Dominic Barton, the new head from the Liberal government’s economic advisory council, honed his leadership knowledge of Asia and his appointment Monday offers clues about the economic direction the government might be consuming the coming years.
Barton may be the head of worldwide consulting giant McKinsey & Co., a famously discreet and prestigious management firm that consults some of the world’s largest corporations. Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced his appointment to the council in the financial update, with further appointees set to become named shortly.
A source close 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 individuals the planet,” the origin told the Financial Post.
He added that many are surprised to learn that he is Canadian, as numerous from the executives in similar roles in many cases are Americans or Europeans with deep global connections.
The goal of Morneau’s advisory council is to provide direction and advice on the way the Canadian government can foster economic growth as the economy continues to reel from the crash in oil prices.
Barton’s appointment partially telegraphs information 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 up the consulting firm’s office in South Korea 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 control of 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 continues to have close relations to businesses in Asia, despite being based in London since 2009. He is the Chairman from the International Advisory Committee towards the President of South Korea on National Future and Vision as well as sits on the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada’s board of directors.
Barton was created in Kampala, Uganda, in 1962 to some missionary father and a nurse mother. The family later went on to settle in Sardis, to the south of Chilliwack, B.C. He studied economics at the University of B.C. and then at Oxford on the Rhodes Scholarship, prior to going onto spend his career with McKinsey for the following 29 years.
The Financial Times wrote in an interview with him in 2010, after overtaking the very best job at McKinsey, that he’s a keen marathon runner who gets up at 6 a.m. and runs every other morning before starting work, saying that he brings a “distance runner’s stamina towards the job.”
His role within the advisory council comes in a critical time for the Canadian economy. Economists forecast that gdp will struggle to grow by more than one per cent this season – one of the weakest readings since the 2009 recession.
Morneau said Monday the worsening economic outlook implies that next year’s federal deficit will hit $18.4 billion – even before factoring in spending promises made during last year’s election campaign. The Liberal government promises to spend many billions on infrastructure in the future years in an effort to boost economic growth.
Morneau has stated he intends to leverage both public sector and sector experts as part of his advisory panel to put together a growth technique for Canada. Earlier this month, he held a closed door meeting with economists in Toronto to collect suggestions about techniques to stoke growth.
jshmuel@nationalpost.com
Twitter.com/jshmuel
