Evidence of meeting #70 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was mckinsey.
A recording is available from Parliament.
1 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Thank you very much, Mr. Barton.
Finally for today, we have Mr. Bachrach.
The floor is yours. You have two minutes.
1 p.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Again, thank you to all of our witnesses.
A lot of this discussion has focused on perceived conflict of interest, and I think the thing about perceived conflict is that a lot of it has to do with the perceiver, not necessarily the party being perceived. Ms. O'Connell's point that these relationships were very similar under a Conservative government I think points to the larger, systemic issue, which is corporate capture when it comes to these infrastructure investments and the role of consulting companies, their clients and the individuals involved.
I would go back to that Globe and Mail article from 2017. The journalist interviewed “a source with extensive government and private sector experience in the infrastructure sector”, who was quoted as saying, “It does seem cozy and not typical of arm's length advisory processes.” There are certainly people looking at this whole advisory council-CIB-McKinsey situation and saying that it seems pretty cozy, and not something that we would typically want to see when we're talking about billions of dollars of public money being spent.
My question is around risk transfer. One of the main advantages that's often touted for public-private partnerships is the transfer of risk off the public sector onto the private sector. However, we see the bank involved in investments that transfer risk from the private sector onto the public sector.
My question, perhaps, to Mr. Barton, is this: Why should Canadian taxpayers take on risk that the private sector isn't willing to bear?
1 p.m.
Former Global Managing Director of McKinsey & Co, As an Individual
I think the private sector does bear the risk by putting their capital into it. We need to find projects where they're willing to do it. I think it leads to a better outcome. Having the private sector in there I think, in fact, makes a project more viable. It requires that the analysis being done stands up to people being able to put money into it. I think it is better from an overall risk point of view than just having the government do it.
1 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Thank you very much, Mr. Barton.
On behalf of all members of this committee, I'd like to thank our witnesses for appearing before us today.
With that, this meeting is adjourned.