:10:12.900 without regard for policy, without regard for, I'm praying that we do that.

00:10:17.280 They didn't realize that, right? They create a crisis and they try to come in to be the heroes

00:10:21.600 that got us out of the crisis. Right. Me, leadership is avoiding the crisis in the first place. Right.

00:10:26.720 Exactly. That's exactly it. And you raise a very important point. The auditor general was very clear

00:10:32.320 in her remarks. She said the pandemic, a crisis situation, any crisis situation cannot be used as

00:10:40.120 an excuse for this disregard for this value of money. That's it. That's always be a crisis, right?

00:10:46.620 If you can just speed by the, the bump, the speed bumps, the guardrails, speed by the, because

00:10:51.480 there'll be a crisis. There'll always be a crisis. Yeah. Somewhere there will be a crisis. They'll

00:10:54.960 make it up. Yeah. No, you're, you're absolutely correct about that. Um, but it's just, it's,

00:11:00.820 it's incredible the level of, of, um, even criminality that, that we have seen. This GC strategies,

00:11:08.300 they actually testified in committee that they, uh, created identity theft on the resumes. They

00:11:15.360 actually forged the resumes so that they would be accepted for these projects. Like that's astounding.

00:11:21.700 Can you imagine that, uh, just falsifying your resume in an effort to, to, to get a job? And

00:11:28.220 I wasn't suits based on this entire premise. I'm just saying like this, no serious. This is the

00:11:34.160 stuff of network shows that, that we're talking about here. Uh, there are, there are real life in

00:11:40.360 real life in Canada. That's right. Um, collusion. When we had two of the sub tractors in that work

00:11:46.700 with GC strategies, um, Dalyon and Karatics, one of our members just wasn't even able to determine

00:11:54.500 what one of the organizations actually did with the project. They weren't able to clarify

00:11:59.700 in their statement, the role, like the work that they actually got done, despite the member asking over

00:12:05.220 and over, what do you do? What do you do? This, this was a very popular. We know what they did.

00:12:10.480 They submitted an invoice. That's right. That's exactly what they did. They submitted invoices.

00:12:14.780 Yeah, that's, that's exactly it. And as well for, uh, I mean, the insider goings ons, um, we,

00:12:22.900 we've just seen incredible things, um, discussed within the committee about, uh, chalets,

00:12:29.740 cabins, whiskey tastings, whiskey tastings. For bureaucrats, I believe. Yeah, that's right.

00:12:34.660 That's right. For senior bureaucrats in an effort to, to influence them, to woo them. That's right. 0.88

00:12:40.340 That's right. So, I mean, it is just like this, this is a scandal that has a, it's interesting because

00:12:46.520 it has a little bit of everything. It has the collusion. It has the, um, identity theft. It has

00:12:53.620 the price gouging. It has all of these things. And it's almost like a microcosm of how government

00:13:02.320 is being run in the Trudeau era, to use a popular term, era.

00:13:06.420 S.S. 11, we, the F-35s, on and on. Well, let's quickly go, we got a quick click here from

00:13:13.140 committee last week. Andrew Scheer, who is, uh, in committee, uh, uh, asking a few questions. The

00:13:18.420 Liberals decide to call the Auditor General's report, uh, a bit of a lie. So let's play cup

00:13:24.200 one. So far, the Auditor General has concluded that it is at least $60 million in costs attributed

00:13:31.180 to that. And that's based on what she can find.

00:13:34.380 A point of order, uh, Mr. Uh, Mr. Chair. Um, yes, uh, Mr. Kusmer-Chuck.

00:13:40.460 Yes, I, I would appreciate it if, uh, if my honorable colleague would ground his statement

00:13:46.280 in fact, uh, not, uh, fiction. Thank you. We'll go back to Mr. Chair, please.

00:13:52.700 Yeah, I'll just let the record show that the, uh, Liberal MPs are now calling the findings

00:13:56.740 of the Auditor General fiction, so. And this is what we've seen time and time again from

00:14:03.060 this Liberal government, along with their NDP dance partner, the NDP Liberal Coalition,

00:14:09.600 um, is an obstruction of the truth, an obstruction of trying to get the answers.

00:14:14.100 And we've seen this with documentation. We, we asked so many times in the McKinsey study

00:14:21.040 to get the full documentation and the NDP kept obstructing the committee from obtaining

00:14:26.580 the documentation. And we're seeing the Liberals here trying to do the same again. Uh, we just

00:14:32.680 passed a motion today in Government Operations Committee around the COVID, uh, alert, um, a subject

00:14:39.120 very much similar to a Rive scam, given that it was in the pandemic time, the same timing.

00:14:44.260 And again, the Liberals were trying to amend the motion again and again in an effort to try and

00:14:50.460 hide the truth. We're seeing an obstruction of witnesses. They, they don't want people to come

00:14:55.420 in and tell the truth. They don't want the truth to find, to be found out by Canadians or by the

00:15:00.300 committee because it fundamentally, all it does is points back again and again to the incompetence of

00:15:06.700 this government and frankly, even the criminality of, of some of its members. And we're sure that

00:15:13.000 this goes all the way to the top based upon the, the testimony that we have received from,

00:15:19.440 from witnesses. So like I said, the truth is stranger than fiction and a Rive scam has, has something for

00:15:27.000 everyone. If you like drama, it has some of that. If you like mystery, it has some of that. Uh, if,

00:15:32.980 if, if, if you like, uh, debauchery, it has that with the whiskey, whiskey tasting, it has, it has

00:15:37.520 all of that. But what's most concerning is that this is just a snapshot, just a, a single project,

00:15:43.860 a moment, uh, a balance sheet, if you will, of what is going on in the Trudeau government. And it is

00:15:49.540 so much wider than this, Jamie. Now the NDP are supposed to be in opposition. Unfortunately,

00:15:53.720 they have a supply and confidence agreement, but I can, I can see why they are trying to keep this

00:15:59.220 under wraps because the more of this debacle of a government is allowed to continue, the more the

00:16:04.360 NDP where all of this corruption, all of this incompetence. And so by them, you know, suppressing

00:16:12.060 documents, suppressing witness investigations, uh, it, it, it keeps them alive, so to speak,

00:16:17.060 because there is no way I could imagine, uh, working class NDP supporters agree with what's

00:16:24.380 going on right now. No, I couldn't agree with you more. And in fact, right after this,

00:16:29.000 I'll be going into the House of Commons to make a statement on a Rive scam. And that's a point that

00:16:34.660 I raise in my statement is that the NDP actually voted for this. They actually voted for the funding

00:16:41.340 to have a Rive scam. So, I mean, they talk out of both sides of their mouth. They, they say that

00:16:46.780 they want to hold this, this, uh, government to account sometimes. And that was, you know, we hear it,

00:16:51.160 we hear it when we're in there, but the truth is, no, they are working hand in hand with the liberals

00:16:56.440 to, to waste taxpayers' money, to, um, achieve nothing for Canadians. They can say whatever they

00:17:03.480 want. This scandal proves otherwise. We are almost out of time. That means the guests have the final

00:17:08.080 word. The floor is yours. I just want to say that, uh, I would encourage any Canadians who are out there

00:17:13.960 to follow the Rive scam scandal because it really is a microcosm, uh, a moment, a snapshot of how

00:17:23.640 everything bad with this Trudeau government, um, with the incompetence, uh, with the, um, unethical

00:17:30.920 aspect of how they conduct themselves. I really think it's important for Canadians to take a look

00:17:36.840 at a Rive scam and think about their money being used for such an app. Stephanie Cusey,

00:17:42.040 member of parliament for Calgary, Mindapore, also the critic for the treasury board. We appreciate

00:17:46.920 your time. We appreciate your words. We appreciate yours as well. Please like comment, subscribe,

00:17:51.320 and share this program. If you haven't heard this message, this story, what is going on with the

00:17:57.040 Rive scan in the mainstream media? This is a way to get that out to ears that might not have heard.

00:18:02.220 And we also ask that you tell your friends they can download it on platforms like CastBox, iTunes,

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00:18:11.780 then, remember low taxes, less governments, more freedom. That's the blueprints.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - February 28, 2024

How did the Trudeau Liberals turn $80,000 into $60 million？

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