Senior partner with controversial consulting firm speaks at Whitehorse conference

A senior partner in a consulting firm that's taking heat this week for work allegedly used by the Saudi Arabian government to target critics was the keynote speaker at a conference in Whitehorse on Tuesday. 

Dominic Barton is a senior partner and managing partner emeritus for U.S.-based McKinsey & Company, and he's also the chair of federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau's advisory council on economic growth.

The New York Times reported last weekend that McKinsey wrote a report that measured reaction to the Saudi government's economic austerity measures in 2015. In the report, obtained by the Times, the consulting firm identified several people who were driving negative conversations on Twitter about the kingdom. 

According to the Times, of the three people that the McKinsey report named, one was arrested, another (a Canadian) had his cell phone hacked and his two brothers were imprisoned. The third had his account shut down.

'Responsible capitalism'

In Whitehorse, Barton addressed an audience at Yukon College, but did not speak about the Times report. Instead, he spoke of "responsible capitalism," and said the "duty of the entrepreneur is to take care of the society in which they operate."

Later on Tuesday, he spoke at the Opportunities North conference luncheon at the Whitehorse Convention Centre.

Barton initially agreed to speak with CBC News on Tuesday before the luncheon, but then ducked out saying he would "return in a few minutes."

When he didn't return, his associate, Calvin Tjandra, asked to see questions for Barton, beforehand. CBC News refused to provide questions, and Tjandra also left.

In a statement on Saturday responding to the New York Times report, McKinsey said it "has not and never would engage in any work that seeks to target individuals according to their views."

According to the Times, the company said the austerity report was an internal document based on publicly available information and it was not prepared for any government entity.

"We are horrified by the possibility, however remote, that it could have been misused in any way."

Conference is 'about business,' says Yukon minister

The president of the Yukon Chamber of Commerce, which hosted the Whitehorse conference, was not available for comment. 

Yukon Economic Development Minister Ranj Pillai said Tuesday at the conference that he was not aware of McKinsey's association with the Saudi government, or that the information it collected had been used to target Saudi critics. 

The Yukon government was a sponsor of the conference.

Pillai also maintained that Barton is no longer with McKinsey, although Tjandra had called him a "senior partner with the firm," and the Opportunities North conference website refers to him as senior partner emeritus with McKinsey.

"I believe at this time he doesn't work with McKinsey," Pillai said. 

"I really appreciate the fact that Dominic Barton came out to speak today. I'm not really in a position to speak about what the global firm McKinsey is doing. We're here today supporting a conversation about business."

Pillai said he was unaware of McKinsey's association with Saudi Arabia.

"I'm not privy to what's been said nationally or globally about the firm" he said.

"I apologize that I didn't have an opportunity to read the [New York] Times. I appreciate you bringing this up today, but certainly I really don't think that plays into what's happening today."

Saudi Arabia has faced intense criticism following the death of Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi government who was a columnist for the Washington Post.