SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 301

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 17, 2024 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 301 - Apr/17/24
Mr. Michael Barrett
  • Apr/17/24 3:49:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, are all of the subcontractors that GC Strategies uses Canadian companies?
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 3:49:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, can I get clarification? Is that period, or during the ArriveCAN application?
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Mr. Michael Barrett
  • Apr/17/24 3:49:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is the subcontractors used on Government of Canada contracts.
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 3:49:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, every company that we represent and we work with for government contracts have valid Canadian security clearances.
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Mr. Michael Barrett
  • Apr/17/24 3:50:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is not an answer to the question I asked. Does Mr. Firth have any knowledge of or involvement in the reviews for the ArriveCAN app on either the Apple store or the Google Play store being artificially amplified or paid for, any knowledge at all?
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 3:50:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I know those services exist, but I have no knowledge of whether or not they were executed.
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Mr. Michael Barrett
  • Apr/17/24 3:50:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will give the remainder of my time to the member for Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, please.
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Mrs. Kelly Block (Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, CPC)
  • Apr/17/24 3:50:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the procurement ombudsman found that 76% of resources named in bids on the ArriveCAN contracts did no work and were switched out for other companies. He termed this “bait and switch”, which is often used to sub out expensive subcontractors for cheaper ones, allowing the middlemen to take home more profit. Did Mr. Firth switch out any of his proposed resources on the ArriveCAN application contracts?
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Mr. Kristian Firth (Partner)
  • Apr/17/24 3:51:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we were part of the 24% that did not. Every resource we proposed that were called out for task authorizations were given to the Government of Canada.
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Mrs. Kelly Block
  • Apr/17/24 3:51:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, through you, has Mr. Firth ever engaged in bait and switch in any of his contracts with the Government of Canada?
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 3:51:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we were asked to replace resources all the time depending on whether there were discrepancies with their experience, whether they were not working very well, or whether or not they needed to move on to another project. They are contractors, so we replace resources frequently under the guidance of the client.
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Mrs. Kelly Block
  • Apr/17/24 3:51:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General found in her ArriveCAN report that Mr. Firth sat at the table with public servants to draft the requirements for a contract worth $25 million that he was later awarded and, thereby, was setting the price. Through you, what are the names of those public servants?
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 3:52:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that name was provided in the questions, and the government official's name was Diane Daly.
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Mrs. Kelly Block
  • Apr/17/24 3:52:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is in direct contradiction to the name that was submitted by Mr. Firth as a direct answer to this question to me at a committee last month. Why is the answer changing today?
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 3:52:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the question posed to me was who did I speak with in May of 2022, prior to the contract award, and that was the procurement lady, which was the name I gave. Subsequently, there was a question by the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan that was posed very similar to the hon. member's, which was who was I engaged with at CBSA when discussing suggestions, and that was Diane Daly.
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Mrs. Kelly Block
  • Apr/17/24 3:53:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General also found that the CBSA advised KPMG, a multinational consulting firm, that it would be a subcontractor under Mr. Firth's two-person middleman company. At committee, the deputy auditor general confirmed this would allow Mr. Firth and GC Strategies to take an additional 20% cut of the contract, despite not even doing the work to get KPMG as a subcontractor. How many times have public servants provided him with subcontractors?
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 3:53:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not know the answer to that question. It is common, once one has an existing contract in place, for a client to engage those services to help bring on a subject matter expert they would not otherwise have access to, or typically, because contracting takes quite a long time, to actually bring them in if it is a time-sensitive deliverable.
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Mrs. Kelly Block
  • Apr/17/24 3:54:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will take that to mean that public servants have provided him with subcontractors many times.
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 3:54:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, again, I am not being elusive. I do not know the answer to that question.
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The Speaker
  • Apr/17/24 3:55:03 p.m.
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The hon. member for Beauport—Limoilou.
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