A company directed by Defence Minister Anita Anand’s husband was awarded a Covid contract over eighteen competitors, records show. Cabinet said Anand played no role in the award: "A total of nineteen companies submitted bids."

The Department of Public Works in internal emails acknowledged a mistake in shipping $655,501 worth of Covid shelters to a Manitoba hamlet that never asked for them, but said the community “can keep the tents.” Public Works Minister Anita Anand had said she was shocked to learn of a contractor’s conflict of interest in the case: "How is it your office was not aware?"

Public Works Minister Anita Anand's department awarded the first of $81 million in sole-sourced Covid contracts to a Québec supplier one day after exchanging emails with the company, according to court records. The vendor was later sued for alleged breach of contract: "Time was of the essence."

Cabinet is in “close touch” with Canada Post directors on a confidential plan to reduce the corporation’s deficit, Public Works Minister Anita Anand said yesterday. The report cannot be made public, the Commons government operations committee was told: "We are all working very hard."

The Department of Public Works is paying the equivalent of about $18 per shot for Covid vaccines, data show. One manufacturer told a Commons committee there is a “fairly reasonable profit at that price.” Public Works Minister Anita Anand did not comment: "Are our contracts locked in?"

Taxpayers will see no refunds on more than $700 million worth of pandemic ventilators the Department of Public Works bought from sole-sourced contractors but didn’t need. “I do have the Canadian taxpayers’ interests at heart when I am doing my job,” Minister Anita Anand said yesterday. “I am very, very concerned with that issue myself.”

Public Works Minister Anita Anand’s chief of staff personally vouched for a Liberal lobbyist seeking a federal contract for his son, internal emails show. The exchange was never reported to the Commissioner of Lobbying though federal law restricts undisclosed favour-seeking under threat of six months’ jail: "I vouch for Elly here."

Friends of cabinet attempted to pull strings with Public Works Minister Anita Anand for lucrative pandemic contracts, internal emails show. Lobbyists included a former aide to a Liberal MP, and the ex-president of a Liberal Party riding association who sought millions in contracts: "We’ve been seeing a lot of people who ‘know a guy’ in China."

Anticipated monthly vaccine deliveries are “estimates” only and are not included in confidential $4.6 billion contracts with manufacturers, says Public Works Minister Anita Anand. MPs on the Commons health committee said it is mathematically impossible for cabinet to meet its vaccination targets: "No one in their right mind believes in the math you are telling us."

Public Works Minister Anita Anand yesterday said she agreed to secrecy in approving $4.6 billion worth of contracts with vaccine manufacturers. MPs on the Commons industry committee questioned why Canada’s pandemic vaccination rate trails countries like Israel, Spain, Italy and Belgium: "It’s pretty clear Canada did a relatively poor job both in negotiations and in pandemic preparedness."

Public Works Minister Anita Anand last night denied favouritism in awarding a $237,300,200 contract to buy ventilators from ex-Liberal MP Frank Baylis’ company, Baylis Medical. “I have no idea who Frank Baylis is,” the Minister told the Commons government operations committee: "I couldn’t pick him out of a crowd."

The Department of Public Works yesterday would not say if it has taken any promised rush deliveries from a Québec company awarded an exclusive ten-year contract to supply pandemic masks. Public Works Minister Anita Anand had justified the sole-sourced contract on a promise Canadian-made masks would be on their way to doctors and nurses “toward the end of July”.

Public Works Minister Anita Anand yesterday said she was shocked and surprised by conflict of interest on a federal Covid-19 Supply Council. Six of seventeen appointees are registered lobbyists. One member has resigned to date: "Is your government comfortable with the presence of lobbyists?"

Public Works Minister Anita Anand misled Canadians over confidential terms of a contract with Amazon to distribute pandemic supplies. Claims that Amazon is working without profit were less than half true, staff acknowledged. The admission came after Anand's deputy minister blurted out terms of the contract at a Commons committee hearing: "No costs – I’m sorry, no profits for the first few months."

Public Works Minister Anita Anand is justifying a pandemic distribution deal with Amazon by claiming it’s a “Canadian company”. Staff would not disclose terms of the Amazon contract after a deputy minister suggested the firm could profit despite cabinet claims to the contrary: "Is Canada Post not capable of doing the same thing?"