ArriveCan contractor testifies in House
RCMP search his property in ongoing probe
• The co-founder of the tech company at the heart of the ArriveCan scandal says the RCMP searched his property as part of an investigation into fraudulent billing and resumé fraud.
Kristian Firth made the surprising admission while receiving an unusual reprimand in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Firth is the first private citizen in 111 years to be called to the bar — literally a long brass bar near the entrance of the House of Commons — to be admonished and then grilled by MPs for failing to answer some questions on the role his company GC Strategies played in the ArriveCan debacle.
During his two-hour testimony, Firth confirmed a statement by the RCMP that investigators had executed a search warrant at his property in Woodlawn, Ont., the previous day.
Firth told MPs that the six-page search warrant he received but only “skimmed” was to “obtain electronic goods surrounding the Botler allegations.”
Montreal-based AI company Botler reported allegations of misconduct by contractors including GC Strategies to the head of the Canada Border Services Agency last year.
Firth said the search warrant noted the RCMP was looking into allegations of fraudulent billing and resumé fraud.
He said he looks forward to the outcome “because I believe it will exonerate us.”
In a statement, RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Jennifer Goodings said its Sensitive and International Investigations unit executed the search warrant. She added that the search was not related to its separate probe into the ArriveCan app.
The RCMP's website says the Sensitive and International investigations unit focuses on “sensitive, high risk matters that cause significant threats to Canada's political, economic and social integrity of its institutions across Canada and internationally.”
Firth has been a key player in the ongoing ArriveCan scandal because of his two-person IT consulting firm's central and lucrative role in the development of the application.
In a recent report, Auditor General Karen Hogan said GC Strategies received nearly $19 million of the approximately $60 million the government spent on the pandemic-era app to track travellers' vaccine status. She also noted with consternation that the company had helped the government develop the requirements for a contract request for proposal.
Hogan found that three separate government departments lacked accurate financial records for ArriveCan and failed to deliver the best value for taxpayer dollars.
Firth has denied any wrongdoing and said that he fulfilled all his contractual obligations to the government.
During his testimony, Firth offered short answers to MPs and offered some clarity as to which public servants he met and where during and before obtaining some government contracts. But he also sometimes obfuscated and even contradicted himself at times, much to the frustration of the Conservatives, NDP and Bloc.
Firth said the work he delivered for the ArriveCan app, of which the auditor general says cost ballooned from $80,000 to nearly $60 million, was “on time and on budget.”
“We were paid to recruit and find resources who built the app within 20 days and did subsequent new releases for 18 months and on time and on budget,” he said, eliciting loud scoffs from MPs.
He also admitted to the House that he had not always answered truthfully during previous appearances before House committees and that he regretted it.
“I'm fully endorsing the admonishment and understanding that there were questions that may have not been answered correctly and understanding that some of them may have been obtuse, and that's why I'm here today,” he said.
But when asked by Green party Leader Elizabeth May if he was ashamed of anything, he was unapologetic.
“No, I am not ashamed,” he replied, after first asking whether he had to answer the question. In an appearance at a House committee last month, Firth said he has had the full weight of government come down on him over false claims against his company. Those claims, he said, have led to threats against him and his family, including his children.
A doctor had provided a note to the clerk of the House recommending that Firth not appear because of acute mental-health diagnoses, with Firth saying he is actively under therapy and on medication. The note was shared with all parties.
That was enough for Liberal MPs to opt out of questioning Firth on ArriveCan, citing concerns over his mental health.