A Montreal-based security firm with ties to Donald Trump, ICE, and the infamous Alligator Alcatraz prison is using Liberal connections in Canada to undermine our veterans. GardaWorld has employed well-connected Liberal lobbyists to persuade the Carney government to terminate a long-standing agreement with the Commissionaires.
Commissionaires: A century of service to veterans
Founded in 1925 to provide employment for First World War veterans, the Commissionaires remain the largest employer of veterans in Canada. For years, this not-for-profit organization has held an agreement with the federal government granting them the first right of refusal for security at federal buildings. This arrangement has ensured stable employment for thousands of veterans who continue to serve their country in a different capacity.
Liberal insiders deliver the kill shot
Earlier this year, Veterans Affairs Minister Jill McKnight informed the Commissionaires that the practice would be extended for one more year, until March 31, 2027, and then terminated. “This extension will ensure a smooth and measured transition to a competitive procurement process for guard services, which will take effect on April 1, 2027,” McKnight wrote. The change follows intense lobbying by GardaWorld, which hired two Liberals with deep governing party connections — Martin-Pierre Pelletier and Bruce Hartley. In dozens of meetings with staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, Veterans Affairs, Treasury Board, and other departments, the lobbyists were blunt: end the deal with the Commissionaires. Their filing with the Lobbyist Registry stated they were “seeking changes to the policies regarding the Commissionaires Corps first right of refusal on government contracts for security for federal real property.”
Hundreds of millions at stake, thousands of veterans affected
Michel Charron, CEO of the Commissionaires, told The Canadian Press he was “surprised and disappointed” by the decision. The move could cost the Commissionaires up to $330 million and jeopardize the jobs of thousands of veterans. This sum is roughly equivalent to the $300 million the Quebec government gave GardaWorld and its CEO, Stephan Crétier, just a few years ago to support global expansion. Crétier, a billionaire who lives in Dubai and owns a mansion in Palm Beach near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, has built his company through rapid acquisitions. GardaWorld now operates across Canada, the United States, Europe, much of the Middle East, and Africa.
GardaWorld’s American empire: From ICE detention to Alligator Alcatraz
One of GardaWorld’s most lucrative recent expansions has been its contracts with the Trump administration and ICE. Last month, GardaWorld Federal Services LLC, based in Virginia, was awarded a contract worth at least $313 million USD, potentially up to $704 million USD, to operate an ICE detention facility in Surprise, Arizona. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is suing the Trump administration to stop the facility. Meanwhile, groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International have criticized the Alligator Alcatraz facility in Florida, with Amnesty issuing a report alleging “cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” inside.
This is the company the Carney Liberals chose to listen to — a firm associated with such practices, rather than a not-for-profit founded to support veterans and still doing so a century later. Despite GardaWorld being a Canadian-based company, this decision does not align with the “Elbows Up, Canada Strong” message Carney has promoted for the past year. It feels like cheap, tawdry insider politics driven by Liberal insiders looking out for a well-connected Montreal firm, rather than the men and women who served our country and are now serving in different ways.
If Mark Carney truly believed in the Canada Strong message he pushes, he would tell his minister to reverse this course quickly.
