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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 301

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 17, 2024 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 301 - Apr/17/24
Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 5:32:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am good.
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Mr. Peter Julian (New Westminster—Burnaby, NDP)
  • Apr/17/24 5:32:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, now that Mr. Firth is aware of the powers of Parliament, I wanted to ask whether he regrets not answering the questions that were asked of him, not once, not twice, but three times at the government operations committee.
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 5:32:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, absolutely. I sent that in writing to, I believe, all members of Parliament prior to coming here, with apologies for that.
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Mr. Peter Julian
  • Apr/17/24 5:32:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to know this: Did Mr. Firth meet with any members of Parliament during the process for the RFP for the contract for ArriveCAN or during the contract process?
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 5:33:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, no, I did not.
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Mr. Peter Julian
  • Apr/17/24 5:33:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to know this: Has Mr. Firth, outside the committees where he has been brought formally, ever met or spoken with any members of Parliament, regardless of which party?
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 5:33:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, can I speak to my counsel for a few seconds, please?
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The Speaker
  • Apr/17/24 5:33:28 p.m.
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The clock is stopped.
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 5:33:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, no, I have not.
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Mr. Peter Julian
  • Apr/17/24 5:33:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, just to be clear, Mr. Firth has not had any private conversations, at any point, with any member of Parliament over the period of the committee hearings. I am not talking about at the committees themselves; I am talking about private conversations, hallway conversations, phone calls or anything of that nature.
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 5:34:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have not.
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Mr. Peter Julian
  • Apr/17/24 5:34:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have not seen a scandal like this since the ETS scandal under the Harper government. The ETS scandal cost Canadian taxpayers $400 million. The Conservatives had a majority government at the time. The Conservatives did everything they could to keep Canadians from getting the answers they were looking for. This Conservative scandal was never resolved and we never got the information. However, this time, since we have a minority Parliament, we are getting answers about the ArriveCAN scandal. That is extremely important. It is because of the parliamentary powers we have. As we saw under the Harper regime, with a majority government, it was not possible to get answers about the $400 million the Conservatives had spent without any transparency at all, but today, we have the opportunity to get more answers, and I think that is important. If I understood correctly, Mr. Firth stated earlier that he only influenced three things in the 220 requirements of the contracts. Is he saying that he did not influence the contract, or is he saying that he did not influence the contract as much as is being claimed?
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 5:36:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the answer is correct to both of those. I had no influence at all on the contract award, and I had no influence on the ArriveCAN scandal.
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Mr. Peter Julian
  • Apr/17/24 5:36:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Mr. Firth mentioned earlier that he did in fact falsify or alter the résumés. According to what we heard in committee, one person was said to have 13 years of experience, when that was not true. Other information about these people was also falsified. I want to ask two questions. First, does Mr. Firth regret the fact that those résumés were falsified? Second, to date, the federal government has not asked for the questionable amounts to be repaid. Is Mr. Firth prepared to reimburse Canadian taxpayers for the questionable amounts of these contracts?
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 5:37:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Botler contract was in no way related to the ArriveCAN application. Furthermore, I made a margin of zero dollars on the Botler opportunity.
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Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)
  • Apr/17/24 5:37:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this historic, unprecedented occasion. I would like to put this question to Mr. Firth. I know he will not have them with him at the moment, but will he provide to Parliament and the operations committee the full list of all website domains that he has registered or requested to be registered in pursuit of his business as an IT staffing firm?
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 5:38:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yes, I can do that.
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Ms. Elizabeth May
  • Apr/17/24 5:38:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to review some of the answers that Mr. Firth gave earlier today. To the hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley, when asked if he would have liked to have answered differently when he thinks back and reflects on his answers to committee, his answer was that he wished he could have answered more concisely. I would like to put it to the witness that no one has accused him of answers that were verbose. He has been accused of answering, and found to have answered, in ways ways that were evasive and dishonest. Would he like to amend his answer to say he wishes he had answered honestly in the first instance?
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Mr. Kristian Firth
  • Apr/17/24 5:39:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, again, as a result of the admonishment, I see there are a lot of mistakes I have made. That is why I am here, so the answer would be yes.
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Ms. Elizabeth May
  • Apr/17/24 5:39:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in response to questions from the hon. member for Mégantic—L'Érable, Mr. Firth similarly had said earlier today, “I made mistakes”. Is it correct to say that, when the witness says “I made mistakes”, he is acknowledging that he behaved in ways that amounted to a contempt of Parliament by being deliberately misleading, evasive and dishonest? I would suggest that most Canadians would not consider these to be mistakes, but deliberate efforts to mislead Parliament.
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