House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power

MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.

MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.

The all-party decision to force GC Strategies partner Kristian Firth to appear before the bar of the House of Commons – the brass rod extending across the floor of the Chamber barring those uninvited from passing – was made last week after some procedural deliberation and collaboration.

Firth took his place on the periphery of the House of Commons after question period, and was admonished by the Speaker for what MPs have deemed to be his "prevaricating" testimony before the committee probing the controversy surrounding the ArriveCan application.

A series of questions have been raised, damning reports issued, and further investigations have been sparked regarding improper contracting and management practices in connection with the contentious COVID-19-era border app.

GC Strategies was awarded the initial ArriveCan contract, and it has been reported that the company then went on to subcontract other companies to work on the app, while keeping a commission.

Firth, appearing before a House committee last month, testified that the heightened scrutiny, and what he alleged was inaccurate reporting about his company's involvement with the ArriveCan app, had led to threats against him and his family.

Just as successive rounds of questioning by MPs from all parties was to begin, acrimony arose over whether Firth, accompanied by his lawyer, was medically cleared to face questioning.