McKinsey doesn't meet criteria for banning company from federal contracts: bureaucrat

OTTAWA -

The deputy minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada says the federal government's ethics rules do not disqualify consulting firm McKinsey & Company from doing business with the federal government despite scrutiny of the firm's global track record.

Paul Thompson answered questions about the firm's government contracts at a House of Commons committee Monday.

He said a Canadian company would be barred from federal contracts if one of its affiliates has been convicted of a crime, which is not the case for McKinsey.

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The company has faced scrutiny for its work around the world, including its alleged involvement in the opioid crisis in the U.S. and its work with authoritarian governments.

The House of Commons government operations committee is digging into contracts awarded to McKinsey since 2011 following media reports showing a rapid increase in the company's federal contracts under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government.

The government says McKinsey has received at least $116.8 million in federal contracts since 2015.

At a news conference Monday, Conservative MP Garnett Genuis said the federal government shouldn't be contracting with McKinsey. "We cannot work with a company that's behaving in the way McKinsey has."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2023.