Former border agency official pressed to give false testimony, MPs told

A former border agency official who handled ArriveCan contracting files said she’s been suspended as a form of retribution by senior managers because she refused to give false testimony as part of an internal probe into alleged contracting misconduct.
The border agency is conducting an internal investigation into allegations of cozy ties between private contractors and public servants involved in government contracting. Diane Daly told a House committee Wednesday that her interview earlier this year as part of that probe was hostile and she was pressed to pin blame on people who had done nothing wrong.
“I’m here to tell the truth but I’m very concerned that if I tell the truth here, I’m going to lose my job,” Ms. Daly said, her hands shaking at times as she read from written notes.
Ms. Daly said she’s been a public servant for nearly 20 years, but it was her first time speaking to a parliamentary committee. She testified Wednesday before the public accounts committee, which is leading one of more than a dozen reviews into ArriveCan spending and broader concerns related to federal contracting. The RCMP has said it is investigating ArriveCan and other contracting matters.
Ms. Daly was a senior adviser at the Canada Border Services Agency’s Border Technologies Innovation Directorate during the period that the agency launched and managed the ArriveCan app, an initially mandatory software tool aimed at facilitating cross-border travel during the pandemic’s frequently changing health requirements. The app remains as a voluntary option.
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Months of parliamentary hearings have also produced an unprecedented level of public finger-pointing and contradictory testimony involving federal public servants, which continued Wednesday with Ms. Daly’s comments.
The border agency is conducting an internal review into allegations of contracting misconduct involving Cameron MacDonald and Antonio Utano, two former senior CBSA officials who worked with GCStrategies on ArriveCan and other projects. They’ve since been suspended and have criticized the investigation as lacking independence. Like Ms. Daly, they also say they are being punished for defying senior managers.
Ms. Daly said she was asked in December by CBSA investigators to be interviewed as part of that internal review, which she initially declined because she had been diagnosed with cancer.
“My director-general insisted on meeting me and told me in an MS Teams meeting to give false testimony against my former bosses,” she said. “I told them I had nothing negative to say about my former bosses. If I had witnessed any improprieties at CBSA, I would have reported them immediately.”
She said she felt intimidated by her former director-general Lysane Bolduc and director Tom von Schoenberg at Public Works, where she worked after leaving the CBSA.
She said she ultimately agreed to a video-conference interview with CBSA investigators on Jan. 15, which she said lasted 3½ hours.
“It was hostile,” she said.
Two months later, she said she received a letter notifying her that she had been suspended from the public service for failing to adhere to procurement codes of conduct and the values and ethics code of the public service.
“I am currently on administrative leave from Public Works. I believe this is because CBSA and Public Works did not get the negative narrative expected about two former bosses at CBSA in the January 15, 2024, security interview,” she told MPs.
Ms. Daly said she has recordings and transcripts that support her allegations. Brief passages of her discussions with management that she read to MPs did not provide clear evidence that she was told to provide false evidence to CBSA investigators.
Bloc Québécois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné and NDP MP Blake Desjarlais both frequently expressed frustration with Ms. Daly’s testimony, saying she was not providing clear answers.
Auditor-General Karen Hogan released a report in February that found numerous shortfalls in financial oversight on the ArriveCan project. The report also expressed strong concern that GCStrategies, the main contractor, was directly involved in setting narrow terms for a $25-million contract it ultimately won.
The smartphone application was initially launched during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic with an initial cost of $80,000, before ballooning to an estimated $59.5-million after numerous updates. The ArriveCan saga has also fuelled broader scrutiny of how the federal government spends billions of dollars each year on federal contracts.
Ms. Daly said the core problem with federal procurement is a short list of preapproved government technology contractors called the task-based informatics professional services list, or TBIPS. GCStrategies, a two-person company with no stand-alone office, was on that list of approved contractors.
“It’s a financial nightmare,” she said, calling for the program to be dismantled. She said she and other CBSA officials had been raising concerns with the TBIPS division about GCStrategies’ “extremely poor documentation” since 2020.
The Auditor-General’s report did not name Ms. Daly. GCStrategies’ managing partner Kristian Firth initially declined to answer MPs’ questions about the report’s reference to his company working with federal officials on the terms of a contract that it ultimately won. The standoff led to a very unusual sanction by the full House of Commons, which found Mr. Firth in contempt of Parliament. The private contractor was called before the bar of the House of Commons to answer questions in April, one day after the RCMP searched his home as part of an investigation into allegations of contracting misconduct.
During that appearance, Mr. Firth identified Ms. Daly as his contact, saying he provided her with suggestions related to writing requests for proposals.
“It is common for government officials or technical resources to ask for specific suggestions, understanding what skill sets and what technologies they would have to be privy with to be working on an application or working on projects,” Mr. Firth said.
But Ms. Daly said Wednesday that she has “no idea” why she was named by Mr. Firth.
Ms. Daly said she is not an IT or procurement expert and largely acted as an administrative go-between at the agency. She said she primarily dealt with Mr. Firth via e-mail and has no recollection of ever meeting him in person.
“Mr. Firth worked directly with CBSA IT staff,” she said. “I don’t even know what they were doing.”
MPs have previously learned that Mr. Firth provided gifts and hospitality to Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Utano. Ms. Daly said she did not receive any gifts or hospitality and was not aware that had occurred.
“If I had, I would have said something,” she said. She also said she never saw either man “do anything nefarious.”
Neither Mr. Firth nor Public Works nor the CBSA immediately provided comment Wednesday after Ms. Daly’s testimony. Ms. Bolduc and Mr. von Schoenberg did not immediately respond to direct e-mails requesting comment.
Conservative MPs quickly seized on Ms. Daly’s testimony, saying it warrants further hearings and testimony from the leadership of Public Works, the CBSA and GCStrategies.
“There are accusations of intimidation, of cover-up, of reprisal that this committee has to get to the bottom of,” said Conservative MP Garnett Genuis.
Mr. Desjarlais, the NDP MP, said he agreed with Ms. Daly’s call for a serious review of the short list of preapproved technology contractors.
“This is a very good example of systemic corruption,” he said.