Government Operations Committee on March 14th, 2024

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

You're benefiting quite a bit from this association with Mr. Firth if he's doing all the work, if he's providing and sourcing the contracts, if he's the one who's having deliberations, and you're saying you're just the guy who stamps and does the fingerprinting. Is that what you're saying? He actually sources a lot of revenue for you.

[Darren Anthony]

Yes, and I focus on my work.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

In terms of the work by GC Strategies, how much of the profits are generated by you?

[Darren Anthony]

I don't have those numbers in front of me.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Firth explained yesterday that he got $2.5 million as the net result of his engagement with ArriveCAN over that two-year period. Did you gain a $2.5-million net return on your contracts?

[Darren Anthony]

I don't have those numbers in front of me right now.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

You don't know if you're equally contributing to the generation of profits for the company.

Are you and he equal partners in terms of revenue generation?

[Darren Anthony]

Yes.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

All right, so you did equally the same amount of work that Mr. Firth did for GC Strategies in this period of time in making that profit.

[Darren Anthony]

I don't know that answer.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

When were you at Veritaaq? How long were you at Veritaaq? When did you start?

[Darren Anthony]

I started there in 2005 and I left in 2010.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

What happened at Veritaaq around that time? Are you aware of the bid-rigging allegations and the issues that occurred?

[Darren Anthony]

Yes.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

What happened with Veritaaq? Were they charged? Did they plead guilty? Explain to us what took place.

[Darren Anthony]

I am not sure. I believe I had left the company. I don't know what happened with that whole scenario.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

You were there and you weren't aware how—

[Darren Anthony]

I was there as a recruiter. I was not involved in any of those accounts that were in question at that time. I was not investigated.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

You have not been in touch with any investigators as a result of this ongoing issue. Over the last six months, have any investigators called you?

[Darren Anthony]

No.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

There have been a lot of deliberations and a lot of considerations given to the value of your and Mr. Firth's contribution to the program. In essence, why do you exist? Why is it that we need you and Mr. Firth to provide services? You're not doing the service; you're providing the skill sets. You're assembling teams of people.

Explain to us why that's worth 20% or 10%.

[Darren Anthony]

We were asked to do a job for a price and we did it.

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

Did you bid on that price? I understand that this one may not have been bid on. How did this one come to be—these last two or three that are in question?

[Darren Anthony]

Do you mean on my contracts?

[Charles Sousa, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

No, I mean on ArriveCAN, on these contracts with ArriveCAN. How did those contracts come to be?