Head of GC Strategies Invited Federal Officials to Whisky-Tasting Event to Celebrate ArriveCAN Anniversary: Records

A smartphone set to the opening screen of the ArriveCan app is seen in a file photo. (The Canadian Press/Giordano Ciampini)

One of the heads of GC Strategies invited federal officials to several meetings at breweries in Ottawa, including an “ArriveCAN Whisky Tasting” event to celebrate the app’s one-year anniversary, say records obtained by The Globe and Mail during an investigation into ArriveCAN.

According to the documents, which The Epoch Times has not independently reviewed, GC Strategies Managing Partner Kristian Firth sent an invitation to four Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officials to the whisky-tasting event in April 2021. The event was hosted by the company Thirst Responder Mobile Bar, which holds online events such as cocktail courses.

Additionally, the records showed that Mr. Firth sent CBSA officials invitations to restaurants on several occasions in 2019. The email copies were obtained after they were privately presented to the House of Commons Committee on Government Operations (OGGO).

For months, OGGO has been investigating how GC Strategies, along with the companies Dalian and Coradix, received millions in taxpayer dollars to develop the ArriveCAN app, which critics have said could have been developed for a fraction of its $54-million cost. The CBSA has launched an internal investigation into the matter, and the RCMP is conducting its own investigation into the three companies.

GC Strategies, Dalian, and Coradix received more than $17 million in 2022 after CBSA had received allegations of contract misconduct on the ArriveCAN app. GC Strategies was paid $8.9 million as a general contractor on the ArriveCAN project.

OGGO is also looking at allegations raised by the Quebec-based software company Botler AI, which worked alongside Mr. Firth on a project unrelated to ArriveCAN. In November 2022, they submitted a report to senior CBSA officials that raised concerns about GC Strategies’ close relationship with CBSA officials and shady subcontracting deals that lacked accountability. After receiving that report, CBSA President Erin O'Gorman requested the CBSA open an internal investigation into the matter.

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Ms. O'Gorman testified in front of OGGO on Jan. 18, where she said the contracting with Botler AI on the project appeared to have been “inappropriate.” She also said there appeared to have been a pattern of “persistent collaboration between certain officials and GC strategies,” who attempted to circumvent the established processes at CBSA.

During OGGO, Bloc Quebecois MP Julie Vignola questioned Ms. O'Gorman about the document that showed meetings at breweries between Mr. Firth and CBSA employees. “Is this usual? Is this recommended? Is it efficient?” she asked.

The CBSA president said that the perception of conflict of interest was important, and an investigation is currently underway. She added that while she didn’t know whether CBSA employees were present, the email invitations without evidence of procurement officers present raised “questions.”

Influence Over Government Officials

When they previously testified in front of OGGO in late October 2023, Botler AI co-founders Amir Morv and Ritika Dutt alleged that Mr. Firth routinely boasted that he and senior government officials with contracting authorities “had ‘dirt’” on each other, and would use that information to blackmail each other.

They also said government contractors were “openly engaged in various criminal activities” and would often commit fraud on the government in exchange for “promising influence and requesting material benefit.”

Mr. Firth testified in front of OGGO in November 2023 that he had never claimed to have any influence over government officials. Conservative MP Larry Brock then read the transcript of a conversation between the Botler AI co-founders and Mr. Firth, where he said, “We have essentially the ear of the president right now of CBSA.”

“If that’s not influence, or claiming to have influence over government officials, I don’t know what is,” Mr. Brock said.