Dominic Barton, a former McKinsey executive, has denied any friendship with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and involvement in Government contract

Dominic Barton, a former McKinsey executive, is under fire as the Conservative leader claims that Barton has a “personal friendship” with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Barton denies this and states that he has no involvement with the government or their contracts.
“I’m honestly quite shocked at what I’m reading in the papers. It’s just incredible… because it’s simply not true,” said Dominic Barton while reacting to the claim.
“There’s this scheme that I’m somehow a puppet master and I find it very sad, and I find it frustrating because that’s not who I am and what I do. And it makes me sad,” he added.

Barton was speaking in front of the government operations and estimates committee during their study into the usage of consultants within the public service.

In January, it was reported that the consulting firm McKinsey had obtained $101.4 million in contracts with federal departments since the Liberals took office in 2015 – almost 50 times more than what they received from their Conservative predecessors between 2006 and 2015.

After years of consulting with McKinsey and a decade-long tenure in Asia since 1996, Dominic Barton was nominated by Prime Minister Trudeau as Canada’s ambassador to China in 2018. He had been global managing director at the renowned consulting firm prior to his embassy appointment.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has raised the notion that consultancy firm McKinsey & Company have received more government contracts under the Liberals due to a “personal friendship” with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. This was strongly denied by Barton.

In response to a number of questions from Conservative MP Stephanie Kusie, Barton stated that he and the Prime Minister had a professional relationship rather than being friends. What’s more, he stated that he had never been in a room alone with the man nor did he possess his personal phone number.

Barton consistently denied his connection to the several scandals associated with McKinsey in recent years. He specifically stated that he had no involvement in McKinsey’s attempts at obtaining federal government contracts.

Barton declared that McKinsey’s activities had been “lawful” but not up to the company’s standards and admitted feeling regretful about them. Although he acknowledged having committed some errors, Barton didn’t provide further details when pressed by Conservative MP Garnett Genuis.

“However friendly you are aren’t with the Prime Minister. one thing you do have in common with him sir, is that you don’t seem to claim responsibility for anything that happens under you,” Conservative MP Garnett Genuis said to Barton after a heated exchange.

During his two-hour testimony, Barton faced intense questioning from the Conservatives and NDP. The Liberals provided a brief respite by using their time to give him an opportunity to respond to allegations that arose throughout the hearing.

Source: National Post