The government will review $66 million worth of contracts it awarded to management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday.
Speaking at a news conference in Mexico City at the North American Leaders’ Summit (NALS), Trudeau said he had asked Public Services and Procurement Minister Helena Jacek and Treasury Board Chairwoman Mona Fortier to review the contracts.
“I asked Minister Jacek and Minister Fortier to follow up and look carefully at the numbers and the circumstances we heard about in the news,” Trudeau said in French.
WATCH | Treasury Board President Open to House Committee Inquiry into McKinsey Contracts
Treasury Board President Open to House Committee Inquiry into McKinsey Contracts
“We will look at how these [McKinsey] the contracts are done and we will look at the recommendations,” Treasury President Mona Fortier told Power & Politics on Wednesday. “I think we have to be fair and see what comes out of this exercise.”
Trudeau said the contracts are part of the government’s efforts to modernize and improve the delivery of public services. He said the government was open to making changes if necessary.
“We’re going to follow up to make sure it’s done the right way and see if we need to modify or change the rules,” Trudeau said.
Radio-Canada reported last week that the value of federal government contracts with McKinsey has increased 30-fold since the Trudeau Liberals took office, from $2.2 million under Prime Minister Stephen Harper to $66 million under Trudeau. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) alone accounted for $24.5 million in contracts.
McKinsey, which employs 30,000 consultants in 65 countries, has often courted controversy. She has advised authoritarian governments and provided consulting services to promote the sale of opiates. The governments of Quebec and Ontario have also hired the firm.
On Tuesday, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre called for a House of Commons committee to investigate the government’s use of McKinsey. In a statement sent to CBC News on Tuesday, McKinsey said its work is non-partisan and does not make policy recommendations. The company said it would appear before a commission if requested.
The NDP and Bloc Québécois also denounced the contracts and called for transparency about the government’s use of McKinsey.
Finance council president Mona Fortier says the government outsourced some of the work because of human resources issues in the public service. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
The Trudeau government spent an estimated $432 million on contracts with six major private consulting firms in 2021, according to data compiled by Carleton University professor Amanda Clark.
In an interview that aired Wednesday on CBC’s Power & Politics, Fortier said the government has outsourced some public services, in part because of human resources issues.
“Civil servants are able to do a lot of the work and sometimes we have to contract it out because there’s not enough expertise,” Fortier told guest host Catherine Cullen.
Fortier said information technology is an area of particular concern when it comes to public service labor shortages.
Fortier added that the government was open to the opposition parties’ request for an investigation.
“If they ask for it … we’ll look at it,” she said.
“I think we have to be fair and we have to see what comes out of this exercise.”
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