As Ottawa’s new Major Projects Office aims to augment development, it is ironically running into a talent shortage problem at the exact cohort it most wants to attract, as Bay Street firms balk at seconding junior and mid-career staff into lower paid, higher risk roles, according to industry sources.
The MPO was created in August under Bill C-5 to fast-track large energy, mining, and infrastructure projects that Ottawa deems in the national interest. The latest federal budget set aside $214 million over five years to build the office, which Prime Minister Mark Carney has made a signature initiative of his first year in office.
Sources from capital markets, banking, and S&P/TSX corporations say Ottawa’s requests to “borrow” top performers have sometimes felt like directives, because they ultimately trace back to the Prime Minister’s Office.
At the senior level, recruitment has worked. Former TransAlta chief executive Dawn Farrell has taken the CEO job and spent the past three months hiring senior staff. The MPO has named former CIBC World Markets banker Kelsen Vallee as chief investment officer, former Northland Power executive Michelle Chislett to run its electricity division, and former Trans Mountain chief legal and Indigenous affairs officer Rob Van Walleghem as a vice-president.
Many of these late-career hires are already wealthy and willing to absorb lower pay to “give back.” Farrell will make between $577,000 and $679,000 annually over a four-year term at the MPO after earning $6.7 million in 2020, her last full year at TransAlta.
The tension spikes lower down the ladder. The MPO is asking for junior and mid-career bankers, lawyers and corporate staff who are saving for first homes or paying around $3,500 a month in rent in downtown Toronto. These employees sit on steep promotion curves, and a two or three-year secondment at government rates can mean stepping off, or sideways, just as title and pay inflect.
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