Conservatives eye subpoena threat for firm in ArriveCan controversy

The Conservatives want to issue another formal summons for the owners of GC Strategies to appear before the government operations committee probing the ArriveCan controversy.

If they don’t appear, Conservatives want to see the Sergeant at Arms of the House of Commons take them into custody and compel their appearance.

“It is very rare. And it’s unfortunate that it’s come to this point, but it’s essential that we use this tool if these individuals continue to ignore. So, we’re going to summon them again,” Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer told reporters on Tuesday.

“And this time, though, there will be the understanding that if they ignore this summons, that there will be consequences.”

The ArriveCan app is under renewed parliamentarian scrutiny following a report from the auditor general last week. In her report, Karen Hogan found that nearly $60 million was spent on the app but could not come to a conclusive dollar figure due to poor record keeping.

The motion indicates that GC Strategies owners Kristian Firth and Darren Anthony were previously summoned by the committee on Nov. 2, 2023.

Another summons was issued on Feb. 9, 2024, the motion says.

Firth and Anthony both previously appeared at the committee on Oct. 20, 2022.

The motion was brought forward during the government operations committee meeting on Feb. 20. However, the vote did not take place as debates around amendments stretched to the end of the allotted meeting time.

Scheer and fellow Conservative MP Larry Brock both accused Liberal MP Irek Kusmiercyzk of “running out the clock” as he offered a 25-minute reply to a sub-amendment on the Conservative motion at the tail end of the meeting.

Among Kusmiercyzk’s arguments, he said that they all want to find more