Company behind ArriveCan app on receiving end of 334 pages of Federal contracts with multiple ministries

ArriveCan, the formerly mandatory Public Health Surveillance app which Canadian travellers had to download to enter back to Canada, cost up to $54 million to develop; double the amount the Liberals initially admitted to.

GC strategies got rich by spearheading the development of the flawed health surveillance app. According to reports in the National Post:

The two partners of an Ottawa firm that was the largest single contractor on the federal government’s controversial ArriveCan app say they personally earned between $1.3 million and $2.7 million for hiring and assembling a programming team.

GC Strategies billed the government $9 million over two years, with most of that money being paid out to software engineers and others who actually built components of ArriveCan, the company’s managing partner, Kristian Firth, told a parliamentary committee.

An order paper inquiry by Conservative MP Warren Steinley, found that GC strategies, a firm with fewer than 5 employees operating out of a rural house outside Ottawa,was the recipient of 334 pages of contracts.

Justice paid GC Strategies $96,000 for an ATIP search system

ECCC paid GC Strategies $600,000 resulting from 25 contracts to do national assessments of climate change impacts.

TwoToronto tech companies were able to clone the ArriveCan app in under 48 hours.