Federal bureaucrats aren’t even using more than 50,000 Microsoft subscriptions and licenses they purchased in the last year, according to government records reviewed by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. 

“I understand forgetting about a few trial subscriptions, but how do these bureaucrats forget about 50,000 subscriptions?” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Cancelling unused subscriptions is the most basic step any family takes to find savings and taxpayers demand the same from the government.”

The government spent $4.8 million purchasing 33,213 Microsoft licenses and subscriptions that nobody used. It purchased another 19,860 Microsoft subscriptions that nobody used, but the government refused to disclose how much it spent on those subscriptions. 

The government released this data in response to an order paper question from member of Parliament Adam Chambers who asked for costs related to “Microsoft licenses” purchased by the government in the last year and data on “how many licenses are currently unused.”

Statistics Canada spent the most on unused Microsoft subscriptions. It spent nearly $1.2 million on 2,608 subscriptions that nobody used. 

It spent $1,746 on 25 Teams Phone Standard subscriptions for a pilot project. But it didn’t use any of these subscriptions. 

When the CTF asked the agency why it didn’t use any of the subscriptions, a Statistics Canada spokesperson said, “Technical challenges were encountered.”

Statistics Canada also billed taxpayers about $38,528 for 10 BizTalk Server Enterprise licenses. But it only used half of the licenses.  

“If a small business paid for 25 phone subscriptions and never used one, the owner would cancel them,” Terrazzano said. “‘Technical challenges’ isn’t an excuse for wasting taxpayers’ money.”

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada reported the highest number of unused licenses. It purchased 7,443 licenses that nobody used, costing taxpayers $138,500. 

Employment and Social Development Canada spent $68,940 on 150 Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro subscriptions last year. The department did not use any of these subscriptions. ESDC did not respond to the CTF’s request for explanation. 

“A former finance minister told Canadians she cancelled her Disney+ subscription to save money,” Terrazzano said. “Now it’s time for the current finance minister to tell bureaucrats to cancel the taxpayer-funded subscriptions they’re not using.”

The Canada Revenue Agency purchased 4,588 unused subscriptions. But it refused to disclose how much those subscriptions cost taxpayers. The CRA did not respond to the CTF’s request for explanation. 

National Defence didn’t bother to disclose what type of subscriptions it purchased. Transport Canada didn’t disclose how many of its licenses were unused. Both departments did not respond to the CTF’s request for an explanation. 

Shared Services Canada spent about $27 million on Microsoft subscriptions, but did not disclose the number of licenses and subscriptions that were purchased or how many were used.

“Taxpayers are paying for all these subscriptions so departments need to be fully transparent and show taxpayers the bill,” Terrazzano said.