Government Operations Committee on March 14th, 2024

[Darren Anthony]

Depending on the contracts awarded, you could see that there was a margin involved in an RFP win.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Can you tell me, based on 2005 to 2015, what kind of margin was there?

[Darren Anthony]

At that time, I believe it was an average of 20% to 25%.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

That's what you saw there. Why 2015? Why not 2010? Why not 2017?

[Darren Anthony]

That's a great question.

I guess at that time in our lives we decided that we could try to do this ourselves. It was right for our families, and we took a chance at starting a company. It worked up until a couple of months ago.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

That's our time, sir.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Okay. Thank you, sir.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

We'll go to Mrs. Vignola, please, for two and a half minutes.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Anthony, yesterday Mr. Firth told us that preparing account statements and meetings with the government, for example, required at most a few dozen hours of work per month, or from 40 to 80 hours. How many hours a month did it take you just to fill out the security paperwork?

[Darren Anthony]

I'm the chief security officer, but I also get my own business. I work on private sector accounts.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

I’m talking about ArriveCAN, about the security paperwork. How many hours per month did you have to work to earn $625,000 a year?

[Darren Anthony]

I have no idea.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Was it 10, 20 or 100 hours per month?

[Darren Anthony]

Again, I don't know.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

You really lived the ultimate dream: you had one job and you did not need to look into the contracts, but you made substantial profits. That’s not the American dream anymore, it’s the Canadian dream.

When you worked at Veritaaq, did you meet certain people, for example David Yeo?

[Darren Anthony]

No.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

I see.

You said that Mr. Colin Wood was a contact and that he later founded Coradix, with which you also did business.

[Darren Anthony]

I worked with Colin Wood at Veritaaq.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Very well.

You also worked with BDO Lixar.

[Darren Anthony]

I don't know that name.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Bachrach, please go ahead, sir.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Anthony, you previously said you're responsible for the security clearance not only of the resources but also of GC Strategies. How do you exercise that responsibility?

[Darren Anthony]

Can you clarify the question? You said for the resources....

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

No, I mean for the company as a whole. You're the chief security officer for the whole company and you're responsible for GC Strategies' security clearance. How do you exercise that responsibility?

[Darren Anthony]

We have a secret facility clearance, and I maintain that. We follow the guidelines set out by PSPC.