Thank you, Chair.
Just very briefly, Conservatives have put forward a reasonable motion to study the issue of McKinsey contracting with this NDP-Liberal government and to call relevant witnesses.
The Liberals are trying to prejudge what the conclusions of that discussion might be. I think we should hear from the witnesses. Some of these witnesses are people who are very close to this NDP-Liberal government, a former staffer who's also someone who worked for McKinsey, as well as Dominic Barton, someone who has been extensively involved with this government. I'm sure they can offer whatever defence there is to be offered.
The fact is we know that McKinsey and this NDP-Liberal government have a very close relationship. Contracts have spiked under this government over the last nine years. There's been massive growth in the amount of contracts that McKinsey has gotten and Liberals would have you believe that the government had nothing to do with this. Somehow, as soon as Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister, the non-partisan public servants were way more enthusiastic about McKinsey than they had been previously.
It was purely coincidental that this enthusiasm for McKinsey swept over the un-elected public service as soon as Liberals came into office. Meanwhile, Liberals were passive bystanders to the things that were happening in the departments that they were supposed to be running. I don't buy that, Mr. Chair, and I don't think you should buy it either.
In any event, let's hear from the witnesses and let's get to the bottom of what happened.