Transparency International Canada (TI Canada) was summoned by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance to testify on their study of COVID-19 spending and programs last Thursday, April 1st.
TI Canada’s Executive Director, James Cohen, highlighted the following points:
In order to react to the pandemic, the Federal Government has had to spend unprecedented amounts of money in a short time. As a result, there is not only the risk of misuse of public funds, but also the erosion of public trust.
Transparency in public procurement is fundamental to ensuring that public funds are spent for the appropriate purpose, and that goods are procured at a reasonable price, and in a fair manner.
While it took considerable public pressure for the government to release some pandemic-related data, such as Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy recipients, and vaccine distribution timetables, there is procurement spending data available. However, this data is in the aggregate.
Beneficial ownership disclosure should be a requirement for all government contracts, licenses, and permits, so the government knows who they are doing business with.
In the mining sector, TI Canada has observed provincial governments citing the pandemic as a reason to fast-track public consultation processes for environmental assessments.
Anti-corruption and anti-money laundering compliance, and indeed, transparency and accountability measures cannot be paused as a means to economic recovery.