OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is accusing Prime Minister Mark Carney of handing control of Canada’s federal investment agency to “the ultimate Liberal powerbroker” following the appointment of former McKinsey global managing partner Dominic Barton.Carney appointed Barton as the part-time chair of Invest in Canada’s board Monday night, while naming private-equity executive Gurinder Grewal as the agency’s new chief executive officer.“Carney has appointed the ultimate Liberal powerbroker to head up the government’s corporate welfare agency,” Poilievre said Tuesday.Invest in Canada is the federal agency responsible for attracting and facilitating foreign investment. The government intends to expand its role as part of Carney’s plan to generate $1 trillion in public, private and institutional investment over five years.Poilievre attacked Barton’s record at McKinsey & Company, where he spent more than 30 years and served nine years as global managing partner.“Dominic Barton is the man who ran McKinsey while the firm profited from helping Purdue Pharma ‘supercharge’ the opioid crisis,” he said..McKinsey later agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to resolve investigations and lawsuits concerning its work for Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin. The firm has said its past work for opioid manufacturers remains a source of “profound regret.”Poilievre also pointed to the rapid growth in federal contracts awarded to McKinsey while Barton chaired former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth.Federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations awarded McKinsey 97 contracts valued at $209 million between 2011 and 2023, with approximately $200 million ultimately spent.A 2024 Auditor General’s report found federal organizations frequently disregarded contracting policies and often failed to demonstrate that the contracts delivered value for money.The audit found examples where officials failed to explain why contracts were necessary, clearly identify expected results or confirm that promised work had been delivered. It did not find evidence of political direction in awarding the contracts.“Now he will help insiders get billions in handouts, bailouts and carve-outs, paid for by you,” Poilievre said.He also criticized Barton’s record in China, accusing him of working closely with Beijing and refusing to condemn the Chinese government’s treatment of Uyghurs as genocide.Barton served as Canada’s ambassador to China from 2019 to 2021. He is currently chair of mining giant Rio Tinto and LeapFrog Investments.Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner focused her criticism on Barton’s involvement with the Century Initiative, which advocates growing Canada’s population to 100 million by 2100.“As head of the Century Initiative, Mr. Barton advocated for the mass immigration that contributed to housing shortages, youth unemployment and wage stagnation,” she said.“In this new senior role, will he be promising multinational corporations unrestricted access to even more temporary foreign labour?”Barton co-founded the Century Initiative and previously chaired Trudeau’s economic advisory council, which recommended increasing annual permanent immigration to 450,000 people.Carney said Barton and Grewal would help attract investment into Canadian energy, critical minerals, artificial intelligence and infrastructure.“Dominic Barton and Gurinder Grewal have the experience and ambition Canada needs,” Carney said. “Under their leadership, Invest in Canada will catalyse billions in new investments.”Barton’s appointment is for three years. Grewal, the founder and managing partner of MEM Growth Partners, received a five-year, full-time appointment as CEO.“The Liberal Club gets rich making everyone else poor,” Poilievre said.
