The Conservatives are calling for Canada's auditor general to investigate the Liberal government's contracted with consulting firm McKinsey & Company, which has past ties to China and the global opioid crisis..McKinsey has received more than $100 million in government contracts since the Liberals first came to power in 2015.."We don't trust the Liberals to investigate themselves. We don't trust the two ministers who are responsible for procurement and for the Treasury Board to be the ones investigating their own conduct in this respect," Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, SK) said during a press conference on Monday. ."That's why we think an independent investigation of the auditor general is important.".Genuis said while McKinsey received at least $120 million from the federal government, senior public servants had said they have "no idea" what the company did in return for the contacts. He said Canadians "deserve answers" on exactly how much money was spent and what value they got for the contracts..Conservatives have criticized former ambassador to China and McKinsey's former global managing director Dominic Barton, suggesting he was a close friend of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, QC), which allowed the firm to get more contracts from the federal government..But last week, Barton told a House of Commons committee probing the contracts that the two men are merely acquaintances. He also claimed to have played no part in any contracts granted to McKinsey over the past few decades..Procurement Minister Helena Jaczek (Markham—Stouffville, ON) has already said the government is doing a "full review" of the McKinsey contracts to make sure they are in alignment with the Treasury Board's policies. But Genuis said that is not good enough, which is why the Conservatives will put a motion forth to have the House of Commons endorse the auditor general's review of the contracts..Stephanie Kusie (Calgary Midnapore, AB) said the motion will also call for the auditor general to evaluate the contacts through the lens of "value for money and performance."."At this moment in time where Canadians are facing 40% increases in inflation, where 67% of Canadians believe that Canada is broken, Canadians need to see value for money," she said. "And we're not convinced that the government got value for money with these McKinsey contracts.".Kusie highlighted cases where McKinsey inflated their contract prices by up to 193%, as well as the consulting firm's close involvement with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, which now has a 2.1 million person backlog..Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre (Carleton, ON) first called for an investigation into the company on Jan. 10. "We don't know what this money was for, or what influence McKinsey has had in our government. And it is time for Canadian taxpayers to have answers to these questions," he said..READ MORE: Poilievre calls for probe into $66 million in federal contracts given to McKinsey & Company."These public these consultants can charge hundreds of dollars an hour. By contracting everything out, you end up paying more," Poilievre said. "So as Conservatives, we intend to bring more of that work in-house and use the expertise that our public servants have."
