The Conservative Party has taken a decisive step by proposing a motion to impose a lifetime ban on the company GCStrategies from receiving government contracts. This action comes on the heels of an Auditor-General's report that disclosed Ottawa had paid GCStrategies millions of dollars, often without verifying that the promised work was actually completed.
During the parliamentary debate regarding the motion, Members of Parliament discussed the issues surrounding the ArriveCan contractor throughout Thursday. The motion is set to be voted on in the House of Commons on Monday. Although the Liberal government announced a seven-year ban on GCStrategies from federal contracting just last week, the Conservative motion seeks to extend that ban indefinitely.
Auditor-General Karen Hogan's recent findings highlighted troubling practices among federal public servants who awarded multiple contracts to GCStrategies, an IT staffing firm, without conducting essential verification checks. These lapses included neglecting to ensure that tasks were completed, reviewing timesheets adequately, or confirming that contractors possessed the necessary security clearances.
Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis criticized the Liberal government during Question Period, asserting that it continues to grapple with longstanding scandals. She accused the government of failing to adhere to established rules and allowing insiders to profit significantly, citing a total of $64 million in improper contracts.
In contrast, Joël Lightbound, the Minister of Government Transformation, defended the Liberal government's actions, stating they had terminated all contracts with GCStrategies and prevented the company from future government engagements. He emphasized that legal actions were being pursued against GCStrategies for misconduct involving a subcontractor who allegedly billed for excessive hours of work.
GCStrategies, founded in 2015, is a small IT staffing firm that relies on subcontractors for project delivery while taking a significant portion of the contracts as fees. The legal issues mentioned by Lightbound relate to a case where the government is seeking $1.6 million from a subcontractor named Ripu Rishi, who has been accused of submitting fraudulent timesheets.
During the debate, Liberal MP Jacques Ramsay argued that the call for a lifetime ban may be premature, suggesting that if the courts determine that GCStrategies committed fraud, the company could face an automatic indefinite suspension from receiving federal contracts.
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