RCMP conduct search of GC Strategies' office as partner appears before House of Commons

The RCMP says it has searched the office of a contractor who worked on the ArriveCan app.

While the police force did‐ n't name the business, an RCMP spokesperson told CBC News that it had exe‐ cuted a search warrant on Tuesday at a location previ‐ ously listed as GC Strategies' mailing address in Wood‐ lawn, Ont., just west of Ot‐ tawa.

The RCMP spokesperson said the search warrant was not related to an ongoing in‐ vestigation into ArriveCan.

The RCMP search comes as GC Strategies partner Kris‐ tian Firth faces questions from MPs in the House of Commons this afternoon - an extremely rare measure that hasn't happened since 1913.

In response to a question from Conservative MP Michael Barrett, Firth con‐ firmed that his office had been searched by the RCMP.

Firth said the search was related to allegations from Botler AI - an IT firm that did‐ n't work on ArriveCan but had been contracted for a separate project through GC Strategies and other firms.

Botler co-founder Amir Morv told the government operations committee last fall that he's troubled by the fact that his resume and that of his partner were altered without their consent or knowledge for a government task authorization.

In previous testimony be‐ fore the committee, Firth ac‐ knowledged that his com‐ pany changes the resumes before submitting them to the government. He said it was a mistake.

Morv also suggested that GC Strategies may have been "ghost contracting," which he described as a scheme which sees a company bill the gov‐ ernment for work attributed to subcontractors that actual‐ ly may not have done any work.

Firth and GC Strategies have denied these allega‐ tions. Firth said Wednesday that he is encouraging the RCMP investigation.

"We believe it's going to exonerate us," Firth told the House.

Speaker admonishes Firth

Last week, MPs unanimously approved a motion to find Firth in contempt of Parlia‐ ment for refusing to answer questions before the House government operations com‐ mittee last month.

Before being questioned by MPs on Wednesday, Firth received an admonishment from House Speaker Greg Fergus.

Fergus stressed the im‐ portance of the privileges MPs enjoy and their impor‐ tance to the functioning of the House of Commons. He said the House has an "oblig‐ ation" to reaffirm those privi‐ leges when they are violated.

"That is precisely what the House has ordered the Speaker, as the guardian of these rights and privileges, to do today - to reprimand your contempt for refusing to an‐ swer questions put to you by the committee and for pre‐ varicating other questions," Fergus said.

"For all these reasons, on behalf on the House of Com‐ mons, I admonish you."

A public rebuke from the Speaker is itself a rare mea‐ sure that has only been used a handful of times in the past century. But it is even more rare for an individual to face questions from the House.

No one has been ques‐ tioned "before the bar" - a reference to a brass rail in the House that's meant to keep strangers from entering the chamber - since 1913.

Government House Leader Steve MacKinnon kicked off questioning by ask‐ ing about Firth's mental health.

Firth told the House that his doctor diagnosed him with "acute mental health flare ups" and said he is not supposed to participate in any activity that would cause "undue stress."

MacKinnon said the gov‐ ernment wants answers from Firth but they shouldn't come at the expense of his mental health.

WATCH | Answers shouldn't come at expense of someone's health, Liber‐ al House leader says:

"Forcing someone against medical advice to do some‐ thing that a doctor believes could harm their treatment and recovery is indeed be‐ neath the dignity of this place," MacKinnon said, indi‐ cating that the Liberals would

be open to having Firth re‐ turn another time.

The Liberals didn't partici‐ pate in any further question‐ ing.

The auditor general has reported that the soaring cost of the controversial Ar‐ riveCan project - estimated at roughly $60 million - was in part due to the government's over-reliance on outside con‐ tractors like GC Strategies.

That same report found that GC Strategies was in‐ volved in developing require‐ ments that were later used for an ArriveCan contract. That contract - valued at $25 million - was later awarded to GC Strategies, the report says.

WATCH | ArriveCan app was a hot mess: auditor general report:

A separate report by Canada's procurement om‐ budsman found that the cri‐ teria used in awarding the $25-million contract were "overly restrictive" and "heav‐ ily favoured" GC Strategies.

During his committee ap‐ pearance, MPs repeatedly asked Firth which govern‐ ment officials he worked with to develop the criteria for that contract. Firth avoided those questions, citing an on‐ going RCMP investigation in‐ to ArriveCan, even though he said he hadn't been con‐ tacted by the police force at that time.

Firth did offer an answer to that question in the House on Wednesday, indicating that he had spoken with Di‐ ane Daly, a Canada Border Services Agency employee, about the contract require‐ ments.

But Firth disagreed with the findings of the auditor general and procurement ombudsman. Firth told the House that the contract in question had over 200 re‐ quirements and that his firm only offered three sugges‐ tions. He also said that ten other firms bid on the con‐ tract.

"I don't see that as overly restrictive," Firth said.

Three reprimands since the 1990

Only three other people have faced a public admonish‐ ment before the House since 1990.

Former MPs Ian Waddell and Keith Martin were ad‐ monished by the Speaker in 1991 and 2002 respectively.

The most recent case was in 2021, when Iain Stewart, then the president of the Public Health Agency of Canada, appeared before the House after the agency failed to turn over documents to a parliamentary committee re‐ lating to the firing of two sci‐ entists from the National Mi‐ crobiology Laboratory in Win‐ nipeg.

But in those cases, none of the individuals were forced to answer questions from MPs.

The last time that hap‐ pened was in February 1913, when R.C. Miller was brought before the House to answer questions related to bribery allegations in relation to gov‐ ernment contracts.

Miller previously refused to answer questions before the House public accounts committee and did so again when he appeared before the bar. In response, MPs or‐ dered that Miller be impris‐ oned.

Last week's motion sug‐ gests the government opera‐ tions committee will "consid‐ er" Firth's testimony and "if necessary, recommend fur‐ ther action."