Government Operations Committee on March 14th, 2024

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

I just find it astounding that someone who works at your level and is the 50% owner of a company that has been scrutinized and brought into disrepute by the Auditor General and the Office of the Procurement Ombud and is now being looked into by the RCMP—and soon the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner is going to be looking through your business dealings—hasn't read any of these reports.

If I were an investor in this company, I would be very concerned. If I were a contractor for this company, I would be very concerned. If I were the government contracting your 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?

[Darren Anthony]

Sure.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Anthony, did you ever attend any of the hospitality events for government officials that Mr. Firth referenced in the last meeting?

[Darren Anthony]

No, I did not.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Have you ever delivered gifts to government officials?

[Darren Anthony]

No, I have not.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Chair, I'm going to hand the floor back to you. I'll begin my line of questioning again in the next round.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thanks, Mr. Bachrach.

Mr. Brock, go ahead, please, for five minutes.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Like my NDP colleague, sir, I am completely astonished by your complete lack of preparation for this committee hearing. You started off in your opening statement by talking about how you and Mr. Firth had been wrongly portrayed in media, newsprint and committee hearings, by MPs and by the word on the street. You talked about the financial stresses and the emotional stresses. You don't have any concrete answers to clearly relevant questions. You very proudly stated that you stand behind the words of your partner Mr. Firth that the Auditor General's report was completely inaccurate.

How on earth could you have prepared any less for this hearing by not taking 20 minutes to read the actual report? I find it absolutely astonishing, sir. Quite frankly, it reflects very poorly on your credibility.

I want to ask you some questions for clarification.

Are you in a partnership with Firth or are you a director in a company registered either through the Canada Business Corporations Act or through the Ontario Corporations Act? What is it?

[Darren Anthony]

We are partners.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Do you have a partnership agreement? Answer yes or no.

[Darren Anthony]

Can I confer with my lawyer for one second, please?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Go ahead. Just mute yourself.

[Darren Anthony]

I'm sorry. We are a corporation, and I am a shareholder of that corporation.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

You're not in a partnership. You may refer to yourselves as partners, but you don't have a legal partnership agreement. Is that correct?

[Darren Anthony]

That's correct.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Okay.

You are a director. You didn't understand that directors have joint and several liability, meaning that you're both responsible for consequences of the acts of directors. Are you aware of that now, sir?

[Darren Anthony]

I don't believe that to be true.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Okay. Well, you can check with your lawyer on that.

Mr. Firth has put it out there in real evidence that he has committed acts of forgery, not on one occasion but on multiple occasions. That would be defined as a criminal act under the Criminal Code of Canada. He claims it was a mistake. As a former prosecutor, I can say that pretty much every accused I dealt with in the last 20-plus years always claimed they made mistakes.

You understand, sir, that ignorance of the law is no excuse. Do you understand that?

[Darren Anthony]

Sure.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

If Mr. Firth was willing to do that—I'm talking about the Botler complaint—on at least four or five occasions without consulting, without getting approval, without getting clearance from Botler to change the actual résumé to ensure they received a contract, it really raises the question of how many times Mr. Firth, your fifty-fifty partner director, has done that on other contracts.

Do you have an answer to that?

[Darren Anthony]

I don't have any knowledge of that.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

No. That's because what he does is up to him and what you do is up to you. Is that correct? Is that your understanding?

[Darren Anthony]

Yes.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

I see.

Who was responsible for the design of your website, which probably fraudulently identifies several key government employees as boasting about the value of your company? Who was responsible for creating this web design?