Madam Speaker, here in the House of Commons, Conservatives have repeatedly made our priorities clear. We stand for the common sense of the common people. We stand for the common good. We defend the interests of everyday, extraordinary Canadians, who work hard and play by the rules. They are people who expect their tax dollars to be treated with respect and who expect a government to uphold the idea of a common citizenship aimed at securing the common good together, rather than elites who try to divide us.
The sad reality is that, for nine years, we have been governed by a radical NDP-Liberal coalition that has sought to advance the interests of well-connected insider elites at the expense of the common people. That is no more evident than in the case of the government's cozy relationship with the elite insider consultants at McKinsey.
I am following up tonight on a question I asked about the government's close relationship with McKinsey and work done by the Auditor General on that. This work revealed that, in about 200 million dollars' worth of contracts, most did not properly follow the rules. The government was clearly making efforts to support McKinsey.
How this came about was that Dominic Barton, who is closely associated with the Prime Minister and people in his inner circle, was given the role of senior economic adviser to the government. In the context of that role, he had access to the Prime Minister to provide advice and so on. At the time, he was the managing partner for McKinsey. At the same time, consultants at McKinsey who were working under him were selling to the government.
Consultants were able to take advantage of this relationship to sell management consulting contracts to the government. That preferential relationship really benefited McKinsey. It allowed McKinsey to do more business under the Liberals, by massive amounts, than it ever had before. From the beginning, the government was serving the interests of well-connected, elite insiders. It has come to do so more over time.
What did Canadians get for these hundreds of millions of dollars that were sent to McKinsey, which the Auditor General said did not follow the rules? We received advice that could and should have been offered from within the public service.
Meanwhile, who are these consultants at McKinsey, the people the Liberals have chosen to be preferred beneficiaries of these advice contracts in government? McKinsey has a sordid record of involvement in scandal all over the world. Most notably, McKinsey advised Purdue Pharma on how to supercharge sales of opioids and, effectively, supercharge the opioid crisis.
This is another example, frankly, of how insider elites were able to cash in at the expense of common people. Many everyday people were prescribed opioids as a result of the false overpromotion of these products by Purdue, which was aided by McKinsey. In fact, they were disproportionately working Canadians; maybe because of physical labour, they were more likely to have workplace-related physical pain. This led to addiction, resulting in so much pain and suffering, which continues today.
The elite insiders at Purdue and at McKinsey were able to cash in, and they are still benefiting from government policy. Purdue produces Dilaudid for government-funded so-called safe supply programs, and McKinsey has benefited greatly from contracts with the government.
Why is the government so bent on supporting McKinsey instead of advancing the interests of the common people? It is a real shame.