The Conservative motion put forward to subpoena ArriveCan contractors GC Strategies has passed, despite the Trudeau Liberals' attempts to stand in the way. The two-man, Ontario-based company benefited from a sweetheart deal with federal agencies worth millions. Members of Parliament have ordered a 10-year audit of all financial dealings between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government and CG Strategies. As the investigation has unfolded, federal auditors have sounded the alarm on inflated costs, missing documents and “suspicious” dealings involved with the ArriveCan program. The government spent $59.5 million in deals with contractors for the program that was originally supposed to cost $80,000. Now that the Conservative motion has passed, GC strategies must appear before the committee to testify before committee within 21 days or be taken into custody, according to a Wednesday evening social media post from Conservative MP Larry Brock. .GC Strategies Inc. of Woodlaw, ON, established in 2015 and headed by Kristian Firth and Darren Anthony, describes itself as “IT recruiters,” Firth told the House of Commons Government Operations Committee in 2022, according to the CBC.The firm was paid $19.1 million for work it subcontracted to other suppliers at a 15% to 30% commission, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. Former GC Strategies partner Caleb White left the company prior to ArriveCan, and is now the COO at environmental advocacy group, Climate Engine. .Meanwhile, Liberal Parliamentary Secretary for Revenue Iqra Khalid testified Wednesday federal contracting is “lacklustre and faulty” and has made all taxpayers “suffer.”“Help me understand how procurement works,” Khalid said to the Commons Public Accounts Committee. “First and foremost I want to say how disappointed I am that we did not take care of taxpayer dollars better, that we really had a lacklustre and faulty system for procurement.”“Ultimately it was taxpayers and taxpayer dollars that suffered from this,” said Khalid..Yet, public works refuses to be held accountable. Michael Mills, associate deputy minister at the Department of Public Works that oversees federal contracting, insisted the department should not be blamed. “We put in place contracts,” testified Mills. “We were not in project management.”“We did not have an awareness of what the overall project budget was or all the totality of the contracts, so we were unaware,” said Mills. “Did you ask what the budget was?” asked Conservative MP Michael Barrett. “As a department we were focused on what are the goods and services they need,” replied Mills.“It hit $25 million, it hit $30 million, 45, 60, at least $60 million because the paper shredders must have been running and there are not documents to demonstrate what the actual costs were for this thing,” said Barrett, pointing out contracting fees paid were equivalent to “hiring 10 public servants to work for 25 years — and instead we got these geniuses who were taking 30%.”“Why did your department allow this to happen?” asked Conservative MP Garnett Genuis “I am not sure,” replied Mills.Liberal MP Ken Hardie told Department of Public Works executives they will inevitably be held to account. “You are in the hot seat,” Hardie declared. “There has obviously been an imbalance between authority and accountability.” “You are being held to account,” Hardie said.
