Carney defends $700K salaries for CEOs of new federal agencies

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney defended the roughly $700,000 salaries of the heads of the new federal Major Projects Office and Defence Investment Agency, noting they are taking a pay cut from the private sector while bearing “enormous” responsibilities.  

Speaking to reporters during a pre-budget announcement in Ottawa Friday, Carney pooh-poohed any suggestion that the salaries offered to Dawn Farrell, the head of the Major Projects Office (MPO), and Douglas Guzman, the first CEO of the new Defence Investment Agency, were out of line with his government’s promise to tighten public spending.  

“I think you’ll find that their pay when they were private sector CEOs was substantially higher than the pay ranges that they have,” Carney said Friday, adding that their public sector salaries were consistent with other crown corporation heads.  

Both of them are receiving the highest available public service salary: the CEO-8 band for Crown corporation heads that pays between $573,500 and $674,700. They are also eligible for up to 33 per cent performance bonus pay.

Speaking to a committee of MPs Thursday, Farrell estimated that her compensation is “in the range of $700,000 with base and… incentive.”

The prime minister is paid $419,600 annually while the minister of finance receives $309,700.  

Earlier this week, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre took a shot at Guzman and Farrell’s salaries, accusing the prime minister of giving them “massive” public sector paycheques.  

The promise: ‘Create great jobs for Canadians.’ The reality: send Canadian jobs abroad and create new government bureaucracies to give banker buddies massive taxpayer-funded paycheques,” Poilievre wrote in response to a report on Guzman’s salary .  

Guzman, the prime minister noted, will be dealing with military procurement decisions worth tens of billions of dollars. Farrell, he added, must find ways to accelerate approval of major infrastructure and energy projects like pipelines, carbon capture and new ports.  

“The responsibilities of these individuals are enormous,” he said. “We gotta get this right. We need the best people. And… I salute both those individuals, and others who to come, who are stepping up for our country.”  

Before heading the MPO, Farrell spent decades as a private sector energy executive. Up until 2021, she was CEO of wind power producer TransAlta before being tapped to head Trans Mountain Corporation until 2025. He salary at TransAlta varied between $6.47 million and $12.87 million, according to corporate filings.  

Guzman is a long-time banker who notably headed RBC’S Wealth Management and Insurance group for nine years. He previously was an executive at Goldman Sachs. His total compensation at RBC in 2023 was $7.6 million.  

Speaking from a community centre with children playing behind him, Carney announced Friday a series of new promises that will be in his government’s first budget on Nov. 4.  

First, he re-committed the Canada Revenue Agency to automatically filing simple tax returns for low-income Canadians, a promise first made by the Liberals in the 2023 budget.  

“Using this new system, the CRA’s new automated and free process, they’ll need to just provide a few details, confirm their information on a pre-filled out tax form from the CRA, and then they will receive all the benefits to which they’re entitled,” Carney explained.  

The system will be rolled out gradually and should serve 5.5 million Canadians by 2028.  

He also made permanent funding for the Liberal’s National School Food Program, which was originally a pilot-project for three years. He said his government will include legislation and funding to make the program permanent and then negotiate funding deals with provinces and territories.  

Finally, he promised the return of the Canada Strong Pass next summer, which gave discounts to national parks, museums and Via Rail train tickets for families.

National Post

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