OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney is standing firm on his decision to award salaries exceeding his own to the heads of two newly created federal government offices, defending the move as necessary to secure top-tier talent for roles with “enormous” responsibilities.
Douglas Guzman, now leading the Defence Investment Agency, and Dawn Farrell, appointed to head the Major Projects Office, will each receive annual salaries starting at over $577,000, not including performance incentives. That figure significantly surpasses Carney’s own pay of nearly $420,000, and the $309,700 earned by his cabinet ministers.
Carney’s government established the two offices earlier this year to speed up bureaucratic approvals and drive major economic and defence initiatives. Speaking at a news conference Friday, he justified the compensation packages by emphasizing the scale of their mandates.
Farrell, a former CEO of Trans Mountain Corp. and TransAlta, is tasked with accelerating the development of pipelines, carbon capture initiatives, offshore wind projects, ports, and other major infrastructure. Guzman, a former senior executive at RBC and Goldman Sachs, is expected to lead a dramatic expansion of Canada’s defence and defence-related industries.
“These roles will create tens and tens of billions of dollars of economic activity for this country,” Carney said. “We’ve got to get this right. We need the best people.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre blasted the appointments on X, accusing Carney of “expanding the bureaucracy” and handing “banker buddies massive taxpayer-funded paycheques.” Carney countered that both Guzman and Farrell are taking pay cuts from their private sector roles, where their compensation had been substantially higher.
According to Privy Council Office data, their maximum salary range is $679,100, with a potential performance bonus of up to 33%. When asked by MPs about her compensation, Farrell estimated it would total “around $700,000” including incentives.
Their salaries are consistent with those of other Crown corporation CEOs, Carney noted, positioning the appointments as essential to delivering on Canada’s infrastructure and defence ambitions at a time when his government is also planning operational spending cuts.
The controversy underscores a broader political divide: while the government frames the appointments as strategic investments in leadership to fast-track economic growth, opposition critics view them as emblematic of bureaucratic bloat and elite patronage.