Commons committee agrees to summon GC Strategies to testify on ArriveCan

The House government operations committee has agreed to summon the heads of the IT staffing firm at the centre of the ArriveCan controversy.

GC Strategies, the largest contractor to work on the ArriveCan app project, is facing heightened scrutiny after the auditor general cited excessive reliance on contractors as a major factor contributing to the project's ballooning costs.

MPs on the committee agreed Wednesday to summon the firm's two partners – Kristian Firth and Darren Anthony – to testify about their involvement with ArriveCan.

The committee unanimously passed a motion calling for Firth and Anthony to appear within 21 days. If they don't, the motion calls for the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons to take them into custody to enforce their attendance at committee.

The government operations committee has been studying ArriveCan for months. Firth has spoken to the committee on two previous occasions.

The committee asked Firth and Anthony to return in November and again earlier this month but the two declined, citing concerns about their mental health.

MPs agreed to summon Firth and Anthony if accommodations were made for any health and accessiblity concerns the two may have.

The agreement to summon GC Strategies comes after a damning report from Canada's auditor general found a "glaring disregard" for fundamental contracting practices.

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

ArriveCan app was a hot mess: auditor general report | About That

10 months ago

Duration 10:30

In a scathing new report, Canada's auditor general says the final cost of the ArriveCan app is 'impossible to determine' due to poor record-keeping by the Canada Border Services Agency. Andrew Chang breaks down the report's findings about this pandemic-era tool that is estimated to have cost Canadians nearly $60 million.

The auditor general said in her report she found little documentation to show why or how GC Strategies was chosen for the project. 

The report also indicated that some CBSA officials had close relationships with certain contractors, noting that the officials in question were invited "to dinners and other activities." The auditor general didn't name the contractors or officials in question.

CBC News has reached out to GC Strategies following the release of the auditor general's report but has not received a response.

The committee is meeting again Thursday and will hear from two of the public servants embroiled in the controversy.

Antonio Utano and Cameron MacDonald were both suspended without pay following the preliminary findings of a Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) internal investigation into the ArriveCan contracts.

CBSA president Erin O'Gorman said the investigation found "a pattern of persistent collaboration between certain officials and GC Strategies. They show efforts to circumvent or ignore established procurement processes and roles and responsibilities."

Utano and MacDonald, who have since left the CBSA for the Canada Revenue Agency and Health Canada respectively, were suspended after O'Gorman shared the investigation's initial findings with the heads of those departments.

Both Utano and MacDonald have denied any wrongdoing during previous appearances at the committee.