Debates of April 17th, 2024

Sitting Resumed

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the witness, Mr. Firth, either refused to answer questions or lied to the parliamentary committee after we learned that the Prime Minister's government had made him a multimillionaire on the backs of taxpayers.

Can the witness affirm today in the House that he did not lie before the parliamentary committee?

[Kristian Firth]

Mr. Speaker, again, acknowledging the fact that I am being admonished and am making history right now, I think I have acknowledged the fact that I made mistakes in the previous committee.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, can Mr. Firth tell us exactly when he lied?

[Kristian Firth]

Mr. Speaker, I do not have the exact information. Again, I am not being elusive. I just cannot allude to which questions, what time and which month.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as I understand it, the witness lied repeatedly in committee and that is why we are here today to try to find out the truth.

Can Mr. Firth confirm that he purposely avoided naming his sources within the Liberal government to protect his lucrative business model, which resulted from the Liberal government's lax procurement processes?

[Kristian Firth]

Mr. Speaker, no, I did not.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, can Mr. Firth confirm that the three quotations on the GC Strategies website were anonymous at the request of the authors of those quotations?

[Kristian Firth]

Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that was requested.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, did these individuals receive any benefit for allowing GC Strategies to use their comments anonymously?

[Kristian Firth]

Mr. Speaker, no, they did not.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Calgary Midnapore.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Firth just admitted that the RCMP raided his house, relative to Botler AI. When Mr. Firth introduced Botler AI to his consultant colleague Mr. Vaughn Brennan, he had them email Mr. Jeremy Broadhurst, the former chief of staff for the Minister of Finance and the current Liberal campaign chair.

Did Mr. Brennan regularly set up Mr. Firth's contacts with elected officials, ministers and their chiefs of staff?

[Kristian Firth]

Mr. Speaker, that is news to me. I have never engaged Vaughn Brennan to get any meetings with senior government officials.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, is Mr. Firth aware that Mr. Brennan's wife works for Procurement Canada?

[Kristian Firth]

Mr. Speaker, I was as of the third testimony when that was brought to light, but until then, I was not aware of it.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, what benefits did Mr. Vaughn Brennan provide Mr. Firth that furthered their professional relationship?

[Kristian Firth]

Mr. Speaker, Vaughn Brennan never provided anything outside of the work that we would give him on a per diem time and material basis for a government department.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Firth submitted that he was meeting with government officials outside of government offices. Where did Mr. Firth meet Paul Girard, the former CIO of TBS?

[Kristian Firth]

Mr. Speaker, I have met Paul Girard at the Starbucks on 99 Metcalfe.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, what did Mr. Firth discuss at this meeting?

[Kristian Firth]

Mr. Speaker, with Mr. Girard's position, and I had two contracts within his directorate, it was just understanding how the contracts were going, thanking me, thinking the resources were performing well, understanding if there were any issues and just general chief information officer duties.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Where did Mr. Firth meet Monsieur Philippe Johnston, former CIO at NRC?

[Kristian Firth]

Mr. Speaker, it could have been Bâton Rouge, which was underneath where his department was, or it could have been a coffee shop.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, what did Mr. Firth discuss at this meeting?

[Kristian Firth]

Mr. Speaker, at that time, it was very similar to Mr. Girard. We had contracts within Mr. Johnston's department. I think it was just a health check on the contracts, making sure that my resources were performing. If they were not, then they would let me know this and we would replace them.