(OTTAWA) Minister Marc Mendicino on Monday defended the federal government’s immigration target set after “a very good consultation process” with the provinces and territories. The man who headed the Department of Immigration before moving to Public Security testified before a parliamentary committee on the contracts awarded to the firm McKinsey.
“There are different factors that contribute to the decision of the immigration target, but it is a decision that is made by the government,” he insisted in response to questions from Bloc Québécois MP Julie Vignola.
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates is reviewing government contracts awarded to the consulting firm, whose value soared under Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. In all, 34 contracts worth a total of $116.8 million have been awarded to McKinsey by various departments and agencies since the election of the Trudeau government in 2015.
The Minister of Public Security was summoned to a parliamentary committee to give explanations on four contracts given by his department and by the Border Services Agency, the total value of which is close to $7 million, but he was also questioned about the role of McKinsey in the decision to raise immigration thresholds.
The firm’s former CEO, Dominic Barton, is the co-founder of the pressure group Century Initiative, which advocates public policies to increase the Canadian population to 100 million people by 2100. He left the consultancy in 2018 and was named Canadian Ambassador to China a year later.
During his testimony in February, Mr. Barton indicated that the government had chosen to set a higher target than that proposed by the Advisory Council on Economic Growth of which he was chairman. This council was set up in 2016 by former federal finance minister Bill Morneau and had 14 members, including Michael Sabia who was then president and chief executive officer of the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec. He has since become Deputy Minister of Finance in the federal government.
Minister Mendicino argued that the decision to raise the immigration threshold to 500,000 starting in 2025 is entirely up to the government.
He explained that three criteria are taken into account to determine this target.
“First, the need for the economy, and this discussion is a product of consultations with all the provinces and territories, including Quebec with which we have a very good relationship,” he said.
Then there is the family reunification process, so that immigrants already in Canada can bring their family members, and the process for asylum seekers.
The committee meeting resulted in a spat between NDP MP Gord Johns and a few Conservative MPs over the issue of the opioid crisis. McKinsey had to pay nearly $600 million to 47 US states for helping pharmaceutical companies boost the sale of these painkillers.
“Your government is taking a gradual approach to this crisis. The policy of small steps kills when it comes to a health crisis, ”criticized the elected representative of British Columbia, where deaths from an opioid overdose approached 2,300 in 2022.
“Conservatives are spreading misinformation, misinformation is also killing people in a deadly health crisis,” he added.
Tory MP Michael Barrett immediately demanded an apology, which the NDP MP offered after insulting Tory leader Pierre Poilievre.