Roundup: The committee goes after McKinsey

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The Commons’ government operations committee met and, as expected, launched a study into those McKinsey contracts, but because the Liberals decided to be tricksey about it, they got consent to amend the terms so they’re going to review contracts going back to 2011, which means they’ll also be reviewing Conservative-era contracts. But it’s all pretty stupid because McKinsey does very little in the way of government contracts overall (especially compared to a number of other big firms), and this is just about politics and the Conservatives trying to accuse McKinsey of being a “Liberal-friendly firm” because of Dominic Barton, not to mention the fact that McKinsey has had a lot of bad press of late. But this doesn’t touch the overall issue of use of outside consultants by government, and is mostly going to be about showboating, because why do actual valuable work in committee when you can spend all of your time scoring partisan points.

With that in mind, I will point you to my most recent YouTube episode, where Carleton university professor Jennifer Robson and I discuss the rise of the so-called “shadow public service,” and it’s a lot more nuanced than you think. Additional context from Robson below:

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 330:

The major news out of Ukraine was a helicopter crash, killing the country’s interior minister, senior staffers, and one child when it crashed into a kindergarten in a suburb of Kyiv. What we know and don’t know about the crash can be found here, but there is no indication yet if it was downed by Russian missiles. Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency is placing teams in all four of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants to reduce the risk of accidents as the fighting carries on.

https://twitter.com/zelenskyyua/status/1615719966820507684

 

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau spent the day in Shawinigan, Quebec.
  • Anita Anand was in Kyiv to announce that Canada will be sending another 200 armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine (but no word yet on tanks).
  • The RCMP say they’re going to keep using neck holds in spite of ministerial directives not to, and can we just dismantle them already?
  • The Canadian Press fact-checks Poilievre’s statements about the need for bail reform, and it shouldn’t surprise you that he’s wrong about all of it.
  • Jagmeet Singh says the Liberals are “waging war against the working class” and threatening public healthcare. Gosh, if only someone wasn’t propping them up.
  • Both Ontario’s integrity commissioner and its auditor general will look into Doug Ford’s Greenbelt development plan in separate investigations.
  • BC has signed a land, water and resource management agreement with a First Nation in the north-eastern part of the province.

Odds and ends:

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