Lawmakers on Monday agreed to a motion holding Christian Firth, a partner at GC Strategies, in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer certain questions during an appearance before the House of Commons Government Operations Committee last month. did.
GC Strategies was the prime contractor for the controversial ArriveCan app. In addition to being charged with contempt, Firth has also been ordered to “appear in court” in the House of Commons to be publicly reprimanded by the Speaker.
The motion, adopted unanimously after nearly a full day of deliberation, orders Firth to appear in court after question period on Wednesday, April 17.
According to the Comptroller’s Office report, the soaring cost of the project (estimated at about $60 million) was due in part to the government’s over-reliance on external contractors such as GC Strategy.
The same report found that GC Strategies was involved in developing the requirements that were later used in the ArriveCan contract. The contract was worth $25 million and was later awarded to GC Strategies, according to reports.
A separate report by Canada’s Procurement Ombudsman found the criteria used in awarding the $25 million contract were “overly restrictive” and “significantly favored” GC strategies.
During his committee appearances, lawmakers repeatedly asked Firth which government officials he worked with to develop standards for the contract. Firth said he had not been contacted by police, but evaded such questions, citing the ongoing RCMP investigation into ArriveCan.
A public recommendation in the House of Commons is a very rare measure, having been implemented only five times since the early 1900s. This is called “brought in front of the bar” in reference to the brass rail intended to prevent strangers from entering the room.
Former MPs Ian Waddell and Keith Martin were reprimanded by the Speaker in 1991 and 2002 respectively.
Firth is the third civilian to be reprimanded since 1913. The most recent incident occurred in 2021, when the then-chief minister appeared in the House of Commons after the Public Health Agency of Canada failed to provide relevant documents to the committee. Two scientists at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg have been fired.
