OGGO – Intelligence Dashboard – June 5, 2023

Committee & Appearance Overview

About the Committee

Mandate

The Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO) focuses on the estimates process as well as on the effectiveness and proper functioning of government operations.

Studies

The committee mandate primarily focuses on the study of format and content of all estimates documents. The committee also takes part in the study of effectiveness, management, and expenditure plans of central departments, new information and communication technology, cross-departmental mandates, crown corporations and agencies, and programs, expenditures, loan guarantees, contingency funds and private foundations deriving the majority of their funding from the Government of Canada.

An overview of the committee's studies and reports in the 44th Parliament can be found on the House of Commons website. This includes three recent meetings on the outsourcing of contracts.

Appearance Background

Background

The Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO) adopted a motion on January 18, 2023, to conduct a study on the Federal Government Consulting Contracts Awarded to McKinsey & Company. The study commenced on January 30, 2023, and 11 meetings have taken place to date for this study. IRCC officials appeared previously for this study on February 15, 2023.

The committee is examining the effectiveness, management, and operation of the McKinsey & Company contracts. On April 24, OGGO adopted a motion to invite several deputy heads to appear before the committee to speak to the redactions and improper translation of documents submitted for the Motion for the Production of Papers. IRCC has submitted a substantive number of documents for this motion.

The Deputy Minister will appear before OGGO on May 10, 2023. alongside other government departments and agencies including:

• Economic and Social Development Canada;
• Export Development Canada;
• Veterans Affairs Canada;
• National Defence;
• Natural Resources Canada;
• Privy Council Office; and
• Department of Finance.

Environmental Scan

Members of Parliament have been continuing to express concerns with Government of Canada contracts with McKinsey and Company. The Government, including IRCC has been receiving questions on the topic through various channels including Question Period, requests for Access to Information and Privacy, Committee undertaking (CIMM 16.19), Order Paper Questions (Q-924 and Q-978), and the Committee’s Motion for the Production of Papers.

The below topics have been gaining popularity, appearing in numerous press articles, talk shows, as well as social media.

• Responsible use of public funds
• Government contracting processes
• Transparency and accountability
• Concerns over the government’s relationship with McKinsey

Committee Membership

• Kelly McCauley (Edmonton-West)
  

  Chair

• Majid Jowhari (Richmond Hill)
  

  Vice-Chair

• Julie Vignola (Beauport-Limoilou)
  

  Vice-Chair

• Michael Barrett (Leeds-Grenville-Thousands Islands and Rideau Lakes)
  

  Official Opposition Shadow Minister of Ethics and Accountable Government

• Kelly Block (Carlton Trail-Eagle Creek)
  

  Official Opposition Shadow Minister for Public Services and Procurement

• Stephanie Kusie (Calgary Midnapore)
  

  Official Opposition Shadow Minister for Treasury Board

• Anthony Housefather (Mount Royal)
• Parm Bains (Steveston-Richmond East)
• Gord Johns (Courtenay-Alberni)
• Irek Kusmierczyk (Windsor-Tecumseh)
• Joanne Thompson (St. John’s East)

Please note there are no relevant Departmental Correspondence received by committee members.

Conservative Party of Canada

Related Party Issues

The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) has criticized the Liberal Party for their 30-fold increase of contracts with the American firm, McKinsey & Company. The CPC, under Pierre Poilievre, has called for a probe into the firm’s relationship with the Liberal government.

Recent Party Activity

• April 27 – Debates: Called McKinsey & Company “totally unaccountable to taxpayers” (Morantz).
• April 17 – OGGO: Accused departments of not believing in the powers of Parliament due to refusals to provide all the information requested (Barrett).
• March 28 – Debates: Argued the government is supporting high-priced consultants at the expense of struggling Canadians (Kusie).
• March 10 – Twitter: Called the government’s relationship with McKinsey & Company “questionable” (Kusie).
• March 6 – OGGO: Questioned why there were redactions in the information shared with the committee about McKinsey & Company (Kusie).
• February 16 – Debates: Accused the government of allowing McKinsey & Company to set immigration targets and policy (Kusie).
• February 15 – OGGO: Questioned trusting McKinsey to work as consultants given their policy advice in U.S. immigration policy (Barrett).
• Feb 6 – Debates: Highlighted the role of McKinsey & Company in the Century Initiative, and questioned their lack of consideration for including francophone immigrants in their plan (Paul-Hus).
• Feb 6 – OGGO: Questioned the Minister of PSPC for contracting McKinsey & Company based on their integrity threshold, following the rise of ethical issues from the company (Barrett).

OGGO Members

Kelly McCauley
Chair; Chair of SOGG
(Edmonton-East

Topics of Interest

• Advocacy for veterans
• Reducing costs for taxpayers
• Reducing government spending

Michael Barrett (Leeds-Grenville-Thousands Islands and Rideau Lakes)
Official Opposition Shadow Minister of Ethics and Accountable Government

Kelly Block (Carlton Trail-Eagle Creek)
Official Opposition Shadow Minister for Public Services and Procurement

Stephanie Kusie (Calgary Midnapore)
Official Opposition Shadow Minister for Treasury Board

New Democratic Party

Related Party Issues

The New Democratic Party (NDP) are in support of a review of the Liberal government’s contracts with McKinsey & Company. The NDP also criticized the Conservative Party for awarding McKinsey & Company with contracts in the past.

Recent Party Activity

• April 24 – Debates: Accused the government of prioritizing outsourcing over a fair deal for public servants during the PSAC strike (Johns).
• April 17 – OGGO: Stated it is unacceptable that documents are coming to the committee redacted (Johns).
• March 29 – OGGO: Expressed concerns that outsourcing creates a cycle where public servants never build the in-house capacity needed to perform certain tasks (Johns).
• February 15 – OGGO: Suggested IRCC has a systemic problem where the department chooses to contract out work instead of hiring in-house (Kwan).
• February 14 – Twitter: said the McKinsey & Company contracts have grown rapidly under Liberal government and were already at excessive levels under the Conservatives (Johns).
• February 13 – OGGO: Expressed the need to increase capacity rather than outsourcing work (Johns).
• Feb 8 – OGGO: Proposed a motion to expand the inquiry to other consulting firms in OGGO’s study on Outsourcing of Contracts (Johns).
• Jan 18 - OGGO: Stated that a “consultants class” is influencing Government policies. Believes that study should be wider than McKinsey and to look at other companies, such as Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers and others (Green).
• Jan 11 – Twitter: Questioned the government’s outsourcing of contracts awarded to international companies such as McKinsey & Company (Boulerice).

OGGO Member

Gord Johns
(Courtenay-Alberni)

Critic Mental Health and Harm Reduction; Critic Public Services and Procurement; Deputy Critic Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

Topics of Interest

• Environmental protection and climate action
• Adequate housing, economic development, and infrastructure investment
• Indigenous rights and reconciliation
• Return to work and disability management
• Mental health and harm reduction

Bloc Québécois

Related Party Issues

The Bloc Québécois has criticized the Liberal government for their growing contracts with McKinsey & Company, but is hesitant in accusing the current government of wrongdoings.

Recent Party Activity

• April 17 – OGGO: Criticized the poor translation of the McKinsey documents (Vignola).
• March 29 – OGGO: Pointed out that some McKinsey contracts did not have proper signatures (Vignola).
• March 6 – OGGO: Questioned the presence of redaction in French documents that is not there in the English versions (Vignola).
• February 13 – OGGO: Associated McKinsey & Company with cases of corruption and crises (Garon).
• Feb 6 – Debates: Inquired if the contracts and deliverables of McKinsey are non-verifiable and non-quantifiable (Bérubé).
• Feb 6 – Debates: Expressed concern of the major ethical concerns involving the McKinsey firm, and the lack of upholding departmental integrity thresholds when awarding contracts to the consulting firm (Pauzé).
• Feb 2 – Debates: Highlighted McKinsey & Company’s failure to consider the impact of French before recommending increases to immigration (Garon).
• Feb 2 – Twitter: Highlighted the government signing a contract with McKinsey & Company open until the year 2100 (Vignola).
• Jan 12 – Twitter: Expressed concern on the lack of transparency of the McKinsey contracts spending in relation to the survival of the French language in Quebec (Bloc Québécois).
• Jan 9 – Twitter: Inquired on the contracts between Ottawa and McKinsey in relation to the company and government’s goals on immigration (Blanchet).

OGGO Member

Julie Vignola
(Beauport-Limoilou)

Vice-Chair; Critic Public Services, Procurement and Government Operations, Tourism

Topics of Interest

• Quebec interests and protection of the French language
• Against government procurement from Chinese companies
• Quebec independence

Liberal Party of Canada

Related Party Issues

The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) has been criticized for their use of the American management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has noted that the government will review $66 million worth of contracts awarded to the firm.

Recent Party Activity

• April 24 – OGGO: Referred to outsourcing as a potential best practice to bring in expert perspectives (Kusmierczyk).
• April 17 – OGGO: Discussed issues of disrespect for official languages and excessive redactions in papers provided by departments (Housefather).
• March 29 – OGGO: Asked about files from the preliminary audit results with incomplete statements of work and improper signatures (Housefather).
• March 21 – Debates: Argued what should be questioned is if the government should outsource the amount it does and whether the integrity regime needs to be changed (Housefather).
• Feb 6 – Debates: Stated they are open to a performance and value-for-money audit by the Auditor General for contracts awarded to McKinsey & Company (Garretsen).
• Feb 6 – OGGO: Inquired on the scope of work Ministers from PSPC and the Treasury Board will take in reviews of consultant services and awarding contracts (Jowhari).
• Feb 1 – Debates: Stated that contracts assigned to McKinsey by the public service are being studied on how they were chosen, allocated and fulfilled (Trudeau).
• Jan 18 – OGGO: Open to a study on Government contracts with McKinsey. Successfully amended the study motion to study prior to 2015, and include contracts as far back as January 2011 (Housefather).

OGGO Members

Majid Jowhari
(Richmond Hill)
Vice-Chair; Vice-Chair CACN

Parm Bains
(Steveston-Richmond East

Anthony Housefather
(Mount Royal)
Vice-Chair CEUS; Chair CAIL

Irek Kusmierczyk
(Windsor-Tecumseh)

Joanne Thompson  
(St. John’s East)