Exclusive documents reveal desperate attempts to increase uptake of Trudeau's largely unused COVID Alert app

The $20 million exposure notification app had only been downloaded 6.9 million times, and just 57,000 users who tested positive for COVID-19 notified others of possible exposure before it was decommissioned last summer.

According to the government, notifications "helped" identify 2,446 confirmed cases of COVID-19 at a cost of $8200 per confirmed case.

The documents, obtained by Rebel News through access to information filings, demonstrate attempted collaboration with Apple and Google to promote the app. Dozens of other companies were approached as well, including most of the chartered banks in Canada, Amex, multiple airlines, Walmart, and a video game association.

The feds sent posters to high schools to encourage kids to download the COVID tracing app onto their phones and developed an Instagram sticker and a Twitter emoji to appeal to younger demographics.

Within the hundreds of pages of emails and internal communications, communications bureaucrats are searching for people who love the unloved app to use as part of a messaging push for Trudeau's daily Rideau cottage daily COVID press conferences. Their efforts were largely unsuccessful.

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Sheila Gunn Reid

Chief Reporter

Sheila Gunn Reid is the Alberta Bureau Chief for Rebel News and host of the weekly The Gunn Show with Sheila Gunn Reid. She's a mother of three, conservative activist, and the author of best-selling books including Stop Notley.

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