Canada's House of Commons government operations committee has suspended future hearings regarding federal contracting misconduct allegations related to the nation's COVID travel app ArriveCAN after accessing what a Liberal lawmaker described as a "scary" confidential preliminary investigative report.
This comes as Michel Lafleur, leading the internal review expected to be concluded by summer 2024, revealed on Monday that evidence to support at least some allegations of misconduct and wrongdoing into the federal government's $54M procurement of ArriveCAN has already been found.
The ArriveCAN scandal is just the latest example of, at best, controversial spending and cronyism under the Justin Trudeau administration, following those of WE Charity and Sustainable Development Technology Canada. Despite widespread popular outrage against the government, no one has been held accountable for these misconducts. Hopefully, this time will be different.
It seems odd how much Conservatives, who didn't back the motion Wednesday, have changed their behavior on ArriveCAN hearings. At first, they quickly jumped to prosecute civil servants. Now, they have started casting doubts over Lafleur and his preliminary report. Though nothing has indicated the rationale for this move yet, their genuine commitment to the truth has been questioned.