“I asked to follow up on that, to look carefully at the numbers. » After remaining silent for a week, Justin Trudeau finally said a few words, Wednesday, January 11, on the record use of the firm McKinsey by his government: 80 million Canadian dollars (55 million euros) in seven years, according to a Radio-Canada investigation. Against 2 million dollars (1.38 billion euros) in nine years for his predecessor Stephen Harper. A parliamentary inquiry should soon look into the matter.
Contracts and business ties
In addition to the contracts, business ties between Ottawa and the company have also been exposed in the media. In 2016, then-McKinsey world number one Dominic Barton was appointed to chair a federal committee on economic development. The McKinsey company would have helped this committee for free, before receiving major contracts from Ottawa. Dominic Barton was named Canada’s ambassador to China, serving from 2019 to 2021.
The most important part of the government contracts of the Trudeau era (more than 24 million dollars (more than 16 million euros) is the fact of the ministry of immigration. However, this ministry has suffered a shower of criticism since the last year, due to the long delays in managing the files of applicants for permanent residence.
Failures of the Department of Immigration
“Why did the Government of Canada cede its state prerogatives to a foreign firm? How does this serve the common good? », protested Yves-François Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Québécois, opposition party, who criticizes the “pitiful results of the duo formed, according to him, by the firm and the Ministry of Immigration. In response, Justin Trudeau assured Wednesday that the use of McKinsey was explained because officials have always “seeked expert advice to improve services to Canadians.
In an editorial in the Quebec daily The dutyRobert Dutrisac discusses McKinsey’s ability to infiltrate the organizations it advises and “to make oneself indispensable” to then gather information that reinforces « son expertise transnationale ». It describes a strategy “sprawling” who seems to have “wonderful market” in Canada and France.
The power of consultants
Does Canada abdicate to the consultants? No doubt for André Lamoureux, lecturer in political science at the University of Quebec, in Montreal: “When there is a lack of competence in central files, we call on the private sector, I understand that. The problem here is that this recourse becomes an operating rule. »
On its website, McKinsey maintains that the contracts with Ottawa comply with the law. She says her work with the government is “entirely non-partisan” and that she does not formulate “no recommendations on immigration policies, or on any other subject whatsoever”. In France, the Senate had concluded, in a report, that for the State the use of consultants was now in order “reflex”.