(Ottawa) After the Conservatives who are asking the Auditor General to investigate the contracts awarded to the firm McKinsey, the Bloc Québécois is in turn calling for an investigation by the Commissioner of Lobbying.
MP René Villemure sent a letter to Lobbying Commissioner Nancy Bélanger, officially asking her to open an investigation to determine whether the consulting firm had indeed “carried out lobbying activities” and whether it should have been registered in Canada’s lobbyists registry under the law.
Radio-Canada revealed on Monday that McKinsey is absent from the federal register, but also from those of Quebec and Ontario.
The Conservatives again quoted in parliamentary committee on Monday an email sent by Kevin d’Entremont, one of McKinsey’s partners, to an official from the Department of Public Services and Procurement on March 26, 2020 to suggest a meeting on the avenues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is on the existence of this written exchange that the Bloc Québécois relies to make its request.
Minister Helena Jaczek said neither she nor her staff have had contact with McKinsey. Deputy Minister Paul Thompson indicated that there could be contacts in the case of already existing contracts.
Elected officials are trying to shed light on the hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts awarded to the consulting firm since the election of Justin Trudeau’s government in 2015. The amount for 24 contracts awarded by the Ministry of Public Services and Procurement amounts to 104.6 million and does not include those granted by other departments.
During his testimony Thursday, the former big boss of the firm McKinsey, Dominic Barton, argued that he had nothing to do with the hundred million dollars in federal contracts awarded to his former employer. He was named Canada’s ambassador to China in 2019, the year after he left the multinational.