The government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is under fire for spending nearly $22 million to order 31,000 smart phones for government employees.
According to documents obtained by CBC News, Shared Services Canada sent an urgent order on February 20th to Bell Mobility for 31,000 smartphones, with delivery required within five weeks in order to qualify as 2017-2018 government expenditures. The massive order of smartphones was part of what’s known in Ottawa as “March Madness” – the practice of government departments shovelling unspent departmental funds out the door before the end of a fiscal year.
Normally, Shared Services Canada – the federal government's information technology agency – would order the equipment and pay the bill itself, charging back the amounts to individual federal departments. But the rush order and its large size overwhelmed the agency, which required each individual department to pay its own bills for the smartphones.
At a cost of $700 per phone, Ottawa spent $21.7 million on the order in an effort to burn excess government money ahead of the end of the federal fiscal year on March 31. In the past, government departments have spent money on training, polling and computer upgrades in an effort to spend excess money. Government departments that don’t spend all of their budget are likely to receive less funding when the new fiscal year starts April 1 due to a “use it or lose it” funding policy. The bonuses paid to senior civil servants are often dependent on how close to budget they are at year-end.
Android devices, such as the Samsung S7 and S8 smartphones, made up about 80% of the government order. About 20% was spent to buy iOS devices — Apple iPhones. Three departments — Privy Council Office, Industry and Shared Services — together ordered 1,800 iPhone 8 models. The largest departmental order was from Global Affairs Canada, with 5,500 smartphones split evenly between the iPhone7 and the Samsung S7.
