The leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec, Éric Duhaime, is calling for a public and independent inquiry into the role played by the consulting firm McKinsey with the government during the pandemic.
“I sincerely hope that the other political parties will join us today in calling for this independent commission of inquiry to be held in something that does not smell good”, declared the Conservative leader, Friday morning, during a press briefing in the riding of Chauveau.
Mr. Duhaime was reacting to a survey by Radio-Canada describing the central role played by the firm in the management of the pandemic, from the spring of 2020.
The Conservative leader said he was particularly concerned by the government’s “lack of transparency” regarding McKinsey and by documents produced by the firm which “bear the logo of the Government of Quebec”.
He also wonders about the appearance of conflicts of interest in this case. “This firm had contracts with a pharmaceutical company when it recommended that the government discuss with Pfizer,” he denounced.
The leader of the Coalition avenir Québec, François Legault, has not yet reacted to the report. But his right-hand man and chief of staff, Martin Koskinen, made some comments on Twitter in the morning. “McKinsey has helped the senior public service by sharing best practices from governments around the world,” he wrote. “But to claim that it pulled the strings of crisis management is false and even absurd”.
Further details will follow.
To see in video