Government Operations Committee on Nov. 2nd, 2023

[Kristian Firth]

No, they have not.

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

Thank you.

One area that you have been presented with, sir, which gives me great discomfort as a parliamentarian, is the issue regarding résumés. Quite frankly, sir, whether you call it a mistake, whether you call it a lack of intent or whether you refer to it as an embellishment, in my respectful submission, that is a lie. No one believes you. No one in this room believes you. We have national reporters in this room, and I doubt very much that they believe you, because your story is so fantastic, it's simply unworthy of belief.

You, sir, at all material times, received only one version of the CV from both Ritika Dutt and Amir Morv. There was one CV. There was one résumé. That was not ambiguous. That was not confusing. You took it upon yourself to manipulate both of those résumés to ensure that Botler qualified for government funding. You did that without the express permission or consent of either of Botler's executives. In doing so, sir, you have committed a serious criminal offence.

Do you have anything to say about that, or are you going to continue on this line of “I made a mistake”?

[Kristian Firth]

I'm going to tell the truth, and it was a genuine mistake, because there are multiple versions of the résumé. They may have given me one, but as a recruiter, you make different versions of résumés, and the wrong one was sent through.

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

Sir, who made multiple versions, you or somebody else?

[Kristian Firth]

I did. I started my career as a recruiter, so I'm—

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

Sir, what on earth would compel you to modify one version of the résumé received by both individuals? Why did you have to modify it and create different versions without their consent or permission? Why?

[Kristian Firth]

Because accompanying every résumé going to the federal government, there's a matrix, an evaluation matrix. That is a score that you get to be compliant, to be a certain category on the contract—

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

You lied to ensure that they qualified.... You embellished—

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I'm afraid that—

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

You manipulated the facts.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

—is our time. You can continue on the next round.

We'll have Ms. Atwin, please, for five minutes.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to our witnesses for being with us today.

I had some questions here, but your opening statement led me to want to ask a few different things.

Specifically, you mentioned that Botler did not complete the work up to CBSA standards regarding the final deliverables, and that it was rejected. We have not heard this from the CBSA that I'm aware of. How do you know this information?

[Kristian Firth]

They would have relayed the information to Dalian and Coradix, who would then have told me.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

According to The Globe and Mail, GC Strategies is listed on a subcontracting document as a subcontractor to Dalian. Is that correct? Are you a subcontractor to Dalian?

[Kristian Firth]

That's correct.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Can you explain how Dalian and Coradix can subcontract to a non-indigenous entity if they were given an indigenous contract through a set-aside?

[Kristian Firth]

My understanding for an aboriginal set-aside.... I'm not an aboriginal set-aside company, but for a contract, I think, after listening to Mr. Woods' testimony, that it's to encourage aboriginal entrepreneurs to build companies, and I don't think you need to be aboriginal to be on an aboriginal contract.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Okay—

[Kristian Firth]

Again, I'm not an expert. I'm not on the aboriginal set-aside.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Do you currently have any contracts with CBSA that are active?

[Kristian Firth]

I have one that's active, but there are no resources on there.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Can you please describe your relationship with Cameron MacDonald, who was a former director general with CBSA?

[Kristian Firth]

When I first started as a junior salesman in 2009, we were encouraged by our VPs to use GEDS, which is the government electronic directory, to make cold calls, get meetings and try to identify opportunities within organizations. Mr. MacDonald picked up the phone in 2009, and we've been having meetings from then until the present day.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

When did work begin? When was this contractual...?

[Kristian Firth]

The meeting was in 2009, and 11 years later I had my first contract from Mr. Cameron MacDonald.