QUESTION PERIOD — Public Services and Procurement
Procurement Process
June 5, 2024
My question for the government leader concerns Tuesday’s report from the Auditor General. The Auditor General found about 70% of the 97 contracts awarded to the Liberal-friendly McKinsey & Company consulting firm were done without any competition. That works out to $118 million for McKinsey, all while Canadians struggle to make ends meet.
She also found that in cases of four competitive contracts, the procurement strategy was designed and implemented to suit McKinsey. To top it all off, the Auditor General said the contracts often didn’t demonstrate value for money.
In April, leader, I asked why the Trudeau government hasn’t apologized to taxpayers for this. Will your government do so now?
Thank you for your question. What the government has done, and has been doing for at least a year now, long before the Auditor General released the report, is take concrete action to address the shortcomings that have been revealed in the procurement process. I mentioned some of them in the previous answer, but let me add to the previous answer: To strengthen the rules regarding the awarding of contracts, in addition to the expiration of the standing offer with McKinsey which, as I mentioned, expired well over a year ago.
The delegated authority of all departments for professional services has been suspended, and there’s been renewed training for those officials who execute those contracts. The government has also implemented measures —
These measures are after the fact that hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted. McKinsey isn’t the only consulting firm to receive millions without competition from the Trudeau government. The Auditor General is investigating the sole-source contracts given to Accenture to run the Canada Emergency Business Account loans program. Accenture received $208 million which the Trudeau government never proactively disclosed.
Leader, when will the Trudeau government stop the flow of lucrative taxpayer-funded contracts to Liberal insiders?
Again, with the greatest of respect, it’s an important question about the integrity of our system, but the assumptions and premises, I’m afraid, I cannot subscribe to — nor do I subscribe to the conclusion that all of these contracts necessarily were wastes, or that value wasn’t given for the money.
The important point is the government has — over the last year — taken, and will continue to take, steps to ensure that the procurement process is done with the highest standards of integrity and transparency.
