Benoit Duguay, a professor in UQAM’s School of Management Sciences and a researcher in the Chair of Public Relations and Marketing Communications, said he was concerned 10 days ago when the first information about Ottawa’s very widespread use of the company’s services was released “very worried”.
It’s now the case that the McKinsey company has gotten good at everything … Maybe even cake recipes, he launched with a wink in an interview with Radio Canada.
The expert does not understand why, among the many contracts awarded to McKinsey, this company even came to conduct studies related to the world of tourism. However, tourism experts, it rains in Canada. Why did we call McKinsey? asks Professor Duguay.
He is also concerned that the company offers services in many countries, especially for various defense ministries. Aren’t there risks, Mr. Duguay wonders, with McKinsey advising the Canadian Army, the US Army, the Russian Armed Forces, or even the Chinese Armed Forces?
Yes, we can have a specific need [d’embaucher des] external consultants, but for something very, very sharp, the specialist still shows.
However, McKinsey seems to have received rather larger orders and perhaps less precise targets. This does nothing to reassure Mr. Duguay.
The latter also believes that doing business with any government in the world gives the impression that it is a supranational government.
Millions everywhere, including in La Défense
New information from Radio-Canada shows Ottawa has offered McKinsey at least $34 million in Defense-related contracts since 2021.
It is this ministry that has resorted to this company the most. The company has played a role in modernizing the Royal Canadian Navy, promoting cultural diversity in defense and the system for handling complaints, including those about sexual misconduct in the military.
These dozens of contracts awarded by the Trudeau government will be the subject of a parliamentary inquiry, the conduct of which was enforced by the opposition in a position of strength within the Committee on Government Operations and Budget Estimates. Under pressure, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also asked two ministers to review McKinsey’s contract award.
In a response Friday night, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), responsible for most of the federal government’s purchases, confirmed that they spent a total of $101.4 million on 23 contracts signed over the past seven years.
A parliamentary question on Wednesday
On the part of the federal opposition parties, we reiterate the importance of conducting an investigation to better understand what was asked of McKinsey in exchange for the various contracts.
It will be necessary to have access to unedited contracts, stresses Christine Normandin, deputy of the Bloc Québécois.
She believes it is necessary to prevent the government from wrapping itself in the confidentiality of agreements with the company.
It’s a question of transparency, which is lost when you mandate a private company of this size, the MP judged.
“We are moving more and more in the direction of the federal government stepping down in favor of a private company. »
— A quote from Christine Normandin, MP for the Bloc Québécois
His Conservative colleague Gérard Deltell goes so far as to describe Ottawa’s contracts with McKinsey as “cash machines”.
These are disturbing revelations, he said of the new information released by Radio-Canada.
Questions have to be asked and answers found.
The Conservative MP believes it is normal for a government to award contracts, but the extent of the links between McKinsey and the Trudeau government justifies elected officials in the House of Commons examining these files.
Said investigation, specifies Alexandre Boulerice of the New Democratic Party, will begin next Wednesday.
Perhaps it would then be necessary to move on to a public inquiry, he says.
Mr Boulerice points out that within his party we find this quite maddening; it’s as if the Liberal government has contracted out entire parts of the federal apparatus to a private American company.
It’s nepotism, waste, and we’re worried about concrete results, he adds.
With information from Kim Vermette