The Trudeau government’s “ambitious agenda” justifies the hundreds of millions spent on outside contractors, Treasury Board President Mona Fortier said on Feb. 8.
Fortier was testifying at the House of Commons government operations committee looking into the issue of contracts awarded to consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
She said on at least three occasions that her government’s “ambitious agenda” required relying on the private sector to support the public service.
Fortier said that the amount of outsourcing is consistent with the size of the public service and that the amount is almost proportional to what was being done in 2015.
The committee decided to study McKinsey contracts after CBC reported that its business had increased exponentially since the Liberals took power in 2015.
“I think we have to make sure that we do focus on the fact that we have, as a government, a very ambitious agenda,” Fortier told the MPs.
She said this is the best way to deliver programs to Canadians. “We talk about housing, infrastructure, even mental health,” she said.
Fortier said the federal public service is “very hard working,” but that “sometimes we do need to complement that work to make sure that we deliver the programs and services we’re bringing forward.”
The minister mentioned information technology (IT) as an example of an area in which the public service is lacking.
She said there’s a shortage of workers to “move forward with our digital government.”
Catherine Luelo, Fortier’s deputy minister and chief information officer of Canada, said the IT outsourcing is a “very normal practice” predicated on a labour shortage.
Review
After the news broke about the McKinsey contracts, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had tasked Fortier and Public Services and Procurement Minister Helena Jaczek to look into the matter and assess whether outsourcing protocols had been followed.Fortier told the committee that her review would be completed by June 30.
PSPC has said that it awarded $104.6 million in contracts to McKinsey since 2015 and that other departments had spent $12.2 million under their own authorities, based on a non exhaustive review.
Fortier told the committee that amount outside PSCP is now $14.4 million.
The minister said crown corporations which do not fall under the Treasury Board contract requirements have also been asked to provide data on McKinsey contracts.
Erhen Cory, CEO of the Canadian Infrastructure Bank (CIB) and a former McKinsey partner, said the CIB had awarded $1.43 million in contracts to McKinsey before he took the helm and no new contracts thereafter.
The CIB was the brainchild of the Liberals’ Advisory Council on Economic Growth, which was chaired by McKinsey boss Dominic Barton at the time.
Jaczek also testified on Feb. 6 and struck a different tone than Fortier on the need for outsourcing.
“I think we need to look at who we’re hiring and where there are opportunities to ensure that we have sufficient internal staff with the qualifications, the skills that we need to perform the tasks in front of us,” she said.
Sean Boots, a senior policy advisor with the Treasury Board, said for the fiscal year 2021-2022, Deloitte had received $172 million in contracts, PricewaterhouseCoopers $115 million, and Accenture $94 million.
Amanda Clarke, an associate professor of public policy and administration at Carleton University, called the focus on McKinsey “a bit of a distraction.”
