Evidence of meeting #83 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 work.
A video is available from Parliament.
Partner, GC Strategies
No. As I mentioned to previous gentleman I was speaking with, I didn't do that. Because of haste, the wrong ones were sent in and they were never qualified by the resources. That conversation never happened.
Conservative
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to our witness for joining us today.
As many have mentioned, there's a lot to unpack here, and I'm not sure where to pick up.
You talked a bit about meeting Cameron MacDonald in 2009. Who approached whom to engage Botler in selling its software to the federal government?
Partner, GC Strategies
I was approached by CBSA to identify a real problem within the government, which was the harassment and the misconduct that's going on in multiple departments, in the armed forces and in Public Safety.
It was then suggested that maybe there must be a technology or a solution out there that could help the federal government, with an automated solution that would act as a front line of defence for people who are going through misconduct or harassment. At that point I identified Botler, and I reached out to them and suggested that we meet up and I could walk them through some opportunities that might be available in the Government of Canada.
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
How did you identify Botler? What process did you go through?
You went out and you looked for.... You're clearly someone who looks, who connects.... You're a recruiter in a sense, and that's your history. You find the capable or able third party solutions to do the work. Is that right?
Liberal
Partner, GC Strategies
It was a simple Boolean search, by identifying with buzzwords. Then, after that, I identify automated solutions, because they're usually easier to install than to actually have a team come in and integrate. Also, being Canadian was huge, because if there were going to be federal government contracts and people doing work for the government, they have to be able to get government security clearance.
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
Who identified Botler software as being able to meet federal requirements under the amended Canada Labour Code? This is where you talked about a matrix, that it has to be compliant, etc. Who finally said, “This is the one”?
Partner, GC Strategies
We had subsequent meetings with labour relations at Correctional Service Canada and other ones, so we would go there and Miss Dutt would ask specific questions. The whole time on their website [Inaudible—Editor], they were completely compliant with Bill C-65, so we knew that the solution could do that, and there were subsequent meetings we had in other government departments with labour personnel to identify if it would fit within there.
I do remember several meetings, whether it was Correctional Service Canada or Shared Services Canada, with labour relations people, and that's how we identified that it would be suitable.
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
How many people are involved in that process? There's labour relations.... Are you talking about a lot of different departments?
Partner, GC Strategies
The majority of people we met with would have been HR and labour relations.
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
There are a number of people who are going through this process to make a decision in the end.
Partner, GC Strategies
Yes. There's cybersecurity to see how this is going to impact other things that are happening on the network, so there were several people within each meeting who would have different questions regarding the software.
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
Where do Coradix and Dalian come into the picture at this time? If you're arranging for Botler to provide the services, why did it go through Coradix and Dalian?
Partner, GC Strategies
I was working with Botler for over a year before Dalian and Coradix even knew about it. I was getting meetings; I was helping them with marketing material; we were doing sales pitches to organizations. It was only after the pilot was accepted at CBSA that they were contacted by CBSA, saying, “We're using your contracting mechanism, and GC Strategies is working with Botler.” That was the first time around the Botler conversations that either knew who they were working with.
Liberal
Parm Bains Liberal Steveston—Richmond East, BC
When we're talking about the mistake that you made with the inflated numbers.... Apart from just those inflated numbers, you talked about a matrix of other things. It appears that, obviously, there have been a lot of different people making decisions for this to come through. What are the other pieces of the matrix that need to be fulfilled?
Partner, GC Strategies
It would be different technologies that they may have used in the past. It could be more functional responsibilities, like whether you gave team meetings or gave presentations to senior executives. Each matrix is different for each category.
Again, it has no bearing at all on the price of the deliverables. Every category for a fixed-price contract has no bearing at all, because that's per diem based. That's time and material. This is a fixed price.
November 2nd, 2023 / 4:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Thanks, Mr. Firth.
We have two and a half minutes with Ms. Vignola, please.
Bloc
Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Firth, did you do a sales pitch to Brenda Lucky?
Bloc
Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Did you do a sales pitch to Julie Leese and Philippe Johnston at Transport Canada?
Partner, GC Strategies
We did to Philippe Johnston. I'm not sure if Julie Leese attended.
Bloc
Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC
After those pitches, did you manage to make a sale at Transport Canada or the RCMP?
Did you make a commission?