OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) — Implementing a digital identification system in Canada will cost taxpayers a staggering $6.64 billion, according to federal managers working for the government of Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney.
According to Canada’s Department of Employment, in a recent update to the House of Commons public accounts committee, a 10-year plan to digitize all Employment Insurance and other benefits would be the “largest IT transformation ever undertaken by the government.”
The department claims, as noted by Blacklock’s Reporter, that the “scope” of implementing such a program would be vast and well over an original estimate of $1.8 billion in costs back in 2017.
The billions in extra costs, claims the department, are needed so that some 60 or so governmental information systems in place currently would all be merged into a monolithic “single sign-in portal.”
“It is important to consider the unprecedented nature of the sale, complexity and accumulated technical debt being addressed in the transformation process and the myriad factors that needed to be considered for the schedule and costs that may not have been known at the outset,” noted the department.
For now, the federal government has said digital IDs would be optional.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, in recent years, under Liberal Party rule, the laws passed or introduced by the government seem to coincide with what some of Agenda 2030 proposes, those being digital IDs and restrictions on internet freedom.
Indeed, late last year, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) officially confirmed it is developing a digital ID for certain licenses and permits, called “GC Issue and Verify,” which has already been listed on the Google Play store as a trial-only app for certain users.
The digital ID claims the government can replace “digital versions” of the “physical credentials they already provide today, like work permits and boating licenses.”
Another digital ID project, a new type of digital ID app on Google’s Play Store called GC Wallet, as reported by LifeSiteNews, was quietly released late last year.
Canadians do not want digital IDs, as noted by Canada’s Privy Council research from 2023, which said there is strong public resistance to the use of digital IDs to access government services.
One of Canada’s most staunchly pro-life MPs, Leslyn Lewis, recently warned Canadians to be “on guard” against a push by the ruling Liberal Party to bring forth digital IDs, saying they should be voluntary.