44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 17, 2024 02:00PM
- Apr/17/24 3:22:17 p.m.
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Colleagues, the Chair would like to make a brief statement in regard to the historic moment that is about to take place. Indeed, the last time an individual was summoned to the bar of the House to answer questions dates back to 1913, well over a century ago.
Pursuant to order made on April 8, 2024, once Mr. Firth is escorted to the bar of the House by the Sergeant-at-Arms, the Chair shall read the admonishment. Following this, the House shall proceed to a question-and-answer session with Mr. Firth.
The process for questioning, specified in the House order, is as follows.
First, questions and answers shall be addressed through the Speaker.
Second, 10 minutes will be allocated to each recognized party for the first and second rounds in the following order: Liberal Party, Conservative Party, Bloc Québécois and New Democratic Party.
Third, during the third round, five minutes will be allocated to each of the recognized parties with an additional five minutes for the Green Party. Fourth, within each 10- or five-minute period of questioning, each party may allocate time to one or more of its members.
Fifth, in each question and answer period, answers shall approximately reflect the time taken by the question. In addition, should Mr. Firth require a moment to consult with his counsel prior to responding to a question, or for other delays of a similar nature, the Chair will stop the clock.
As well, as discussed with House leaders, provisions are in place for brief suspensions between the rounds of questioning to allow Mr. Firth a pause, if he chooses to avail himself of them.
Furthermore, as with any proceedings of the House, the Chair will decide procedural matters as they may arise.
Upon completion of the questioning, the Chair shall excuse Mr. Firth from further attendance at the bar, after which he will withdraw, and the House shall resume its usual business for the remainder of the sitting.
Finally, colleagues, I wish to remind members that it is incumbent upon all of us to conduct ourselves in a manner befitting of this occasion and to uphold the dignity of the House. I therefore ask for everyone's co-operation in respecting our rules of decorum.
I now ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to admit Mr. Firth at the bar of the House.
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- Apr/17/24 3:26:06 p.m.
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Mr. Kristian Firth, please remain standing until I invite you to be seated.
You are attending the bar of the House for being found in contempt for your refusal to answer certain questions and for prevaricating in your answers to other questions before the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates.
You are here today, by order of the House, for the following purposes: First, to receive an admonishment for your refusal to respond to questions posed to you by the committee; second, to provide responses to the questions referred to in the committee's 17th report; and third, to response to supplemental questions.
The privileges of the House of Commons are enshrined in The Constitution Act, 1867, and in the Parliament of Canada Act. This includes the right to institute inquiries and to require the attendance of witnesses. Under the Standing Orders of the House, they are also exercised by its committees within their respective mandates.
These privileges, enjoyed by the House collectively and by members individually, are essential in the discharge of our duties. The House has the power, and indeed the obligation, to reaffirm them when obstruction or interference impedes the House's proceedings and the ability of members to carry out their parliamentary duties.
That is precisely what the House has ordered the Speaker, as the guardian of these rights and privileges, to do today: to reprimand you, to reprimand your contempt for refusing to answer questions put to you by the committee and for prevaricating other questions.
For all these reasons, on behalf of the House of Commons, I admonish you.
In addition, the House orders you to respond to the questions you refused to answer in committee, in whole or in part, and to respond to any supplementary questions.
Mr. Firth, I would like to remind you that you must answer all questions that are posed to you. I would also like to remind you, and everyone listening, that everything you say as part of these proceedings is protected by parliamentary privilege and cannot be used against you in any other forums.
The Chair is aware that you have been briefed on this process.
You may now be seated.
The House will now proceed with its questions.
The House will now proceed to the first round of questions. Each recognized party will have 10 minutes.
I wish to remind hon. members again that all questions are to be addressed through the Chair.
The hon. Leader of the Government.
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- Apr/17/24 3:33:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, could Mr. Firth inform the House as to whether he consulted with a medical professional, prior to his appearance today, regarding answering questions from the House?
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- Apr/17/24 3:33:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yes, I did. I consulted yesterday.
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- Apr/17/24 3:34:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, is Mr. Firth comfortable sharing what the doctor told him?
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- Apr/17/24 3:34:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yes, I am.
I am not supposed to participate in any activity that would call any undue stress to myself, being diagnosed with having acute mental health flare-ups, being actively under therapy and being on medication.
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- Apr/17/24 3:34:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, was the information about Mr. Firth's medical condition shared with the House of Commons administration?
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- Apr/17/24 3:34:55 p.m.
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Sorry, Mr. Speaker, could the member ask the question again, please?
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- Apr/17/24 3:35:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, certainly, by all means.
Was the information about Mr. Firth's medical condition shared with the House of Commons administration?
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- Apr/17/24 3:35:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we shared it with the Clerk.
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- Apr/17/24 3:35:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, this information is consistent with what was shared with all recognized parties yesterday individually by the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel: Mr. Firth's health is fragile, and a doctor has provided a note recommending that Mr. Firth does not participate in activities such as the questioning today for mental and physical health reasons.
We were also told that Mr. Firth understands he will have to answer questions and that he is prepared to do so once his health allows it.
I want to be crystal clear: We believe that what happened with the ArriveCAN app is unacceptable. We want to ensure that all unanswered questions receive answers. That is an important principle of the House.
It is why we supported the motion that brings Mr. Firth here today. We want to get to the bottom of this issue, and we want to ensure that committees are respected.
We understand all recognized parties were individually informed of options to delay the questioning component of today's proceedings until Mr. Firth has been medically cleared to participate. Only the Conservatives refused.
On this side of the House, we do not believe it is appropriate to question Mr. Firth if he is not medically able to participate. We want this to be done in a way that respects the dignity of Parliament, and forcing someone against medical advice to do something a doctor believes could harm their treatment and recovery is indeed beneath the dignity of this place.
The Leader of the Opposition is giving us a demonstration of his character, and Canadians should pay careful attention—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Apr/17/24 3:38:17 p.m.
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The hon. government House leader has the floor.
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- Apr/17/24 3:38:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will repeat the last sentence. The Leader of the Opposition is—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Apr/17/24 3:39:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The government House leader is purposely causing disorder in this House. Mr. Speaker, you just asked every person here to keep their conduct calm and within the dignity of the House for these extraordinary proceedings. The member is saying that things were in a medical certificate that were not there. We had a House leaders' discussion on this. Now he is using the opportunity to attack the official opposition. This is inappropriate, and it causes discord in the House; it will cause disruption on a continuing basis.
I ask you, Mr. Speaker, to please ask the government House leader to conduct himself within the dignity and within the four squares of this extraordinary situation and not continue down this path.
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- Apr/17/24 3:40:01 p.m.
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I thank the hon. member for South Surrey—White Rock for raising this issue.
I see that the hon. member for Regina—Qu'Appelle is also rising on his feet for a point of order.
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- Apr/17/24 3:40:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is very important for you, Mr. Speaker, to understand how we got here. It is important to know that the witness was offered accommodations that have been granted; should there be further accommodations requested, in terms of breaks or any type of need to consult with any professional, we have signalled our absolute co-operation with that. These are very similar to the accommodations the witness requested when it took months for him to respond to a committee invitation and further summons. These were the same accommodations that were provided when he finally testified just recently, and that is how we arrived at where we are today.
The dignity of the House and the ability for parliamentarians to do their jobs on behalf of taxpayers, many of whom lost every single cent they had during the lockdown, and on behalf of the thousands of Canadians who were ordered into quarantine because of this app, essentially—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Apr/17/24 3:41:39 p.m.
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I thank the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle and I thank the member for South Surrey—White Rock for raising these points.
I would like to emphasize to all members the importance of how we conduct ourselves. Canadians are clearly watching this historic event, and they would expect us to conduct ourselves in a way that befits the occasion.
With that in mind, I invite the hon. government House leader to finish his remarks.
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- Apr/17/24 3:42:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, indeed you pointed out in your remarks earlier just how unprecedented this is. We supported this initiative, but we regret that it has come to this. When we received the information that all parties were privy to, we made the responsible decision. What you, Mr. Speaker, have just seen across the aisle is the very confirmation of what I have been saying.
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- Apr/17/24 3:42:37 p.m.
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I will take it then that we can move on to the next series of questions.
The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes.
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- Apr/17/24 3:42:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, ArriveCAN was supposed to cost taxpayers $80,000, but the NDP-Liberal government rewarded consultants and insiders, who got rich on taxpayer dollars for an app that nobody wanted. The app erroneously forced more than 10,000 people into house arrest. It did not work, and the Auditor General said it cost at least $60 million. ArriveCAN is now under 13 federal investigations. Two middlemen who do no IT work got rich in a corrupt system under the NDP-Liberal government. Some, including the witness today, became multi-millionaires.
GC Strategies is a two-person company, and it claims to find people who actually do the work by using LinkedIn. Nearly $20 million for ArriveCan is what the company was paid, roughly $2,500 per hour. The people have been paid $100 million since forming GC Strategies just after the Liberal Prime Minister was elected. This is eight years under the Liberal Prime Minister.
The Liberal government has been ordered to collect and recoup all funds paid to ArriveCAN contractors and subcontractors who did no work on the ArriveCAN app. Has the government asked Mr. Firth to repay the money paid to GC Strategies on ArriveCAN?
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