Dawn Farrell has made a name for herself by taking on tough gigs. As chief executive officer of TransAlta Corp. TA-T, she spearheaded the difficult and costly task of transforming the company from coal to natural-gas-fired and renewable power in response to government policy.
Later, as CEO of the Trans Mountain Pipeline system, Ms. Farrell wrestled the publicly funded project – long plagued by public criticism and a string of setbacks that had spiraled out of control – to completion.
Now, Prime Minister Mark Carney is betting Ms. Farrell’s persistence and no-nonsense style will help make his new enterprise, the Major Projects Office, a success. Carney’s Calgary-based MPO is central to his plans for billions of dollars in new industrial developments, serving as a single point of contact to get projects build faster.
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With this change, she will not be in charge of not one project, but will evaluate several that could be deemed “nation-building” endeavours worthy of fast-tracking and eligible for assistance with permits and funding needs.
Her accomplishments in difficult and high-profile circumstances uniquely position her for the job, say friends and business associates.
“She was relentless in her work ethic and tackling daily issues that would have derailed most other leaders,” said Elizabeth Wademan, president of Canada Development Investment Corp., which oversaw the Trans Mountain expansion on behalf of the federal government.
“The confluence of events that TMX experienced – COVID, wildfires, generational flooding – were each in themselves black swan events – but were what felt like daily occurrences in the build."
Ms. Farrell kept the organization focused and on track - in the case of CDEV, with regular Sunday meetings that made sure the public shareholder was up to date on progress and problems as the $34-billion project proceeded.
Nancy Southern, CEO of ATCO and a long-time friend of Ms. Farrell, characterized her has having “an iron fist in a velvet glove.”
And because Ms. Farrell comes to the federal role with no political stripe - a rarity in Ottawa circles - she won’t be blinded by party ideology, Ms. Southern said.
Dawn Farrell, head of the new federal government Major Projects Office, listens as Prime Minister Mark Carney announces five major projects in Edmonton on Sept. 11.AMBER BRACKEN/The Canadian Press
Ms. Farrell, 65, has said the gargantuan task ahead – namely, hastening projects without undermining environmental concerns or Indigenous interests – is “daunting and exciting,” but also deeply personal. “To have an opportunity at this important time to impact our skills as a country, to execute projects that are bold, sustainable and economic, and that fit our collective values as Canadians, is truly an honour,” she told reporters last week.
The ultimate goal is to get large projects down to one review in a two-year timeframe. That’s no mean feat in a country where major natural resource proposals routinely take many years - if not decades - to get greenlit.
The first projects to be reviewed for fast-track approval under Ottawa’s Building Canada Act: LNG Canada Phase 2, which would expand the liquefied natural gas export facility at Kitimat, B.C.; modular reactors at Ontario’s existing Darlington Nuclear Generating Station; an expansion by the Port of Montreal in Contrecoeur, Que.; Saskatchewan’s Foran McIlvenna Bay copper mine project; and the Red Chris Copper and Gold Mine expansion in B.C.
Mr. Carney said the government would refer to the MPO proposals that could be “truly transformative” for Canada but require further development, including the Pathways Alliance carbon-capture project pitched for Alberta’s oil sands.
Ms. Farrell declined to be interviewed for this piece. Those close to her laud her analytical and unembellished style.
“Dawn has this incredible ability to cut through the nonsense and see exactly what needs to be done, to ask the right questions in terms of what the challenges are, what the obstacles are, and find a solution with the right people around the table to move something forward,” said Deborah Yedlin, CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.
In 2022, then-Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland played a role in urging Ms. Farrell to come out of retirement to head up Trans Mountain. The two women had become acquainted several years earlier, during the whirlwind talks on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
In a 2023 interview with The Globe and Mail, Ms. Farrell said the final decision on her hiring by Trans Mountain’s board of directors came down to her corporate experience and – in her own words – because she speaks truth to power and isn’t political. She said she has the trust of both the Liberal federal government, which owns the pipeline and has financed the expansion project, and United Conservative Party-led Alberta, the province that will benefit the most.
Ms. Farrell’s appointment may help smooth over some of Ottawa’s tensions with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who has been a vocal critic of various federal policies that she believes stymie investment in oil and gas.
“I have great respect for Dawn Farrell,” Ms. Smith said recently. “Not only did she take over a very difficult situation with getting Trans Mountain pipeline to the finish line successfully, but she also had an incredible career in corporate Calgary.”
The MPO role’s mix of policy, economics and nation-building potential was “the right lure in the water to get her attention” and draw Ms. Farrell out of retirement once again, said Mark Maki, who took the reins from Ms. Farrell at Trans Mountain.
“Often, she says, ‘I don’t want to leave a burden for my grandchildren and my children.’ She’s focused on what’s good for the country,” he said.
The Westridge Marine Terminal, the terminus of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, in Burnaby, B.C., in April, 2024. When it was completed the following month, the cost had surpassed the original estimate by $30-billion.Chris Helgren/Reuters
Trans Mountain’s pipeline expansion faced a deluge of legal challenges and social resistance over the years, making it the most expensive infrastructure project in Canadian history; by the time the taps turned on under Ms. Farrell’s watch in May, 2024, the cost had ballooned to almost $30-billion more than the original estimate.
The expansion boosted the pipeline’s capacity to 890,000 barrels per day from 300,000. That has since shrunk the discount on Canadian crude compared with U.S. and opened up access to new markets that have become more important since President Donald Trump launched his trade war.
Ms. Farrell headed up TransAlta during the tumultuous period when the company navigated the coal-to-gas transition at its power plants. She negotiated $524-million in compensation from the then-NDP Alberta government for shutting down the coal units early, and later lined up a $750-million investment in TransAlta by Renewable Partners LP to accelerate the company’s shift to renewable power.
Gordon Giffin, the former U.S. ambassador to Canada, was chairman of TransAlta at the time and described the transition process - undergoing a literal energy transition - as “incredibly difficult.”
Ms. Farrell understands that the MPO is charged not with spending public dollars, but attracting private capital, Mr. Giffin said - and she knows that world perhaps better than someone who has spent their career in government. She’s also fully aware of the speed at which Mr. Carney said he wants construction to proceed.
“Dawn’s experience dealing with the whole shutdown of the coal facilities in Alberta will be a critical part of that,” Mr. Giffin said.
“I think also an important aspect to Dawn is, she is not someone who wastes a lot of time. She doesn’t like to go to dinners, she doesn’t like to have lunch and chit-chat. She likes to get to the bottom line and define what’s achievable.”
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The coal-to-gas conversion also provided valuable lessons about the importance of holistic planning between industry and regulators to avoid unintended consequences, which will be key to the new role, said Ms. Southern.
The fact the office is located in Calgary - the home base of the oil and gas industry - may rankle those who believe major fossil fuel projects run contrary to Canada’s climate goals, particularly if the MPO ends up skewed towards natural resource projects. But Mr. Giffin said Ms. Farrell was not prepared to move to Ottawa, and the location of the MPO can ease some of the West’s worries about being left out.
There is already criticism, including complaints that many of the first projects under consideration required little if any government support, given how advanced they are.
For example, Foran Mining Corp.’s FOM-T $1-billion McIlvenna Bay copper and zinc mining project in Saskatchewan is more than 50 per cent complete and has the funding to meet its production startup target of mid-2026. It also has its permits in place.
Mr. Carney is betting Ms. Farrell’s persistence and no-nonsense style will help the Calgary-based Major Projects Office succeed.AMBER BRACKEN/The Canadian Press
That said, the new office can be useful helping to provide access to government-led incentives that may be available to projects after construction but before production has yet to reach capacity, said Jonathan French, Foran’s vice-president of capital markets and external affairs.
Criticism and public debate are sure to crop up for the office and its inaugural CEO as they proceed with their consequential decisions, said Ms. Southern.
“It’s a tiger by the tail, taking this on. But she truly believes in giving back to the country that has allowed her to have a prosperous career and build a family with opportunities, and that’s what she wants to see for all Canadians.”