‘ARRIVE’ SOON DEPARTED

By Dale Jodoin During the big COVID-19 pandemic, when everyone was really scared and trying to stay safe, there was this app called "Arrive" that got made. It was supposed to help people by keeping track of where they were if they got sick, to help stop the virus from spreading. At first, it sounded like a really helpful thing, but then things went super wrong. The app was only supposed to cost about $80,000 to set up, but somehow, the cost blew up to $59 million. That's a crazy amount of money, and it made a lot of people think that something shady was happening. It looked like someone was using the scary situation of the pandemic to fill their pockets with a lot of money, which is really not cool. People were already having a hard time because of the sickness, and then they had to hear about this mess. Some folks think the police, like the RCMP in Canada, should check into this to figure out what really happened. But, there are others who say this problem is so huge and might even involve people from other countries, so it's a job for the Canadian Intelligence Service. They're worried that if people in other countries find out who got all this money, they could use that info to mess with Canada's government later on. That's a big worry because it's about keeping the country safe, which people call "national security." The reason why the Canadian Intelligence Service should step in is also because this kind of money, if it's gotten through bad ways like bribery, could make it easy for foreign governments to try and take advantage later on in our country. They could try to influence important people in Canada or make them do things that aren't good for Canada. People are saying that whoever made this mess happen should be found and have to answer for it, especially if they tried to keep it a secret. It's super important to make sure something like this doesn't happen again, especially when everyone needs to trust each other during a big crisis like a pandemic. It's weird that not many people are talking about this, like in newspapers or on TV. But it's a really big deal, and everyone should want to find out the truth to make sure the people who did wrong are held responsible. This is all about making sure everyone plays fair and that the country stays safe and works right for everyone.