Conservative MP John Brassard says asking companies to top up staff salaries is akin to letting them buy approvals for their development projects.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Conservatives slammed the Carney government’s Major Projects Office for its approach to private-sector recruitment, calling it an ethical affront that allows corporate insiders a chance to buy favourable decisions by Ottawa.
Public-sector unions also called the MPO’s recruitment drive on Bay Street a slap in the face at a time of job cuts.
Their criticisms Thursday followed a Globe and Mail story about the MPO’s efforts to poach junior and mid-career employees on Bay Street and at large corporations.
Six sources told The Globe the staffing requests sometimes come across as directives, and the MPO has asked private-sector sponsors to consider topping up pay for the employees that they loan to the government, opening up ethical concerns.
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The Globe is not naming the sources, who are spread across capital markets, banking and S&P/TSX 60 corporations, because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
The Major Projects Office, established in August, is responsible for finding ways to speed up the construction of large energy, mining and infrastructure projects.
That could include everything from co-ordinating financing or convening consultations with project proponents and affected communities to finding ways to streamline the regulatory process.
Conservative MP John Brassard said asking companies to top up staff salaries is akin to letting them buy approvals for their development projects.
“This is wrong, unethical and corrupt. How is this happening?” he asked during Question Period Thursday, the last of Parliament’s fall sitting.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc – the minister responsible for the MPO – accused Mr. Brassard of trafficking in conspiracy theories.
“Only the Conservatives would be shocked that quality women and men with experience in the private sector would step forward to work with a government that’s going to build Canada strong, get major projects done,” he said.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc on Thursday accused Mr. Brassard of trafficking in conspiracy theories.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
The Major Projects Office is central to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s promise to reduce Canada’s economic reliance on the United States amid a trade war launched by President Donald Trump.
Former TransAlta Corp. chief executive officer Dawn Farrell was hired as the office’s CEO earlier this year. She is making between $577,000 and $679,000 annually over a four-year term, after making $6.7-million in 2020 during her last full year running TransAlta.
Ms. Farrell has already made some key hires: chief investment officer Kelsen Vallee, a former investment banker at CIBC World Markets; electricity division head Michelle Chislett, a former executive at Northland Power Inc.; and vice-president Rob Van Walleghem, the chief legal and Indigenous affairs officer at Trans Mountain.
Their salaries have not been made public.
The recent federal budget allotted $214-million to the MPO over five years, providing funds to fill its ranks. But it is proving easier for the office to find retired or late-career bankers, corporate lawyers and executives, the sources told The Globe.
Many are already wealthy and are happy to give back. Hiring junior and mid-career staff is different, the sources say. A secondment could take them off an internal promotion track, and public-sector salaries may be unattractive at a time of high rents and young people struggling to save for homes.
Aware of this difference, the government has asked companies to consider topping up pay while their employees work for the MPO, the sources said.
Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting Thursday, Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson did not address the issue of pay top-ups.
When asked about potential conflicts of interest, he said private-sector hires would follow ethical guidelines, just as he did when he made a similar transition.
In 2010, he moved from Goldman Sachs to the Bank of Canada, where he worked as special adviser to Mr. Carney, who was then the central bank’s governor.
“People are deciding to work for less than they can make on Bay Street. They’re giving back to the country,” he told reporters earlier Thursday. “That’s a good thing.”
The MPO’s recruitment drive comes as the Carney government cuts public-sector jobs as part of a promise to rein in government spending.
Sharon DeSousa, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said Ottawa ought to have looked to that pool of workers first.
“Prime Minister Carney continues to run this government like a private business by relying on layoffs and outsourcing,” Ms. DeSousa said in a statement to The Globe. “Now, he’s building a powerful new office staffed by people on loan from the very corporations that stand to benefit.”
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The MPO has hired some government staff – at least four Natural Resources employees have moved over – but much of its recruitment has been from the private sector.
When asked why the MPO wasn’t looking for public-sector workers, Mr. Hodgson said the required talent is specialized.
“We’re trying to bring in people who have built and know how to build. It’s a particular skill set,” he said. “We need to get the best and brightest for that particular role. That’s something that the government hasn’t done a lot of in the past.”
Another union leader called that answer an insult.
Sean O’Reilly, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, said his union’s members could do the work. Private-sector hires amount to using outside consultants, which the government has promised to scale back, he said.
Outside hires are loyal to shareholders, Mr. O’Reilly added. “A public servant is loyal to the government, we are loyal to Canada.”