Canada’s immigration goal has nothing to do with McKinsey or its former head, Dominic Barton, says Immigration MinisterYesterday

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser stated Canada’s goal of welcoming 500,000 immigrants per yr by 2025 has nothing to do together with his division’s consulting contracts with McKinsey & Firm or previous coverage recommendation from Dominic Barton, the previous head of the worldwide consulting agency.

Mr. Fraser appeared Wednesday earlier than the Home of Commons committee on authorities operations, which is holding hearings into the federal authorities’s contracts with McKinsey and different consulting firms.

“As the one who units these insurance policies, I can let you know that I wasn’t knowledgeable by McKinsey’s work and didn’t meet with them in my growth of this previous yr’s immigration ranges plan,” he stated in response to opposition questions. “The allegation that McKinsey is making selections round immigration ranges coverage is fake.”

Federal officers have stated the overall worth of federal contracts awarded to McKinsey since 2015 is a minimum of $116.8-million. Mr. Fraser stated McKinsey obtained two contracts from his division between 2018 and 2020, previous to him changing into minister in October, 2021.

He stated that work was to help the division in updating its digital providers and didn’t contain coverage recommendation.

Spending on outsourcing to the corporate has climbed steadily every year below the Liberal authorities, prompting criticism on a number of fronts. Teachers have stated the rise is a part of a a lot bigger rise in federal outsourcing, which rose to $14.6-billion in 2021-2022 from $8.4-billion within the 2015-2016 fiscal yr, and warrants nearer scrutiny.

Opposition MPs have additionally questioned whether or not the expansion in outsourcing to McKinsey is tied to the truth that in 2016 and 2017, Mr. Barton labored as each the worldwide managing director of the corporate and because the chair of an influential financial advisory council to the federal authorities.

That council advisable in a 2017 report that Canada ought to improve annual everlasting financial immigration from 300,000 to 450,000 over 5 years.

Bloc Québécois MPs and Conservative MPs from Quebec have raised – together with by inquiries to the minister Wednesday – the truth that the federal government did comply with that recommendation and the immigration division employed McKinsey after that report was launched.

Bloc Chief Yves-François Blanchet has additionally highlighted Mr. Barton’s previous affiliation with the Century Initiative, a gaggle that claims Canada ought to intention to spice up its inhabitants to 100 million by 2100, up from the present 39.4 million. Mr. Blanchet stated this is able to overwhelm Quebec’s francophone inhabitants with non-francophones.

In his current testimony to the committee, Mr. Barton additionally stated there isn’t a connection between his private function on the federal government’s advisory council and the contracts to McKinsey that adopted. He additionally instructed Mr. Blanchet that he helps bilingualism.

Throughout Wednesday’s listening to, Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk quoted a current opinion piece from former senior Conservative MP John Reynolds, who defended Mr. Barton and wrote that Conservative assaults towards him are “baseless.”

On Monday, the committee heard from Procurement Ombudsman Alexander Jeglic, who has been requested by Federal Procurement Minister Helena Jaczek to evaluation federal contracts with McKinsey.

Mr. Jeglic stated as a part of his workplace’s common evaluation work, it has discovered points with the awarding of two contracts to McKinsey, together with one by the immigration division.

The watchdog stated the division awarded a $1.6-million contract to McKinsey for a “service transformation technique roadmap” after counting on standards that “was overly restrictive and should have diminished competitors.” Mr. Jeglic famous that the division obtained quite a few feedback from suppliers concerning the restrictions, however they weren’t modified and the method resulted in McKinsey being the one bidder and receiving an ideal rating in a technical analysis.

Requested about that discovering Wednesday by the Conservatives, Mr. Fraser defended the federal government’s method.

“It’s not my view that the method was rigged in some way to pick a specific consequence,” stated Mr. Fraser.

The second contract raised by the ombudsman, for $452,000, was awarded in June, 2020, by the division of Innovation, Science and Financial Growth (ISED) for financial evaluation providers. Mr. Jeglic stated the competitors generated two bids. After McKinsey was ranked second, officers requested a re-evaluation.

“The response from one of many evaluators acknowledged that he can be ‘glad to delete the monetary analysis e-mail.’” The unique prime ranked bidder was then deemed non-compliant for not assembly all obligatory standards.

“The actions taken and supreme outcomes of this analysis course of go away ISED open to the notion that this contract was not awarded in a good and clear method,” the ombudsman wrote in a report in December, 2022. The report didn’t identify McKinsey on the time, however Mr. Jeglic instructed MPs this week that that part of the report was in reference to a contract awarded to the corporate.

Conservative MP Stephanie Kusie instructed The Globe and Mail that the problems raised by the ombudsman with the 2 McKinsey contracts present a broader evaluation is warranted.

“I’m assured that that is only a small tip of the iceberg of points concerned with the contracts issued to McKinsey,” she stated.