ArriveCan Contractor Testifying Under Arrest Threat Could Now Face Contempt of Parliament

A smartphone set to the opening screen of the ArriveCan app is seen in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Giordano Ciampini

A key contractor for the ArriveCan application who testified in committee under threat of arrest now faces being found in contempt of Parliament for not being forthcoming with MPs.

Kristian Firth, co-owner of GC Strategies, appeared for three hours before the House of Commons government operations committee on March 13.

Mr. Firth spoke of receiving threats due to his association with the ArriveCan scandal and said that “virtually everything” said in the media about him and his company has been “false.”

Mr. Firth, who runs the firm specialized in finding sub-contractors for IT government work, provided details about his operations, but he stonewalled MPs on key details of the affair.

“Mr. Firth has refused to answer direct questions that have been put to him by the chair on behalf of this committee,” Conservative MP Garnett Genuis charged at the end of the meeting in introducing a motion.

Mr. Genuis’s motion, adopted unanimously, calls for the committee clerk to prepare a report to the House outlining the “potential breach of privilege,” or contempt, regarding Mr. Firth’s testimony.

Mr. Firth was facing arrest by the House of Commons sergeant-at-arms if he didn’t appear before the committee.

MPs want to find out how the cost of the ArriveCan application ballooned and explore the problematic contracting practices.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself has called the ArriveCan situation “obviously unacceptable,” while the Conservatives refer to the issue as “ArriveScam.” The application was part of a border measure to electronically manage COVID-19 quarantine requirements.

Chalet or Cottage

Mr. Firth had previously testified before the committee and he was asked by Conservative MP Michael Barrett whether he had lied on those occasions.

In “previous testimony, you see the answer with that one about the chalet and the cottage,” responded Mr. Firth.

Mr. Firth had previously told MPs he didn’t know whether former Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) official Cameron MacDonald had a cottage. Mr. MacDonald, now at Health Canada, has been suspended over the ArriveCan affair. When pressed in November during a previous committee appearance, Mr. Firth said Mr. MacDonald had “never referred to it as a cottage. It’s a chalet. It’s not a cottage.”

“You did lie about Mr. MacDonald’s secondary residence quite famously on it not being a cottage, but in fact, it being a chalet,” responded Mr. Barrett. “Further, you lied about meeting government officials outside of government offices. And further, you lied about providing hospitality to government officials.”

Mr. Firth was pressed on those issues during the meeting and he provided the names of officials he met with after being threatened with contempt of Parliament by Mr. Barrett.

Mr. Firth said having met outside of offices with Mr. MacDonald, former CBSA official Anthony Utano, and federal government IT executives Philippe Johnston and Marc Brouillard.

At issue is whether GC Strategies benefitted from preferential treatment by leveraging public servants.

‘Inside Baseball’

While he did provide some names, Mr. Firth refused multiple times to divulge the name of the public servant who had cooperated with him on a contract.

GC Strategies helped craft the requirements of a federal pandemic work contract it eventually obtained.

“Again, apologies, but after speaking with my lawyer, my stance still stands the same with the RCMP investigation pending. I don’t interfere with that,” he said.

Mr. Firth defended that based on the criteria he helped establish, there were still 40 vendors who could qualify to obtain the contract.

Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk countered it’s normal for MPs to be concerned a vendor was working with the government to design a bid. “That’s sort of inside baseball,” he said.

“What I can say is that there was no bid rigging involved at all in the fourth COVID contract,” said Mr. Firth.

‘Glaring Disregard’

The government operations committee has been looking into ArriveCan since the fall of 2022. The work has been re-energized with the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) releasing a report on the matter in mid-February. Other government entities have also launched probes.

The auditor general found there was “glaring disregard for basic management and contracting practices” in relation to ArriveCan, a project managed by CBSA.

The OAG has estimated the cost to develop ArriveCan at $59.5 million. It has noted, however, that the total cost cannot be determined due to poor accounting practices.

At one point the app was projected to cost $80,000, but it ballooned, with several contractors subcontracting the work and taking a cut, including GC Strategies.

Mr. Firth disputed the finding of the OAG that his firm received $19.1 million for ArriveCan, noting that only $11 million pertained to direct work on the application. He also said his firm had made a net profit from it of $2.5 million after the sub-contracting, expenses, and taxes.

GC Strategies’ business model is to take a 15 to 30 percent commission to find contractors to work on government IT projects.

The OAG said in its report that the decision to continue relying on outside contractors increased the ArriveCan costs and put into question the “value achieved for money spent.”

“There was little documentation to support how and why GC Strategies was awarded the initial ArriveCAN contract through a non-competitive process,” the OAG also said.

Deputy Auditor General Andrew Hayes told MPs on the public accounts committee on March 7 that CBSA chose not to follow a recommendation from the procurement department to hold a competitive bid.

‘Allegations of Wrongdoing’

GC Strategies, a small company with less than a handful of employees, has obtained $107 million for 118 contracts with the federal government since 2021, according to recent committee testimony from the comptroller general of Canada.

The company and others that worked on ArriveCan, like Coradix and Dalian, have been suspended by the procurement department from bidding on new contracts. GC Strategies has also seen its security status suspended.

GC Strategies, Coradix, and Dalian have been under RCMP investigation since the fall in relation to allegations of misconduct for work on other projects. RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme said in late February his outfit is now also looking into the ArriveCan file.

Yet another probe was launched into the matter recently, this time by the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner. The office will look into “several allegations of wrongdoing” in relation to the “development and management of ArriveCan,” according to a letter obtained by the Globe and Mail.

The Integrity Commissioner handles disclosures of wrongdoing by whistleblowers and complaints of reprisals because of disclosure.

Matthew Horwood contributed to this report.