Thank you, Chair. Hello, Minister.
You served as the Minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada and the President of the Treasury Board during the period of the arrive scam scandal. There are two major outstanding questions that I hope I can get answers to today. The first is to ask why GC Strategies was so special to the Trudeau government. Second, what were Liberal ministers doing while this was unfolding?
On the first question, GC Strategies was founded in 2015. It has done extensive and lucrative work with your government, receiving contracts and then doing subcontracting. It has been a go-to contractor and adviser, even though its business is simply to get contracts and subcontracts. In fact, Kristian Firth spoke yesterday about being flattered by being a go-to adviser and resource for the government, even asking questions about what would be the content of RFPs that he would then bid on.
I want to ask you what your government saw in GC Strategies. Why did you have this special relationship with it?