Canada: investigation into contracts between McKinsey and the Trudeau government

The Office of the Auditor General of Canada, equivalent to the Court of Auditors in France, will investigate the contracts awarded to the consulting firm McKinsey by the government of Justin Trudeau, he indicated on Friday February 24 to AFP.

"

," said spokesman Vincent Frigon.

The scope of this audit is not yet determined, he added.

"Huge sum of money"

In recent months, the Conservatives (opposition) have called for this investigation to shed light on these contracts, which they say have registered a great “multiplication”

2015, when the Liberal party of Justin Trudeau arrived in power.

Garnett Genuis, Conservative MP, recently decried “

” paid to the company since that date and which would exceed 100 million Canadian dollars (69.5 million euros).

The conservative opposition also wants to clarify the links between Justin Trudeau and the former boss of McKinsey, Dominic Barton, whom it accuses of being close friends.

Dominic Barton was the head of McKinsey between 2009 and 2018, then served as Canada's ambassador to China from 2019 to 2021.

Read alsoHow the consulting firm McKinsey would have escaped corporate tax in France

In particular, he helped to defuse the diplomatic crisis between the two countries linked to the arrest by Canada, at the request of the United States, of Huawei's chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in 2018 and negotiated the release of the two Canadians detained in China.

Called to testify recently before a parliamentary commission, Dominic Barton was questioned about the role of McKinsey, accused of having contributed to the opiate crisis in the United States, the contracts made with the Canadian government and his links with Justin Trudeau.

“

”, had hammered Dominic Barton.

"

" he said.

A study by Carleton University in Ottawa found that the total value of contracts awarded to McKinsey nonetheless paled in comparison to those awarded to other companies such as Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC.

In France, searches were carried out at the end of January at the homes of leaders and former leaders of McKinsey as part of investigations into suspicions of illegal financing of Emmanuel Macron's electoral campaigns in 2017 and 2022.