The founders of GC Strategies, the company at the center of the ArrivalCAN scandal, won millions of dollars in government contracts under a different company name between 2010 and 2015.
• Also read: ArrivalCAN scandal: Ottawa stopped contracts with the suspicious company “out of caution”
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• Also read: ArrivalCAN scandal: “Those responsible must answer for their actions,” say the Liberals
Coredal Systems Consulting, founded by the two men behind GC Strategies, has won at least 9 contracts worth at least $3.6 million on behalf of Transport Canada, most of them for information technology (IT) consulting services.
The company changed its name to GC Strategies on July 1, 2015, but remained based in Ottawa and retained the same core of Kristian Firth and Darren Anthony.
According to a compilation compiled by La Presse, the Ottawa-based SME has raised around $258 million under its new name to handle a total of 140 contracts, 46 of which were awarded without competitive bidding.
Minister of Utilities and Public Services Jean-Yves Duclos announced on Wednesday the suspension of all contracts with GC Strategies “out of an abundance of caution.” Some less lucrative contracts remain active, Le Journal learned.
The public service is shaken
The ties between the federal apparatus and Ottawa's small businesses have taken on the appearance of a scandal following Monday's damning report into the management of the mobile application ArrivalCAN by Auditor-General of Canada (AG) Karen Hogan.
The VG complained about the “worst accounting” it had come across, given the number of non-existent or partial written records relating to invoices or even the selection of subcontractors. The problem was so big that neither the final price actually paid for ArrivalCAN nor the identity of those responsible for awarding the attractive contracts could be determined.
However, eyes are on two former senior Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officials, Cameron MacDonald and Antonio Utano, who were both suspended without pay in April 2023 as part of an internal investigation.
Suspended without pay prior to transfer
That suspension without pay, a rare gesture in public service, did not stop Antonio Utano from becoming director general of the Canada Revenue Agency and Mr. MacDonald from becoming assistant to the deputy minister of health.
When called to testify before the Public Accounts Committee in November, the two men denounced a smear campaign against them and pointed the finger at Canada's current technology chief Minh Doan, who was vice-president of Canada at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic CBSA and worked on the contracts awarded to GC Strategies.
According to the Globe & Mail, an internal complaint from a CBSA IT employee accuses Minh Doan of possibly destroying emails and documents related to the contract award to the small business. Mr. Doan denied the allegations in an email to the Toronto daily, saying it was a maneuver to make him a scapegoat.
This Kafkaesque story, which also involves invitations to events and gifts to officials, continues to cause controversy in Ottawa. The Conservatives are crying out for corruption, while the Bloc Québécois is calling for the CBSA to be put under supervision.
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