ArriveCan contractor to be grilled in House of Commons in rare reprimand

An ArriveCan app is shown on a smartphone in Montreal, Thursday, February 15, 2024.

The House of Commons is expected to soon reprimand a private citizen for the first time in more than 100  years over the ArriveCan app, in the latest development in a widening scandal over the nearly $60 million pandemic-era project.

GC Strategies partner Kristian Firth – whose firm is the contractor behind the program – will be grilled Wednesday, after he refused to answer questions to a parliamentary committee and was held in contempt of Parliament.

The last time a private citizen received this rebuke was 1913. Since then, a handful of private citizens have received the admonishment, but none were forced to answer questions in the House.

The rare set of powers places him under the authority of the House.

His testimony will be under oath.

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Firth has been ordered to appear before the bar of the House – a brass rod in the Chamber that represents a symbolic barrier between members and non-members of Parliament.

In a report last February, auditor general Karen Hogan determined the cost of ArriveCan ballooned to at least $59 million but said “a glaring disregard” for basic management practices made it impossible to determine the exact price tag.

Hogan called it the worst example of financial record keeping she had ever seen and found little explanation why GC Strategies – which subcontracted the work to other companies – was hired in the first place.

The RCMP is examining her findings.

More to come…

-with files from Canadian Press