OTTAWA — Conservative MP Aaron Gunn says Prime Minister Mark Carney’s appointment of Dominic Barton as chair of Invest in Canada reflects “crony capitalism” and could place billions of dollars in investment incentives under the influence of another well-connected Liberal insider.In an interview with the Western Standard Wednesday, Gunn also warned that the agency could be used to advance the Century Initiative’s goal of growing Canada’s population to 100 million by 2100, a vision Barton helped develop..“It seems like forcing out previous heads of all these different agencies and replacing them with well-connected Liberal insiders that are personal friends of Mark Carney and that have spotty track records, to say the least,” Gunn said.Carney appointed Barton, a former global managing partner of McKinsey & Company and former Canadian ambassador to China, to a three-year term Monday.Invest in Canada is the federal agency responsible for attracting foreign investment. The government wants it to help generate $1 trillion in public, private and institutional investment over five years.Gunn said Barton should be judged by his record, pointing to McKinsey’s work for Purdue Pharma, his advice to the former Liberal government and his support for the Canada Infrastructure Bank and federal supercluster program..McKinsey agreed in 2024 to pay US$650 million to resolve American criminal and civil investigations into its consulting work for Purdue, including advice on increasing sales of OxyContin. Barton left the firm in 2018.Gunn said the controversy raises questions about Barton’s judgment.“When it comes to the opioid crisis, that was going on for many years before that,” he said. “McKinsey was advising Purdue Pharma on how to supercharge the sale of this addictive drug. I think that’s some questions that deserve answers.”He also cited an auditor general’s review of $209 million in federal contracts awarded to McKinsey between 2011 and 2023. The review found frequent disregard for procurement rules and cases where departments could not demonstrate value for money.Asked whether Barton’s business experience and academic credentials nevertheless qualified him for the position, Gunn said credentials were only part of the equation.“It depends, I guess, what you mean by qualified,” he said.“We think that is how individuals who are being appointed to lead these organizations should be judged — on their track records and on their former pronouncements and recommendations on public policy, and how those have held up over time.”Gunn expressed particular concern about Barton’s involvement in founding the Century Initiative.“You’re obviously putting somebody there who — that is what they believe,” Gunn said. “This guy was pushing the Century Initiative to more than double Canada’s population to 100 million people.”“We would be concerned that Invest in Canada would be used as a vehicle to pursue these kinds of failed policies.”Gunn said Conservatives would attract investment by reducing regulations and making Canada more competitive, rather than providing politically selected companies with bailouts and subsidies.“We would first of all make Canada one of the most attractive countries for investment in the entire world by getting rid of the onerous bureaucratic state and regulatory regime that has suffocated our economy over the past 11 years,” he said.“We don’t think we should be doing it through this prism of crony capitalism, where basically you’re just rewarding those with good insider connections to the government.”Gunn has also asked Carney to explain the leadership change at Invest in Canada and whether it is connected to anticipated changes at the government’s defence investment agency.The Prime Minister’s Office said outgoing chair Karl Tabbakh completed a three-year term and agreed to remain on the board during the transition. Gunn said Canadians still deserve greater transparency about the changes.“Are they being pushed out by the Prime Minister’s Office, and if so, under what justification?” he asked.“That’s why we wrote the letter, and we obviously encourage the prime minister and his office to shed some light and transparency on the situation.”
