RCMP Raids Home of ArriveCan Contractor Prior to His Censure in Parliament

GC Strategies partner Kristian Firth responds to questions as he sits in the House of Commons in Ottawa on April 17, 2024. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

The RCMP executed a search warrant on the house of GC Strategies managing partner Kristian Firth a day before the speaker of the House of Commons admonished him for refusing to answer a government committee’s questions about the controversial ArriveCan app.

The RCMP said their Sensitive and International Investigations unit executed a search warrant at Mr. Firth’s house in Woodlawn, Ont., on April 16. The RCMP told The Epoch Times in a statement that the search warrant was not related to their ArriveCan investigation.

“As the investigation is ongoing and there are no charges at this time, there will be no further information provided,” they said.

In a rare move last used in 1913, the House of Commons called Mr. Firth to be admonished by House Speaker Greg Fergus on April 17 and put “before the bar” to answer MPs’ questions. The speaker told Mr. Firth that the House had an “obligation” to reaffirm MPs’ privileges when they were violated, which he had done by refusing to answer questions on ArriveCan put forth by the government operations committee.

The $59.5 million ArriveCan app, which was used to track the COVID-19 vaccination status of travellers during the pandemic, was found by the auditor general in February to not have been “value for taxpayer dollars spent.” The report also found there was poor record-keeping when it came to the app’s development, and that, as a result, the full cost of the app could not be determined with certainty.

Mr. Firth and his partner Darren Anthony, who received an estimated $19.1 million for work on the app, failed to abide by two summons to testify before the government operations committee in late 2023 and early 2024. Committee members voted on Feb. 21 that the two would need to appear and answer questions or face arrest.

When appearing before the committee again in March, Mr. Firth again did not answer several MP questions. He cited the RCMP’s ongoing investigation as the reason for not answering, despite admitting they had not contacted him about the app.

Changing Resumes

At the outset of his questioning before the House of Commons on April 17, Mr. Firth said his doctor had advised him not to participate in any activity that would cause him stress due to his “acute mental health flareups,” which were being treated with medication and therapy.

The Liberals’ Government House Leader Steve MacKinnon said while the government wanted answers on ArriveCan, it was “beneath the dignity” of the House of Commons to force him to testify against his doctor’s advice. The Liberals did not participate in any further questioning.

Mr. Firth testified under questioning from the Conservatives that the RCMP had executed a search warrant in order to obtain electronic devices related to allegations by Botler AI, a tech firm that did not work on ArriveCan but was contracted for a different project through GC Strategies. While Mr. Firth claimed not to be aware of the specific Botler allegations, he said that they involved “fraudulent bidding and resume fraud.”

Botler AI co-founder Amir Morv previously told a committee that the resumes of him and his partner were altered without their permission for government task authorization. Mr. Firth had admitted to changing the resumes when submitting them to the government, but said this was an accident.

Mr. Firth rejected suggestions by Conservative MP Larry Brock that he had purposefully inflated the resumes, or that he had committed fraud. “We’re looking forward to the investigation by the RCMP, because we believe it will exonerate us,” Mr. Firth said.

Mr. Firth was also asked by Conservative MP Michael Barrett whether the federal government had asked his company to repay the money for ArriveCan. “We have not been asked to pay any money back,” he said.

‘Misled’

NDP MP Taylor Bachrach questioned Mr. Firth on why he previously “misled” the government operations committee by stating he had not met with government officials outside of work. Mr. Firth later provided documentation showing he had met with officials at several Ottawa restaurants and breweries.

Mr. Firth said he did not know how many officials he had met with and did not want to give a “fake answer” to MPs. “At that time, I thought I did answer it correctly,” he said.

Asked about government officials GC Strategies worked with to develop criteria for ArriveCan, which the federal procurement ombud highlighted in a separate report, Mr. Firth avoided answering, but admitted he had spoken with Canada Border Services Agency employee Diane Daly about the contracts.

“To most Canadians, this would look like—and I won’t exaggerate—a rigged system that is designed to benefit Ottawa insiders,” Mr. Bachrach said.

Mr. Firth responded that 40 vendors were qualified to respond to the contract, and a total of 10 had shown interest. “I don’t see that as overly restrictive,” he told Mr. Bachrach.

Conservative MP Luc Berthold asked Mr. Firth if he could confirm that he never lied to MPs before the committee. “Acknowledging the fact that I’m being admonished, making history right now, I think I have acknowledged the fact that I’ve made mistakes in previous committees,” Mr. Firth said.