ArriveCan contractor says he hasn’t read Auditor General’s report

Article content

OTTAWA – One of two partners in GC Strategies told MPs he hasn’t read the damning reports about his company and has no knowledge about the firm’s involvement with the ArriveCan contracts.

GC Strategies was the main contractor on the ArriveCan app and, according to the auditor general, received $19.1 million in fees for what became a nearly $60-million app.

Article content

Darren Anthony, one of two partners in the firm, told MPs at the government operations committee that the auditor general’s findings were inaccurate, but also said his partner Kristian Firth handled all of the contracts for ArriveCan.

Article content

Anthony said he believes reports by the auditor general and procurement ombudsman, which have both found serious problems with ArriveCan contracts, were wrong. But he also admitted he had not read either report.

The government has suspended all of GC Strategies contracts and revoked the firm’s security clearances as a result of the concerns raised in those independent reports.

Anthony told MPs he handled security clearance for subcontracts and arranged for contracts with other government departments and private firms. He said the scandal over the runaway ArriveCan costs and the questionable contracting awarded for the app’s development has done permanent damage to his life.

“This will have an irreparable impact on me and my family’s futures,” he said. “A career I spent 20 years building, has been ruined.”

NDP MP Taylor Bachrach said he found it incredible that as a 50-per-cent owner of the company, Anthony wouldn’t have read the reports that had led to his business being cut off from government contracts.

Article content

Article content

“Reports that have been written by some of the main watchdogs who work on behalf of the Canadian public and they’ve raised major red flags, about your corporate practices, of a company that you’re one of the two principals of and you haven’t even read the reports?”

Bachrach said it seemed as though Anthony had checked out of his own company.

“I would be incredibly concerned that you’re not even following the bouncing ball when it comes to these major allegations against your company’s business practices. Can you see why that would be a concern?”

Anthony simply said “sure,” to Bachrach’s questions, one of many one-word answers he has provided.

Anthony’s partner Kristian Firth testified at the same committee on Wednesday and said the auditor general’s figure that GC Strategies had received $19.1 million is wrong.

He claimed that the company received approximately $11 million for ArriveCan and earned approximately $2.5 million after paying the rest to subcontractors.

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis also focused in on Anthony’s testimony that he had not read the auditor general’s report. He accused Anthony of lying to the committee.

Article content

“This report is feeding into an RCMP investigation that could result in criminal charges against your long-term business partner and against you Mr. Anthony. This report is merely 36 pages, and at no point did you think ‘maybe I should read this’.”

Anthony insisted he was being truthful and said he avoided reading the report because of the stress.

“I am not lying to this committee,” he said. “It was against my doctor’s wishes for me to be working. I have not been working since the start of December.”

Both men testified before the committee in the fall, and initially declined to return to committee. The committee took the rare step of issuing a formal summons which would have seen the two partners taken into custody had they not agreed to appear voluntarily.

The company’s website includes endorsements from government officials who are identified only by their title and without their names. MPs have asked the company repeatedly for the names behind those endorsements.

Firth committed during his testimony Wednesday to provide some answers in writing, but committee chair MP Kelly McCauley said Firth had failed to provide much of the information by Thursday morning, as Firth had agreed to.

Article content

Conservative MP Michael Barrett demanded Anthony provided the names of the government officials who were providing endorsements, but Anthony said he didn’t know who they were.

“You are saying that the vice president of a major Crown corporation — who that individual is, is a mystery to you?” Barrett asked. “Are the endorsements on your website fake like the resumes that were provided in order to win government contracts?”

National Post
rtumilty@postmedia.com

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

Article content