The former big boss of the consulting firm McKinsey appointed ambassador to China by Justin Trudeau, Dominic Barton, claims not to be close to the Prime Minister and never to have influenced the award of recent lucrative contracts with the Government of Canada.
“I have no involvement in the awarding of McKinsey contracts in Canada,” the former diplomat repeated on Wednesday before the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates in Ottawa.
Pressed with questions by opposition MPs, he presented himself as a senior manager who knows very little about Justin Trudeau, a stranger to the contracts of his former firm and detached from any decision-making in Canada. He says he did not lobby the Prime Minister.
Dominic Barton practically implied that the current parliamentary inquiry was wrong about the person, while defending his firm against the “many exaggerations that are made about McKinsey”.
Mr. Barton worked for more than 30 years at McKinsey & Company and rose to the very top of the consulting firm, a position he held between 2009 and 2018. In parallel, he chaired a free advisory board made up of 14 business leaders created by the Trudeau government in 2016. Three years later, he was appointed ambassador to China, a position he left in 2021.
Immigration advice
“We weren’t suggesting public policies,” he said of his involvement as head of the Economic Growth Advisory Council. This council notably proposed to increase the number of new arrivals from 300,000 per year to 450,000 per year. “We made recommendations. It was the government that had to decide. And he rejected many ideas. We had nothing to do with those decisions. »
The leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, exceptionally took part in the meeting of the parliamentary committee to ask his questions to Mr. Barton. On immigration, he insisted on knowing how many newcomers would speak French according to his vision of “Canada with 100 million citizens”.
“I think it’s very important how people could be integrated. […] In English and French, ”said Dominic Barton, while specifying that intense debates took place within the advisory council on this question. Ultimately, the government is responsible for setting this target, which is now 500,000 immigrants per year.
Dominic Barton’s name was cited in a Radio-Canada article published earlier this year which suggested that the firm McKinsey influences immigration policies in the country. A conclusion that the ex-diplomat categorically rejects. “McKinsey never proposes public policies to governments,” insisted his former boss. The firm would instead carry out specific mandates whose criteria were chosen by the governments.
Explosion of contracts
The value of the contracts concluded between the government and this firm has exploded in recent years, but especially since Mr. Barton is no longer at its helm. Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus, however, made the link between the beginning of the relationship between Prime Minister Trudeau and obtaining juicy contracts from Ottawa.
Even if its services are “a little expensive”, agrees Mr. Barton, the firm would be chosen because it has know-how. “Awarding contracts is a very rigorous process. It’s not based on personal relationships,” he said.
The Government of Canada has paid at least $116.8 million to McKinsey since 2015, under contracts awarded by Public Services and Procurement Canada. However, other large consulting firms are winning even more contracts, recalled Mr. Barton.
The New Democratic Party is also demanding that the committee’s investigation into government contracts extend to the firms Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Accenture, KPMG and Ernst & Young. In front of the media, the NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice also argued that the federal public service could carry out several of the mandates entrusted to these dearly paid consultants.
In the House, the Leader of the Official Opposition, Pierre Poilievre, once again pressed the Prime Minister with questions about contracts with McKinsey. The conservative politician accused the firm of causing deaths through “its involvement in the opioid crisis”, referring to its business relationship with Purdue Pharma, which was exposed in the American press. Mr. Barton assured not to be aware of the details of this mandate.
“Maybe you should spend some time to find out how consulting firms work,” he notably replied to Conservative MP Garnett Genuis during a tough exchange.