A spokesperson for Build Canada and Canada Spends says the effort to influence government policy and raise awareness of public spending is not trying to emulate billionaire Elon Musk’s controversial DOGE initiative in the United States.

Daniel Debow spoke to The Tyee following the publication of an earlier story in February that pointed out that several of the supporters of Build Canada had praised Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and called for the adoption of a similar initiative in Canada.

The story also noted that the Canada Spends website shared similar formatting and content as the DOGE.gov site, notably the use of government spending facts in boxes that link to posts on X, the social media platform Musk owns.