Commons Committee Passes Vote to Summon GC Strategies to Testify on ArriveCan

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

The owners of GC Strategies, the IT firm behind ArriveCan, must appear before a parliamentary committee to answer questions on the app or face arrest by the Commons’ sergeant-at-arms, after MPs on the committee passed a motion to force their testimony.

“Despite hours of Liberal filibustering, Conservatives have passed a motion forcing the owners of GC Strategies, Justin Trudeau’s favourite two-person IT firm, to appear at committee within 21 days or face arrest by the Sergeant-at-Arms, the top security official of the House of Commons,” the Tories said in a press release following the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO) meeting on Feb. 21.

Auditor General Karen Hogan’s recent report on ArriveCan, an application used to check the COVID-19 vaccination status of travellers crossing the Canadian border, found that contracting and management practices around the $59.5 million app were improper, and key records were inexplicably missing.

The report also found that there was little documentation to show why GC Strategies, a two-man company, was chosen for the project. The auditor general report estimates GC Strategies managing partners Kristian Firth and Darren Anthony were paid $19.1 million for work on the app.

Following Ms. Hogan’s report, Conservative MPs have been increasingly eager to hear again from the main company behind the app. While Mr. Firth has previously spoken before the committee on two occasions, he and Mr. Anthony have failed to abide by two summons from OGGO to testify again, sent out on Nov. 2, 2023 and Feb. 9, 2024.

On Feb. 20, Tory MPs said they would put forth a motion for the sergeant-at-arms to take the men into custody and compel their testimony if they again fail to appear before OGGO. While committees do not have the power to punish those who fail to comply with their summons to appear and testify, according to the House of Commons Procedure and Practice, the matter can be referred to the House of Commons, which can then take “measures that it considers appropriate.”

The last time such an action was taken was in 2007 when House Speaker Peter Milliken issued a subpoena to compel businessman Karlheinz Schreiber to appear before the Ethics Committee.

Liberals Accused of Filibuster

OGGO discussed the merits of compelling Mr. Firth and Mr. Anthony to testify for several hours on Feb. 20 and 21, with Conservative MPs accusing their Liberal colleagues of filibustering to delay a vote on the motion.

“While Justin Trudeau and his ministers feign outrage in public and promise that they will get to the bottom of this, Liberals are filibustering to prevent Canadians from hearing from the two men in the middle of this scandal,” Conservative MP Michael Barrett said in a release following the committee meeting on Feb. 20.

During an OGGO meeting on Feb. 21, Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk said while his party wanted GC Strategies to testify before OGGO, he was concerned with reports that the two men were facing “serious” mental health challenges. Mr. Firth and Mr. Anthony previously declined to testify before OGGO due to their mental health concerns.

“We do respect someone who steps forward and shares their personal health concerns with us, and we have to take that into consideration. And we’re trying to find the balance here,” Mr. Kusmierczyk said, adding that using the sergeant-at-arms to take the two men into custody was an “exceptional” and rarely-used tool.

Liberal MP Majid Jowhari said while he wanted to hear the two men testify “now more than ever,” he wanted to ensure that OGGO did not “jeopardize the integrity nor the health” of the men. He said there also needed to be safeguards in place for the sergeant-at-arms and for Mr. Firth and Mr. Anthony, and said that could involve getting testimony from health-care providers.

Conservative MP Larry Brock accused Liberal MPs on the committee of filibustering, and suggested they “stop wasting time and simply file their recommendations and concerns to the committee so we can actually get to the actual motion itself.” Mr. Jowhari responded, “we'll be on this for a while.”

NDP MP Peter Julian said he supported the motion, calling it a “measured approach” to determined what happened with ArriveCan. “The reality is we still have that responsibility as a committee to convene and bring witnesses forward. It makes sense to do this,” he said.

At the end of the meeting, the committee unanimously voted in favour of an amended motion to summon Mr. Firth and Mr. Anthony to testify, as long as accommodations were made for any health concerns the men may have.

OGGO will reconvene again on Feb. 22 to hear from Antonio Utano and Cameron MacDonald, two former Canada Border Services Agency employees who were both suspended without pay following the preliminary findings of the agency’s internal investigation into ArriveCan.