McKinsey contracts probe will see committee press minister over awards – National

Procurement Minister Helena Jaczek will be in the hot seat during a House of Commons committee meeting on Monday, where she’ll face questions as part of a probe into a spike in contracts awarded to the consulting firm McKinsey since the Liberals were elected in 2015.

The House of Commons government operations and estimates committee agreed to launch a study into the contracts after reports emerged that deals with McKinsey increased under the Liberals compared with when the federal Conservatives were in power.

Since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government was elected in 2015, the consulting firm has been awarded 24 contracts worth $104.6 million, according to data provided by Public Services and Procurement Canada.

Radio-Canada has reported that the Conservatives awarded $2.2 million in contracts to McKinsey over the nine years that party was in power.

Following the reports, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called for a probe into contracts awarded to the firm, a call the government operations and estimates committee answered when it voted to launch the study on Jan. 18.

“We want to know what all this money was for,” Poilievre said, speaking at a press conference earlier last month.

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‘I am not a friend’ of Trudeau, ex-McKinsey head Dominic Barton says amid contract probe

Poilievre also expressed concerns about the potential influence of the firm, and Trudeau’s decision to appoint former McKinsey director Dominic Barton as his ambassador to China for just over two years, ending in 2021.

Barton testified before the government operations and estimates committee last week, where he expressed disbelief that he was being portrayed as a “puppet” of the…