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Dominic Barton, the brand new head of the Liberal government’s economic advisory council, honed his leadership expertise in Asia and his appointment Monday offers clues concerning the economic direction the government might be taking in the coming years.
Barton may be the head of global consulting giant McKinsey & Co., a famously discreet and prestigious management firm that consults a few of the world’s largest corporations. Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced his appointment to the council in his financial update, with further appointees set to be named shortly.
A source near to Barton who spoke on background said that the chief fields calls from everyone from “the Vatican to the Iranian government.”
“He is probably the most connected people in the world,” the source told the Financial Post.
He added that many are surprised to understand that he’s Canadian, as numerous from the executives in similar roles are often Americans or Europeans with deep global connections.
The objective of Morneau’s advisory council will be to provide direction and advice on the way the Canadian government can foster economic growth as the economy is constantly on the reel from the crash in oil prices.
Barton’s appointment partially telegraphs details about the government government’s economic intentions.
He has partners to business and government in Asia, carrying out a decade of developing McKinsey’s practice around the continent. He headed in the consulting firm’s office in Columbia from 2000 to 2004 and served as McKinsey’s chairman of Asia from 2004 to 2009 in Shanghai.
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In 2009, he took over the leadership of McKinsey from Ian Davis, his highly respected British predecessor. Barton was elected as md through the firm’s 400 directors in ’09, by all accounts an overwhelmingly popular choice following his successful leadership of the firm’s Asian practice.
Barton retains close relations to businesses in Asia, despite being located in London since 2009. He is the Chairman of the International Advisory Committee towards the President of South Korea on National Future and Vision and also sits around the Asia Pacific First step toward Canada’s board of directors.
Barton was born in Kampala, Uganda, in 1962 to a missionary father and a nurse mother. The household later continued to settle in Sardis, towards the south of Chilliwack, B.C. He studied economics in the University of B.C. and then at Oxford on the Rhodes Scholarship, before going on to spend his career with McKinsey for the following 29 years.
The Financial Times wrote within an interview with him in 2010, after taking over the top job at McKinsey, that he is a keen marathon runner who gets up at 6 a.m. and runs almost every other morning before beginning work, stating that he brings a “distance runner’s stamina to the job.”
His role in the advisory council comes in a critical here we are at the Canadian economy. Economists forecast that gross domestic product will struggle to grow by several per cent this season Body from the weakest readings because the 2009 recession.
Morneau said Monday that the worsening economic outlook implies that next year’s federal deficit will hit $18.4 billion – before factoring in spending promises made during last year’s election campaign. The Liberal government promises to spend tens of billions on infrastructure in the coming years as a way to boost economic growth.
Morneau has said he intends to leverage both public sector and sector experts in their advisory panel to put together a growth strategy for Canada. Earlier this month, he held a closed door ending up in economists in Toronto to gather advice on techniques to stoke growth.
jshmuel@nationalpost.com
Twitter.com/jshmuel
