RCMP confirm search on home of ArriveCan contractor Kristian Firth

Members of Parliament look on as GCStrategies partner Kristian Firth answers questions after being admonished in the House of Commons, April 17, 2024 in Ottawa.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

The RCMP conducted a search warrant on the Ottawa-area home of one of the central figures in the ArriveCan scandal Tuesday, one day before he appeared before the House of Commons for a rare admonishment from the Speaker.

The home in Woodlawn, Ont., belongs to Kristian Firth, managing partner of two-person IT staffing company GCStrategies. The company received more funding than any other contractor to work on ArriveCan, the mobile app for cross-border travellers that the government launched early in the pandemic. The app ballooned in price and ultimately cost taxpayers $59.5-million, according to an investigation by the Auditor-General.

In a statement, the RCMP said they conducted a search of the residence on Tuesday, but police say the search is not related to their ongoing ArriveCan investigation. The RCMP did not elaborate about what it sought from the home. The police declined to provide the name or the business subject of the search, and said no charges have been laid.

GCStrategies has come under scrutiny by federal MPs in part for its fees, which were at times as high as 30 per cent of a contract’s value. Auditor-General Karen Hogan reported in February that the ArriveCan app cost $59.5-million, and that GCStrategies had received $19.1-million of that.

Ms. Hogan reported that GCStrategies was directly involved in setting narrow terms for a $25-million federal contract that included some ArriveCan work, which the company ultimately won.

During a March House of Commons committee hearing, Mr. Firth declined to answer questions about that finding, saying that doing so might interfere with a potential RCMP investigation.

In response, MPs voted unanimously in March to find Mr. Firth in contempt of Parliament, and was summoned to the bar of the House of Commons on Wednesday to be found in contempt for not answering questions about his interactions with federal officials.

Mr. Firth appeared in the House of Commons on Wednesday and stood behind the brass bar as the Speaker outlined the reasons why he has been found in contempt.

“On behalf of the House of Commons, I admonish you,” said Speaker Greg Fergus.

During questioning before MPs, Mr. Firth confirmed that a search warrant was executed at his residence. He said it was to obtain information with respect to allegations of misconduct by Botler, a company that worked with GCStrategies. In 2023, The Globe and Mail published stories based on interviews with the founders of Botler, who alleged misconduct in government contracting, and provided recordings that showed public servants had directed them to work with GCStrategies.

“There were six points on the search warrant,” Mr. Firth told MPs. He said that while he wasn’t aware of which specific allegations led to the RCMP’s search, he understood it was related to “fraudulent billing and resume fraud.”

Following his appearance Wednesday, the House is expected to instruct the government operations committee to review Mr. Firth’s testimony and recommend further action if necessary.

Summoning someone to the bar for admonishment represents a very rare escalation of Parliament’s power to request answers and documents from witnesses.

It has happened only 14 times since confederation in 1867. Nine of those occurred during the 1800s, including in 1874, when then-MP Louis Riel was ordered to appear in his seat in connection with the Red River Rebellion and the murder of Thomas Scott. He did not appear and was expelled from the house. Instead, Parliament summoned two Ottawa police officers and the Attorney-General of Manitoba to appear at the Bar and answer questions.

The last time a private contractor was called to the Bar was in 1913.

In that case, the summons was requested by MPs on the public accounts committee, who were frustrated that R.C. Miller would not answer all of their questions about potential bribery tied to contracting.

Mr. Miller was a former president of the Diamond Light & Heating company, which was receiving federal contract work to supply the government with parts for lighthouses.

Parliamentary transcripts for the Feb. 14, 1913 meeting of the public accounts committee show MPs were asking Mr. Miller about payments that had been described in a recent report by the auditor-general.

During the hearing, Mr. Miller said he was paid $41,026 by the company to secure about $117,000 in government contracting work. But he refused to tell MPs who he paid in order to secure contracts.

“I would respectfully request that I be not forced to answer that question, because I think it would be prejudicial to my case in court to give these details at the present time,” he said.

A few days later, he was called to the Bar of the House of Commons, where he again refused to answer the question. The House ordered him jailed.

In more recent times, NDP MP Ian Waddell was called the Bar in 1991 for being in contempt of the House for attempting to grab the Mace as a form of protest over not being able to vote on a motion.

A similar event occurred in 2002 involving Canadian Alliance MP Keith Martin.

The Parliamentary power was not used again until 2021, when Iain Stewart, who at the time was president of the Public Health Agency of Canada, was reprimanded after a committee found he and his department had failed to comply with an order to provide unredacted versions of all documents related to the revocation of the security clearances of Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng, two scientists at Canada’s high-security infectious disease laboratory.