Nope.
Evidence of meeting #109 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was company.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #109 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was company.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
They never participated in any meetings.
Do you know the principals of Botler? Did you ever meet with them?
Partner, GC Strategies
No, I have never met with them. The only interaction I've had with Botler has been for security.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
What did you do with regard to providing security clearance? What did you do in that case with those two individuals?
Partner, GC Strategies
Those two individuals reached out to me, asking how to get security-cleared with the federal government. I gave them the instructions that they needed to get fingerprinted. I found a place in Montreal—that's where they were residing at the time—that does federal fingerprinting. I got them through that process. They sent me back their documents with the DCNs, the document control numbers, on them. They sent me their dates of birth and their citizenships. I submitted that through the OLISS portal, and they were able to get security-cleared.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
You facilitated their engagement. They didn't have a contract. Is that correct? Why did they need security clearance? What exactly was taking place?
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Who instructed you to provide the requirements for fingerprinting and security engagement? How did that come to be?
Partner, GC Strategies
I believe they reached out to me to say that they needed security clearance.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
The two principals reached out to you. This would have been Amir Morv and Ritika Dutt.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Their request was that they needed clearance in order to engage with the federal government.
Partner, GC Strategies
At that time, without a contract, you were able to do that to start the process.
If you were submitting a bid on an RFP that you were not awarded, there could be a number or an identifier associated with that, but prior to a few years ago, you would be able to submit a name for security clearance and say that they were just a consultant, and they would be able to get a clearance.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Had Mr. Firth been in contact with them as well, concurrent with you, in terms of their engagement?
Partner, GC Strategies
I don't have any knowledge of his contact with Botler.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Okay. Botler contacted you for their security, and no contract was evident. They were going through a preliminary study or pilot or whatever it was called. That's why they needed this clearance, which you helped them to get.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
You, being an owner of GC Strategies—a major owner, a 50% owner—didn't have a contract with the government regarding their engagement either. Is that correct?
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
GC Strategies doesn't have a contract. Botler doesn't have a contract. You're facilitating security clearance for them to potentially get a contract.