According to newly-released Treasury Board figures, less than 40% of federal pandemic transactions were tracked on time, raising concerns about billions in hurried contracts, as reported by Blacklock’s.

The Office of the Procurement Ombudsman, established in 2008, found in a 2023 report that Health Canada and the Public Health Agency issued 17,000 pandemic contracts totalling $22 billion. Over 10% of these randomly checked contracts failed to comply with procurement rules.

"We can have the best laws in the world, but if nobody is ensuring oversight of the process, that’s where we wind up in problems of waste, of potential fraud," Denis Gallant, a Montréal lawyer and former Crown prosecutor, previously warned a 2020 Commons ethics committee.

A 2023 C.D. Howe Institute report criticized pandemic expenditures totalling $309 billion, urging greater transparency in budgeting.

Public Works deleted web pages on July 9 detailing $24.4 billion in COVID contracts, mostly sole-sourced, despite these calls for transparency.

Gallant suggested an independent organization, possibly appointed by the House of Commons, could quickly flag questionable private agreements or signed contracts.

Audits show "limited public health expertise" and rapid turnover of four Public Health Agency presidents, some of whom concealed information that "may result in embarrassment" for ministers.

Federal agencies reported over $1 billion in wasted COVID-19 vaccines and medical supplies, including faulty masks and ventilators, as the Liberals continue to dodge a public inquiry into their pandemic response. 

On June 4, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) showed that pandemic debts and higher interest rates have sharply increased public debt costs in the last three years. 

A record pandemic deficit of $325.5 billion in 2020 facilitated a culture of reckless spending and a reluctance to cut operational expenses. 

National debt interest costs are projected to hit $70 billion by 2029, up from $24.4 billion pre-pandemic, according to the latest Main Estimates. The figure eclipses projected federal health care spending of $64.8 billion for that year.

"The decisions that [were] made that are going to affect our future for years and decades to come were really made on the fly without appropriate deliberation," said Bill Robson, chief executive of the C.D. Howe Institute.

"We need more transparency from our governments about how they're spending our money, especially when something like COVID happens," he told the Financial Post.

"If a government doesn't present a budget until after the fiscal year has already started, then very straightforwardly they’re just doing what they want, without authorization from the Legislature," Robson furthered.

C.D. Howe suggests improvements to revenue and expense reporting by detailing subcategories like investment returns, debt servicing costs, gross figures, transfers, and major program spending (e.g., healthcare).

Canadians largely don't grasp the massive pandemic debt governments incurred and will repay via future taxes, Robson said, noting that lack of transparency is a long-standing problem.

Much of the blame lies with elected members of Parliament, he said: "I think we need to call them on it and say, 'Do your job.'"

PETITION: No More Shots!

56,000 signatures

Goal: 75,000 signatures

I demand Canada’s Minister of Health, Marjorie Michel, remove the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines from the market. Health Canada has confirmed the presence of an undisclosed plasmid, raising serious safety concerns and invalidating informed consent. I also support the Government of Alberta’s call to halt the vaccines, especially for healthy populations, including young adults and children.

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