Tory MPs Question Ethics of Using McKinsey to Change Military’s Culture

Gen. Wayne Eyre, chief of Defence Staff, looks at his notes as he prepares to appear as a witness at the Standing Committee on National Defence, regarding the surveillance balloon from China, along with Minister of National Defence Anita Anand (R) in Ottawa, on March 7, 2023. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

Department of National Defence’s contracts with consulting firm McKinsey & Company were under scrutiny on March 20, with Conservative MPs asking the minister if the firm should be advising on culture change given its own track record.

“How is having a company that works with Russia, that works with China—who are meeting today by the way—that has corporate retreats next to internment camps and outs dissidents of dictatorship regimes, produce recommendations positive for a culture that you’re responsible for?” asked Conservative MP Stephanie Kusie during a meeting of the Commons government operations committee.

“Why would we want a company that has been working with our adversaries providing recommendations to the Canadian Joint Operations Command,” she added.

Defence Minister Anita Anand replied that this is the reason the government has decided to strengthened its policies to “integrate human rights, environmental concerns, and corporate governance principles, and supply chain transparency.”

Anand added that security measures are in place in order to protect national security.

Kusie was referring to work undertaken by U.S. multinational McKinsey for Russian stated-owned defence conglomerate Rostec, as reported by NBC News, and for the Chinese state-owned China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), as reported by the New York Times.

The CCCC has been involved in militarizing islands in the South China Sea and was sanctioned by the U.S. for doing so.

Kusie also raised the issue of the firm holding a retreat in China’s Xinjiang in 2018, where the Uyghurs are severely persecuted.

The government operations committee is currently reviewing contracts awarded to McKinsey given their significant increase since the Liberals took power in 2015.

Anand testified that her department has awarded 15 contracts to the firm since 2011, for a value of $29.7 million.

She explained that one of the contracts was to help the Canadian Armed Forces with its “massive systemic organizational change.”

The CAF’s Chief for Professional Conduct and Culture hired McKinsey to conduct over 280 focus groups and town halls with personnel to hear about their “lived experiences,” Anand explained.

“Lived experience” is a term drawn from postmodern social justice ideology seeking to express how knowledge is gained in a context of systemic oppression.

Anand said employing McKinsey was necessary to undertake such a large task and analyze and report on the findings.

“When institutional change of this sort is needed, outside experts can play an important role,” she said.

Chief for Professional Conduct and Culture Lieutenant-General Jennie Carignan told the committee that the McKinsey experts were specialized in diversity and inclusion.

The government seeks to address issues related to sexual misconduct in the military and what it calls “systemic racism,” in part by applying principles of the quasi-marxist critical race theory.

Conservative MP Michael Barrett raised the issue of culture change and wondered if millions shouldn’t instead be spent to properly house Canadian soldiers.

“I do want to talk about culture ... and I look at the $15 million that was spent on these contracts and think, how else could we have improved culture in our Canadian Forces?”

Barrett mentioned living conditions at his “Alma Mater” of the Canadian Forces School of Communications and Electronics in Kingston, which The Epoch Times has previously reported on.

“I wonder what it does to the culture of our Canadian Forces and to the morale of our members ... when they don’t have a place to lay their head during their training. They are exposed to mold, they’re exposed to rodent infestations, not having adequate bathroom facilities,” he said.

Anand said she would continue to do her best for the men and women serving the country.

“We are very focused on ensuring that the Canadian Armed Forces’ living arrangements, resources, equipment capabilities are improved.”

Anand is among a string of ministers to testify before the government operations committee.

Members of the committee have been hampered in their work due to McKinsey contracts being partly redacted.

In an effort to obtain greater transparency, the committee submitted a report to the House of Commons to ask the Auditor General (AG) to review the contract.

The House voted unanimously on Feb. 7 to have the AG undertake a performance and value for money audit of the contracts awarded to the firm since 2011.

The office of Auditor General Karen Hogan confirmed in late February that planning was underway to conduct the review, but there was no detail available on its scope.

In a previous statement, McKinsey told The Epoch Times that it complies with “relevant procurement laws, regulations, and rules in all our work.”

“The contracts awarded to McKinsey by the federal government fall under the same public procurement laws and methods used to purchase all goods and services in the federal government.”

McKinsey contracts, topping over $100 million since 2015, are but a drop in the bucket for consulting work outsourced by the federal government.

Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux told the committee on March 20 that the total planned spending this fiscal year on professional and special services, which includes external consultants, is $21.4 billion.

He said a record $10 billion has been spent in that category as of November 2022 compared to previous periods.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.