{"id":105908,"date":"2025-08-29T17:39:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T17:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/105908\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T17:39:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T17:39:08","slug":"carney-appoints-former-head-of-trans-mountain-to-lead-new-major-projects-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/105908\/","title":{"rendered":"Carney appoints former head of Trans Mountain to lead new major projects office"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Dawn Farrell, who was the CEO of Trans Mountain before transitioning to board chair in 2024, oversaw the completion of the Tran Mountain pipeline.Todd Korol\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney has tapped Dawn Farrell, a veteran energy industry executive and former head of Trans Mountain, to lead a new office responsible for fast-tracking infrastructure projects of national interest. <\/p>\n

The prime minister\u2019s office announced in a news release on Friday that Ms. Farrell, who oversaw the completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, will serve as the chief executive officer of the Major Projects Office, which will be headquartered in Calgary.<\/p>\n

The office\u2019s mandate is to \u201cserve as a single point of contact\u201d to get projects built faster, according to the release. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt will do so in two principal ways. First, by streamlining and accelerating regulatory approval processes. Second, by helping to structure and co-ordinate financing of these projects as needed,\u201d the prime minister\u2019s office said. <\/p>\n

Ottawa to back port expansions as part of infrastructure push<\/a><\/p>\n

Ms. Farrell\u2019s appointment has been well-received by members of the business community, who praise her breadth of experience in the energy sector and track record for getting difficult projects completed.<\/p>\n

Ms. Farrell was the president and chief executive officer of Trans Mountain, before transitioning to board chair in 2024. She\u2019s held a number of other executive positions in the energy sector, including at TransAlta.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is someone who has proven to be able to navigate some very challenging issues and projects, and the Trans Mountain project stands as a testament to her fortitude,\u201d said Deborah Yedlin, president of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n

Goldy Hyder, CEO of the Business Council of Canada described Ms. Farrell as a \u201cno-nonsense\u201d kind of leader who gets the job done. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur business community (and) Canadians more broadly should be appreciating that someone of this calibre, capability and experience is leaning in to serve the public at a time where it\u2019s most needed,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Ms. Yedlin said opening the office in Calgary also sends \u201ca signal that the government recognizes the importance of resource development of the energy sector and Canada\u2019s economic future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Farrell CEO forged her reputation as a decisive leader by guiding power producer TransAlta Ltd. through a financial crisis triggered by the Alberta government\u2019s 2015 decision to rapidly phase out coal-fuelled power plants. <\/p>\n

A year after Ms. Farrell retired from TransAlta, where she spent 35 years, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recruited the then 61-year-old in 2021 to finish construction on the expansion of the government-owned Trans Mountain Corp. pipeline. <\/p>\n

Indigenous leaders on lessons learned from Trans Mountain as Carney aims to fast-track major projects<\/a><\/p>\n

At the time, the $34-billion project was massively over budget, largely due to COVID-19 pandemic-related costs. Ms. Farrell got the job done, working closely with Indigenous groups to win acceptance of a pipeline that crossed numerous First Nations and trench digging that unearthed 80,000 artifacts.<\/p>\n

Ms. Farrell, a Calgary native, has strong ties to both Indigenous leaders and the tight-knit group of engineers and financiers who run the oil patch. She served for two years as a director of the country\u2019s largest energy producer, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., alongside billionaire executive chair Murray Edwards. <\/p>\n

Mr. Carney vowed during the federal election campaign to get the country back in the business of building big things. He promised his government would approve major resource and infrastructure projects of national interest in two years, and earmark $5 billion for a new trade diversification corridor fund.<\/p>\n

Opinion: A nation-building project list alone won\u2019t build a nation<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Carney\u2019s focus on getting projects built faster was in part a response to the threat U.S. tariffs posed for Canadian businesses and workers.<\/p>\n

The prime minister\u2019s office said the government will announce the first set of projects in the coming weeks. It will announce next month the membership of the Indigenous Advisory Council, which will counsel the MPO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Dawn Farrell, who was the CEO of Trans Mountain before transitioning to board…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-105908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}