- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 68%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $133,355.09
- Government Page
- May/23/24 3:06:54 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, we only see the minister get animated after people get caught, which is really too late.
The NDP-Liberal appointed chair and another director were caught stuffing their pockets full of taxpayer cash. They got caught; they resigned. They are being investigated. However, a third one, who was found to be furthering her own interests, was then appointed to the Infrastructure Bank, but suddenly resigned, much to the surprise of the minister responsible. This is life after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government. It has no idea where the money is going.
We need to protect Canadian tax dollars. Will the government call in the RCMP to investigate?
111 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/9/24 3:08:45 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals would beg for a week such as the one the Conservative Party just had.
They can look at fundraising numbers, they can look at polling numbers, and, of course, they can look at newspapers. They will see that another one of their ministers is caught in an ethical scandal, such as the Prime Minister, who got caught breaking the law, or the public safety minister, who got caught breaking the law and then tried to appoint his sister-in-law to be the Ethics Commissioner.
The Liberals cannot seem to help themselves. The employment minister was illegally lobbying, cashing cheques while he put $110 million of taxpayer money out the door. Will the Liberals support an RCMP investigation?
122 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/3/24 11:56:25 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are trying to distract and divide. A common-sense Conservative government would use the notwithstanding clause only on matters of criminal justice.
It is unconscionable that the government would allow a mass murderer like the Quebec mosque shooter to ever be released from prison. He murdered six innocent worshippers, and the only way he should have left maximum security was in a box.
Our question was about the corruption of the Liberal government and the employment minister's pocketing cash on the backs of taxpayers. Will the Liberals do the right thing and call in the RCMP?
101 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/3/24 11:55:23 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, $110 million is how much the Liberal employment minister's private company landed from the Liberal government.
The Liberal minister used his role to get meetings for his business partner with the finance minister and with the Prime Minister's office, using his position to enrich his business partner and himself. After nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, it is clear it is not worth the cost and certainly not the corruption.
How much taxpayer cash did the Liberal minister pocket on the backs of hard-working Canadians?
91 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- May/2/24 3:03:36 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, the employment minister has been caught in shady lobbying, and we can see that the Prime Minister and his government certainly are not worth the cost or the corruption.
The minister was caught cashing cheques from a lobbying firm that was lobbying his own government, his own ministry. How much taxpayer cash did this minister and his company shove in their pockets? How much was it?
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
81 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/17/24 3:44:18 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the procurement watchdog found “numerous examples where [GC Strategies] had simply copied and pasted” information to prove the people GC Strategies found to do work on ArriveCAN actually did it.
Has the government asked GC Strategies to repay the money paid to GC Strategies for ArriveCAN?
50 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/17/24 3:42:53 p.m.
- Watch
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?
198 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Mar/22/24 1:12:08 p.m.
- Watch
He said: Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to rise to speak to this important motion.
I am pleased that members from all parties offered responses in the House following the Speaker's careful ruling that we have this opportunity to remind Canadians of the important work that is done here and the important powers that we have here, which allow us to do the work we have been elected to do for Canadians.
This is borne out of the $60 million of corruption, fraud and forgery. This was a situation that saw 10,000 Canadians falsely forced into quarantine, and this is what we get after eight years of the Prime Minister and his broken arrive scam. For nearly 18 months, Conservatives have been holding the Prime Minister's government to account for his $60-million boondoggle.
This app started out with a price tag of $80,000, and through mismanagement and corruption, the price grew to 750 times its original cost. We have seen two-man basement operations, such as GC Strategies and Dalian, make millions off the taxpayer for an app while doing no IT work. We have seen government officials wined and dined for contracts, and we have seen government officials levelling unbelievable and shocking accusations of wrongdoing at each other before parliamentary committees.
We know that there have been substantiated reports of bid rigging and of fraudulent and forged documents being used for contractors to win government business. There are now 12 investigations into this scandal, including by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
We have seen the institution of Parliament attacked by government officials who have lied to committee and by key players in the scandal lying and refusing orders of parliamentary committees. As is referred to in the reports from the Standing Committee on Government Operations, we know that Kristian Firth and Darren Anthony did not attend when summoned the first time, the second time or the third time. Only under the threat of arrest, using the extraordinary powers of Parliament entrusted to us by Canadians, did they finally attend, but that is what brings us here today.
Using an extraordinary remedy to an extraordinary problem, which is ordering the appearance under threat of arrest, we had Mr. Firth do something that has not given rise to the kind of debate we are having now for about 110 years. It seems that this reminder is more important now than ever. We have seen varying degrees of offence but never anything as egregious as this. This stems from Kristian Firth, the principal of GC Strategies, that two-person firm that was paid nearly $20 million on the $60-million boondoggle of the arrive scam. He refused to answer questions and then obstructed the work of Parliament and its committees.
At the government operations committee, I asked whether Mr. Firth had lied to a parliamentary committee before. He refused to answer. I also asked which public office holders Mr. Firth had met outside of government offices. He again refused to answer.
The hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan asked Mr. Firth how many hours he spent sending LinkedIn invitations. Now, this is a key component of GC Strategies' apparent recruitment strategy, if we can believe it, and for what it earned its commissions of up to 30% on nearly $20 million. Mr. Firth replied and refused to answer.
The hon. member for Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek asked Mr. Firth to name his contacts in the various departments that provided GC Strategies with its 134 contracts. Again, Mr. Firth refused to answer. One of the reasons that GC Strategies says that it was able to get these 134 contracts from the government was because of the reputation it built.
On its website, there are very detailed referrals and recommendations from the most senior government officials, without names attributed to them. I asked Mr. Firth to name the individuals who allegedly provided these glowing testimonials that appear on the website, and Mr. Firth refused to answer.
His contempt for Parliament goes back not two weeks, but to his first appearance at committee on the arrive scam nearly a year and a half ago, where he lied about knowing the secondary residence of a senior government official, now infamously saying it was a chalet not a cottage. Even at his most recent appearance at committee, if it could bring one to laughter and not tears, he then said that it was a cabin.
He lied about meeting government officials outside of government offices in that first appearance, and he lied about providing hospitality to government officials. He then refused to return to committee to answer further questions, being summoned by the committee. Instead, he decided to hide out.
I will note that, when Mr. Firth first appeared at committee nearly a year and a half ago, and he did not provide some of these answers, he undertook to provide them immediately and said that he would give a return to the committee.
When he appeared at committee most recently, again under threat of arrest by House order, he said, “I promise” when saying that he would deliver the names of those government officials by the next morning at 9:00 a.m. The committee was called to order at 10:00 a.m. the following morning, when the clerk confirmed and the chair reported that again, Mr. Firth had lied to committee. He had broken a promise while under oath.
The committee had to threaten Mr. Firth with arrest at the hands of the Sergeant-at-Arms if he continued to refuse, as I said, and it was only that threat that brought him out of hiding. Then he refused to answer straightforward questions that anyone with nothing to hide would, of course, have answered.
These are the kind of people who the Liberal Prime Minister is more than happy to hand over millions of dollars to for an app, but who did no work. These are people who casually make a mockery of Canada's House of Commons, Canada's Parliament and the oath they took, a solemn oath that he took that morning at committee.
There is no question that Parliament is the grand inquest of the nation, and it is to have unfettered right to send for people, papers and documents. This means Parliament has the full authority to summon and compel attendance and testimony in Canada, except his Majesty the King and his royal representatives, and to summon and compel the production of documents.
The courts have clearly acknowledged the powers of the House as the grand inquest of the nation to inquire into any matter that it sees fit. As part of the grand inquest of the nation, parliamentary committees are not restricted in the scope of questions that they can pose to witnesses, and witnesses must answer all questions that are put to them.
This latest episode, this latest report from the Standing Committee on Government Operations, is just the most recent development in a scandal that continues to grow and envelop the government through the many investigations that have taken place and are ongoing by independent officers of Parliament, parliamentary committees and, of course, the national police force.
The Auditor General, in a report that was issued against the government's wishes, every member of the government having voted to block the Auditor General from having investigated GC Strategies and the $60-million arrive scam, outlined the glaring lack of oversight and accountability in the procurement and contracting development of this failed app.
The Auditor General found that Canada Border Services Agency documentation, financial records and controls were so poor that she was unable to determine the price cost of the ArriveCAN application. Imagine, the Auditor General, a general with an army of auditors, was unable to give precision on the price of a scandal that is approximately $60 million.
Using the information that was available, the Auditor General estimated the cost as at least $60 million. She found that the CBSA's disregard for policies, controls and transparency in the contracting process restricted opportunities for competition and undermined value for money. She found that the agency, of course, did not have documentation. Why GC Strategies was selected through a non-competitive process in the first place, she does not know and, so far, neither do Canadians.
The Auditor General even found that Kristian Firth and GC Strategies were able to write their own contract in one case that saw the two-man company awarded a $25-million contract.
The officials at IT firms working on arrive scam were playing fast and loose with the security and privacy of Canadians' private information, biometric health information. In one of the original contracts, the government waived the requirement for workers to have the requisite top secret security clearance. GC Strategies did not meet the requirements for another contract, and the government did not see a problem with that.
The Auditor General was unable to find evidence of valid security clearances for multiple workers on the app. It is no wonder Canadians were concerned from the very beginning. It is no wonder that the Privacy Commissioner has launched his own investigation into the app for a second time, the first being related, of course, to the 10,000 Canadians falsely being sent into quarantine under threat of jail.
That raises questions as to what exactly government officials were doing when all of this was going down. They were too busy being wined and dined by contractors, and even being treated to special whisky tastings. They were more than happy to dole out millions of dollars in contracts their hand-picked favourites, like GC Strategies, were looking for. They did not care one bit about the value for money that Canadians were getting for their hard-earned tax dollars.
Now, they are scapegoating some and they are protecting others. They are lying. They are misleading parliamentary committees, right alongside GC Strategies own Kristian Firth. The government has been trying to cover it up the entire way.
We have a situation in our country of a true crisis of the cost of living, with record food bank usage, with millions of Canadians lining up at food banks in record numbers, thousands collaborating on best practices to be able to feed their families out of dumpsters and tent cities by the dozen in communities that, just a few short years ago, could not have imagined such a thing.
All the while, the Liberal government has been allowing insiders to benefit to the tune of millions and to become millionaires off the hard-earned tax dollars of single mothers, young families and seniors. What is the value for money that Canadians got for the millions that the Liberal Prime Minister awarded to these undeserving individuals, like GC Strategies? It was some Google searches, some LinkedIn searches and a campaign to corrupt the procurement system and the public servants who oversaw the awarding of contracts. It is rot and corruption, like the country has not seen in decades.
Who was in charge? We have not seen any ministers stand up and take responsibility.
Only after Canada's common-sense Conservatives pounded on the drum for a year and a half about the rot inside the Liberal government has it finally started to take some action, or tried to confuse Canadians into thinking it is taking this seriously. Every member of the Liberal government voted against the Auditor General investigating the $60-million boondoggle that is arrive scam.
However, in what it described this week as the “first wave” of announcements on fraud in the procurement system, $5 million in fraudulent contracting was reported to the RCMP by the government. It is the first wave. We ask if it is $5 million of the $60 million, but these are new discoveries of fraud now being investigated by the national police force.
The fact that we have seen obstruction from the government and not urgency to address this incredibly serious matter undermines Canadians' confidence in public institutions and creates incredible stress for families who are struggling to get by. We see the laissez-faire attitude of a government that is willing to dole out millions to the elites, while the beating heart and soul of this country, the everyday Canadian, is struggling to make ends meet.
Of course, to add insult to injury, we are just weeks away from a 23% increase to the Liberal carbon tax that will see an increase in the price of gas, groceries and home heating.
The rot and waste in the government goes beyond the $60-million arrive scam. We know that the system of procurement it is overseeing is broken, and we know that this is just one of a long list of scandals presided over by a Prime Minister twice found guilty for breaking Canada's ethics laws. However, today we are faced with, as a House of representatives of Canadians, the opportunity to send a crystal clear message that, when the grand inquest of the nation, Canada's Parliament, summons a person before a committee or when Canada's Parliament invites someone before a committee, we must get the full truth and nothing but the truth.
As such, we are going to defend Canada's institutions. We are going to restore that confidence that Canadians have, and this motion offers an appropriate remedy for the rules having been broken: an admonishment. For accountability and transparency, it offers answers to the questions that were rightfully put to the individual who will, if this motion passes, be brought before the bar of the House.
I invite all members of the House to support this important motion. I know that we have heard affirmation from members of Canada's official opposition, the common-sense Conservatives. I know that we have heard from members of the third and fourth parties, as well as from the Green Party, that they will be supporting it. I look with hopeful optimism that today, after eight years, the Liberal government will do the right thing and vote in support of restoring Canadians' confidence in its oldest and most sacred institution, the place we serve: the true north, strong and free; our country that we love; Canada.
That is why we are voting to restore that confidence, and I call on all members to do the same.
2415 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/12/24 2:31:03 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's arrive scam app was supposed to cost taxpayers $80,000, but it was confirmed by the Auditor General that it in fact cost more than $60 million. After eight years of the NDP-Liberal Prime Minister, we know that he is not worth the cost. He is definitely not worth the corruption.
This process was so corrupt that his favourite company of two guys in a basement, GC Strategies, got to write the contract for themselves, to the exclusion of everybody else. We know they did no IT work, and that has been confirmed, but they got $20 million for their trouble.
Will the Prime Minister just admit that he is lining the pockets of insiders at the expense of Canadians?
127 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/13/23 2:49:54 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, well, it is going to be more in depth than the whitewashed investigation that the Prime Minister and his minister put forward.
They are under investigation by the Auditor General, there are two Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner investigations and their board chair, his hand-picked chair, resigned in disgrace along with the CEO. The Prime Minister was handing out millions after his minister knew that his insiders had their hand in the cookie jar, taking 150 million taxpayer dollars.
The Prime Minister is not worth the cost after eight years and his NDP-Liberal government could not be more out of touch. Who got rich and where did the missing millions go?
116 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/13/23 2:48:51 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, last night at committee, the hand-picked Liberal chair of the Prime Minister's billion-dollar green slush fund was exposed as having new staff at the fund to round up $10 million for her project, which had been deemed ineligible. Then she literally ran out of the committee, shutting off the cameras, because she did not want to answer any more questions.
The NDP-Liberal government failed to protect taxpayers from embezzlers and swindlers to the tune of $150 million. After eight years, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost. When will Canadians get back their missing millions?
102 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/5/23 2:56:48 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, let us talk about what has happened under the Liberals' watch.
Canada's Building Trades Unions says that so far, this NDP-Liberal government has cost $300 million in wages. If the Liberals are so proud of their record and so proud of these great deals that are going to cost every Canadian family $3,000, why will they not just release the contracts? They know that releasing those contracts will expose that $40 billion is buying a lot of foreign replacement workers that should, instead, be funding Canadian paycheques.
Why will the Liberals not release the contracts today?
101 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/5/23 2:55:34 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, to help pay for overseas replacement workers, the NDP-Liberal government is going to send every Canadian family a bill for $3,000. The formerly pro-worker NDP has refused to stand up to the Prime Minister and demand the release of contracts that detail the number of foreign replacement workers that are going to take Canadian jobs. The Prime Minister clearly is not worth the cost to Canadian workers after eight years and neither is the NDP.
Will the Prime Minister finally stand up and tell Canadians how many foreign replacement workers $40 billion buys?
98 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/4/23 3:05:02 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, the NDP has turned its back on Canadian workers to back the Prime Minister and his secret deal to bring in overseas replacement workers. It is clear that after eight years, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost to Canadians workers. The NDP member for Windsor West voted to keep secret the contracts from Canadian taxpayers. If the NDP-Liberal government has nothing to hide, then why not show Canadians the details that are going to cost them $3,000 per family?
Will the Prime Minister finally release the contract details so Canadians can see how many replacement workers $40 billion buys?
105 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/1/23 11:43:33 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, the minister talks about who the slush fund has been helping. It has been helping Liberal insiders. The one I just mentioned helped herself to $1.2 million in taxpayer dollars and the minister then had her appointed to the Infrastructure Bank. She should have been fired. The Liberals did not fire a single person. They commissioned a whitewash report. What did the Conservatives do? We called for the Auditor General to investigate, and that is happening. We asked the Ethics Commissioner to investigate, and that is happening.
When are the Liberals going to start firing people and stop shovelling tax dollars into the pockets of well-connected Liberal insiders?
112 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Nov/29/23 2:20:11 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal Prime Minister, his billion-dollar green slush fund is engulfed in corruption. His hand-picked board chair was caught funnelling $220,000 to her own company and then paid herself $120,000. Then she and the CEO both resigned in disgrace. We learned yesterday that another board member funnelled millions of taxpayer dollars to not one, not two, not three, but four companies that she personally had an interest in. The Liberals knew about the corruption and ineligible payments and they did absolutely nothing. One senior government official called it an ad scam-level payout.
Meanwhile, whistle-blowers are afraid of professional and legal reprisals because the Liberals refused to offer them any protection. At every level of the Prime Minister's green slush fund, there is corruption and more insiders getting paid. With an Auditor General investigation and an Ethics Commissioner investigation, it is clear that the Prime Minister just is not worth the cost.
Conservatives will keep fighting to expose Liberal corruption and find out who got rich.
179 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Nov/24/23 11:53:57 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I guess it is a question of whom Canadians want to believe: the NDP-Liberal cover-up coalition or the Windsor Police Service. The Windsor police say 1,600 replacement workers are coming from overseas to work at this plant in southern Ontario.
It is 15 billion taxpayer dollars to fund workers from foreign soil. After eight years, it is clear that the NDP-Liberal Prime Minister is simply not worth the cost. Therefore, will the minister put his disinformation and distraction aside and finally release the contracts, so Canadians can get the truth about how many replacement workers Canadians get for $15 billion?
106 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Nov/9/23 3:10:15 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, it is not surprising they will not get up to tell us who got rich. The question was obviously for the minister, and if he is too afraid to tell Canadians which of their insiders are getting paid, we learned yesterday from the hand-picked chair that she got $120,000 after moving a motion to get $200,000 paid directly to her company. Millions of taxpayer dollars are being funnelled to ineligible companies through corruption and conflicts of interest at this very minute.
The minister's officials said that heads would roll and people would be fired; they lost confidence in the board. They found out it was a political problem and decided they would not fire anyone. The Auditor General is investigating, so should Parliament. We want to know who got rich.
136 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/31/23 2:17:32 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, after eight years, rampant corruption and gross mismanagement of taxpayer dollars are being exposed in the Prime Minister’s billion-dollar green slush fund at Sustainable Development Technologies Canada. A friend of the Prime Minister who is chair of the board has funnelled millions of dollars to her company, and she even had executives pressure and mislead staff into approving millions more.
Recent reports reveal that of a small sample of companies that received funding, three of them were ineligible, but they still received a staggering $53 million. The companies did not need the funding, and the external reviewers recommended against funding them, but they got tens of millions of taxpayer dollars anyway because under the NDP-Liberal government, insiders get paid and Canadians pay the price.
Conservatives have alerted Canada’s Auditor General to the corruption in the Liberal green slush fund and have called for a full forensic audit. Canadians deserve answers, because the Prime Minister is just not worth the cost.
168 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/20/23 12:01:10 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the current government and the NDP-Liberal Prime Minister, it is no surprise that the Liberals' billion-dollar green slush fund is lining the pockets of Liberal insiders and is now under investigation. Annette Verschuren is a good friend of the Prime Minister and chair of the board that is doling out taxpayer cash. However, it turns out that her own company received millions from that same fund. The Prime Minister simply is not worth the cost.
How many other Liberal insiders got rich with this green slush fund?
95 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
