Pierre Poilievre asks RCMP to expand investigation of ArriveCan app

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre sent a letter to the RCMP commissioner Tuesday asking the Mounties to investigate the government's COVID-era ArriveCan app, a pandemic program that's been marred by controversy.

In his letter to commissioner Mike Duheme, Poilievre said the auditor general's scathing recent report on the matter demands that the national police force review the file for possible criminality.

"I am writing to ask that you immediately expand your existing criminal investigation into the matters surrounding the Government's ArriveCAN application due to findings by the Auditor General that have exposed corruption, mismanagement, and misconduct on a massive scale," Poilievre said.

Amid troubling allegations about the conduct of some employees at the Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA), the RCMP was called in last year to review the conduct of "certain employees and contractors" working with the agency, according to the auditor general.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said the "RCMP and the CBSA's professional integrity division are investigating" any alleged wrongdoing linked to the app, which was used to screen travellers at a time of pandemic-related restrictions.

"The CBSA has also launched an internal audit to look into contracting at the agency and has increased oversight processes when it comes to contracting," Trudeau said last year when pressed on news reports of mismanagement.

Poilievre said he thinks that whatever probe is underway should be expanded.

In question period, Poilievre sought assurances that Trudeau will not try to block the police.

"We will, of course, encourage the RCMP to do its work," Trudeau said.

"It doesn't take politicians, even leaders of the opposition, to tell the RCMP to do their job. They do their job and they do it well. We will make sure all rules are followed and that there are consequences for people who broke the laws or broke the rules."

Although he's asking the Mounties to launch a larger investigation, Poilievre has been critical of the RCMP in recent days.

Last week, he accused Trudeau of mismanaging and politicizing the RCMP when speaking about crime in some of Canada's big cities.

The RCMP operates at arm's-length from the government of the day.

"We will get the RCMP back to fighting organized crime and protecting Canadians against extortion, assassinations, car jackings, human trafficking and all the other crimes that have raged out of control over the last eight years," Poilievre said. "We will fix the RCMP."