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Federal records show that the Liberal government’s ArriveCan app cost almost $20 million to develop.
The expenses were disclosed in an Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the Commons by Tory MP Chris Warkentin, asking “how much money did the government spend developing the application?”
“$19,783,494,” said the Canada Border Services Agency in its response to Warkentin, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
Expenses included billings by the Public Health Agency of Canada and Shared Services Canada, the IT department responsible for providing digital services to federal organizations.
Launched as a voluntary app in April 2020, ArriveCan was made mandatory on Nov. 21 of that year for travellers boarding flights to Canada. In March 2021, the app was extended to include travellers arriving at land border crossings, requiring them to submit electronic proof of COVID-19 vaccination prior to arrival in Canada.
Despite criticism in recent months from tourism and business sectors, border communities, and MPs of various political stripes that ArriveCan “no longer makes sense” to mandate, the Liberals have insisted that the app has been effective in managing the pandemic.
“ArriveCan obviously has been a very important tool during COVID-19 and remains important for those people that enter into Canada to identify whether they are appropriately vaccinated,” Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said in a press conference in late June.
“But increasingly, ArriveCan is also being used to facilitate and accelerate entrance into Canada through a Customs data entry, which in many cases makes it quite fast and quite efficient to enter into Canada.”
Wait Times
In August, a coalition of chambers of commerce among Canadian border towns challenged the government’s message on ArriveCan, saying that the wait times at land borders had only increased after the app was introduced.
“Wait times at land border crossings have lengthened by up to two hours since 2019 despite traffic being cut in half, and bridge authorities attribute this entirely to restrictions and the ArriveCAN app,” said the coalition in a joint press release.
“The average processing time for arriving passengers at airports has increased by 400 percent.”
On Sept. 26, the federal government announced its ending of COVID-19 entry rules and that the use of ArriveCan will be optional come Oct. 1. The decision was made based on the “latest evidence, available data, operational considerations, and the epidemiological situation, both in Canada and internationally,” said a government news release.
Federal Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre took to Twitter the same day saying that the Liberals’ decision was made due to pressure from several fronts.
“After constant pressure from Conservatives & people across Canada, Trudeau Liberals finally back down on the disastrous ArriveCAN app, unscientific vaccine mandates & forced mask-wearing,” Poilievre said. “None of the science changes October 1 but because of you, Trudeau has to.”
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the federal government also spent $20 million on another pandemic-related app called COVID Alert meant to notify smartphone users of exposure to a coronavirus carrier.
The program was shut down on June 17 due to low usage among other reasons, the Liberal government said.
