The Decibel - Who’s behind Canada’s nation-building projects?

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

Canada’s new Major Projects Office is part of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s ambition to fast-track Canada’s major infrastructure projects. And the person leading it – Dawn Farrell – will play a critical role in getting those deals done quickly. But Farrell is no political appointee. So who is she? And what does her appointment to the post say about the federal government’s intentions for a generational infrastructure build?Globe reporters Emma Graney and Jeffrey Jones spoke to Farrell’s friends and former colleagues to learn who she is and how she operates. Graney, The Globe’s energy reporter, joins The Decibel to discuss what they found.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

One of Mark Carney's key promises during the election was to get major infrastructure projects built and built fast. We are going to build. Build baby, build. To do this, Carney created the major projects office. The office will oversee these so-called nation-building projects, which so far include, expand landing a port, two mines, liquefied natural gas, and a new nuclear project. There's a lot writing on this office, and the person who's leading it.

And that person is Don Farrell. But who exactly is she? Emma Graney, the Globe's Energy Reporter, is on the show to tell us what we know about her, how she operates, and what her appointment tells us about Carney's grand plans for this nation-building office. I'm Cheryl Sutherland, and this is the Decibel from the Globe and Mexico. mail. Hi, Emma. Great to have you on the show.

Hey, thank you so much for having me. So I want to start off with kind of a simple question, but why did you want to write about Don Farrell? This is a huge new office, right, in terms of executing a really important part of the federal government's plan to kind of get these major projects built. So I teamed up with my colleague, Jeff Jones, who's also in Calgary. And we wrote this because at the globe, we thought it was really important for people to understand who is at the helm of this.

gargantuan task of speeding up approvals to reflect markets more than plotting bureaucracy. And we thought it was really important for people to understand where Dawn Farrell comes from, her background, and how she might approach this role, which is completely new, and no one's ever done it before. Okay, so let's get into what you learned here. So Don Farrell is the head of this major project's office, which we will get into. But before we do, you've been looking into who she is. What did you learn about her as a person?

So, I mean, she's the former CEO of Trans Mountain, and she was at the helm when that project finally got across the line, which, as we know, took an awful lot of time. She was also heading up TransAlta, which is a power company when they made the coal to gas transition. She also spent a long time at BC Hydro. So she's based in Calgary, where I'm also based, and she's deeply respected here as a business leader. You know, she's not a chit-chatter. She doesn't really like, you know, rubbing shoulders or anything like that. She's a relentlessly hard worker. One of her business associates and friends,

Nancy Southern, who is the CEO of Atco, described her as having an iron fist in a velvet glove. And another business associate who's known her for a very long time, Deborah Yedlin at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, said very bluntly, she said, you know, Dawn cuts through the bullshit. And so that idea of her as a no-nonsense, pragmatic leader who just buckles down and gets things done, that was what everybody says about Dawn Farrell. I will know, Dawn Farrell didn't want to talk to us for this piece. I did ask a few times, but that's fine. Lots of other people did because everybody wanted to. You mentioned that someone referred to as like this woman in the iron fist in a velvet glove. Is that because she's like strong,

but also fancy? I think it's because she's very strong and she will get things done, but she doesn't steamroll through people, right? She gives them the power to kind of do what they need to get done, and she builds really good relationships with people, which she did at Trans Mountain, for sure. You know, in Ottawa, she built a lot of great relationships in Calgary with oil companies, with indigenous people.

Like, she's very good at what she does, but she's not going to let things stand in her way of getting the things done that need to get done. Okay. So you mentioned that you didn't speak to her, and I understand that she doesn't really give that many interviews. Do we know why? Yeah, I mean, it seems as though to Dawn Farrell,

the job at hand is the most important thing. She doesn't really want to talk to the media. We're very distracting and can be a little annoying. I get that. And you know what? It took my former colleague, Kelly Kreiderman, also in Calgary, almost a year to get an interview with Dawn Farrell when she was head of Trans Mountain.

And you know what? I asked this question of Mark Mackey, he took over as CEO of Trans Mountain from Dawn Farrell. And I wanted to know what was Farrell like, you know, when the taps finally turned on on this pipeline, she's seen across the line, big important moment. I thought maybe she's going to be really excited. Maybe they got a cake. I don't know. And he went, oh, yeah. No, not really. She just went, okay, that's done. Now we turn our attention to running the thing properly. And to him, he said, she wants the project to be the center of attention, not her. And so that's where she approaches all of her work from.

So let's talk more about her work with the Trans Mountain Expansion, which is this pipeline that runs from Alberta to BC. This was a controversial project that went way over time and budget, and it was finally completed in 2024. What was her role in this project? Yeah, look, you're right. Like, this is a project that ran billions of dollars over budget, well behind schedule. And the project was really bedeviled by so many problems. There was COVID. There were massive rainstorms. There were floods. There were fires. And it ended up as a huge archaeological dig. I think they ended up uncovering, I think, 80,000 important indigenous artifacts. And throughout this entire process, of course, it was still facing opposition. So that is when Dawn Farrow was heading

up Trans Mountain. And so she really had to thread the needle between so many different parties here. And you've got the BC government, you've got First Nations, you've got municipal governments, you've got oil companies that want to ship on the line or will ship on the line. And then you've got Otter as well. And remember that Stephen Gilbeau was Environment Minister, and he was deeply opposed to the pipeline. So she's trying to kind of speak with all of these people who have very competing, I would say, priorities and get this project done. So it wasn't easy, but she got it over the line. Was her work seen a successful on this project? Yeah, it was seen as very successful. I mean, it is worth noting, of course, she was only at the helm kind of at the very end. You know, like there's been some criticism of the pipeline. It was over budget. It did take a very long time, right? All a lot of that came before her time as CEO. But it is seeing as very successful. And it's not just her work at Trans Mountain, but it's her work in other roles as well. And she's deeply respected by everyone I spoke with in the Calgary and the wider Canadian business community.

for sure. So as you mentioned, she was brought in to finish TMX, which is an arm's length project of the federal government. Does that mean that Trudeau brought her in? Like, how does that work? No. So let me frame it in this way about at the major projects office and how she comes to that space in terms of her politics.

So she's really nonpartisan. Mark Mackey, again, he's now the CEO of TransMountain. He said to me, I couldn't tell you her. political stripe, and that's the way she likes it. So when Dawn Farrell first came to Trans Mountain, she had to be, let's say, coaxed out of retirement. And one of those who was key to doing that was then Deputy PM Christia Freeland, a liberal, obviously. So she helped her kind of come out and take the Trans Mountain role. But Farrell is also really good friends with conservative Ronner Ambrose. Right. So there is this idea that that gives her a distinct advantage,

because she's really going to be able to work without party blinders on. And in fact, that's what she did at Trans Mountain. And that was really important. And she's not going to be blinded by political ideology, which can be rare when you get people who are appointed by Ottawa. She's basically just a pragmatist who wants to get things done. And she's not going to take the politics and, you know, make that the central part. It's the project that will be the central part of her role.

We'll be right back. Okay, so Don Farrell is the head of this new thing called the Major Projects Office. Can you just briefly remind us what this office is? Right, so it's brand new. And this was really born out of an election promise by Mark Carney to get big projects done faster. You know, the mission of the office is to get nation-building projects done faster. And I'm taking this from their website, accelerating sustainable growth, strengthening national unity and putting Canada on a stronger path to long-term economic prosperity.

So the idea is removing barriers and getting things approved more quickly and getting them underway more quickly because I don't think it's a secret to anybody that large projects take a really long time to get approved in Canada, to get any kind of green light. So the idea of the office is to hasten that and act as a single point of call, if you will, where they're able to kind of take these projects, look at them, and make them go through the process in the easiest, quickest barrier-free way that they possibly can. Okay, so the Prime Minister has sent the MPO five projects for approval.

Those projects are phase two of an LNG project in BC, a nuclear plant in Ontario, expanding the port of Montreal, a copper mine in Saskatchewan, and expansion of a copper and gold mine in northwestern BC. What do we know about her role in getting these projects done? Well, what's really interesting about those projects? And this is a little bit of a criticism that the office has already faced, or perhaps the prime minister is faced in terms of those projects

that have been referred to the major projects office, is most of them are really at the finish line already. I mean, we're not talking about projects here at the very beginning and they're hoping to be approved and looking for final investment decision. I mean, in some cases, yeah. But, you know, when I spoke with the Natural Resources Minister, Tim Hodgson, he explained this to me in Canadian football terms. And listen, I'm from Australia.

If you want to explain it with sport, you use rugby union. I explain it better. But he basically said, this is about getting them over the final line to score the touchdown. So hopefully that resonates with decibel listeners. but they are really very close to the finish line already. But the idea of the major projects office, too, is that it can potentially direct projects towards streams of funding or look at different approvals

and look at some of those application processes and make them smoother and easier to deal with. Okay. And so do we know what she'll be doing then with these projects to help them get across the finish line? Like, what is her role? Well, it's a good question. I mean, this major projects office has only been around

for a couple of weeks. Yeah, that's true. And she will have to select the best people to head up separate units within the major projects office. So, for example, looking over natural resource development or potentially minerals development or infrastructure or, you know, those kind of things. So part of her role will be finding the best people to head up those offices. Now, the federal government will be referring, indeed has already referred, as you said,

five projects to the major projects. Office. The Prime Minister has also said there are other potential projects that have the potential to be excellent for Canada. So, for example, the Pathways Alliance Carbon Capture Project in the Alberta Oil Sands is one that he has identified. So I think it seems as though the federal government will be kind of looking at things going, hey, major projects office, Dawn, take a look at this. What do you reckon? But I think as well, Dawn Farrell and the major projects office more broadly, will have a bit of leeway to look at those major projects themselves and say, hey, this is something that's nation building. This is something that fits

our mandate. How can we help? But as I say, this is very early days. I mean, the office hasn't even physically been set up yet. So there's still a lot, I think, to be sorted out. And that's what we're going to be looking for over the coming months and years to see where they exactly take their mandate. Because at this point, we're really, really, really. not sure. Does her appointment tell us anything about the Carney government's priorities? Yeah, I think it does. And there are a couple of points to this. First of all, Dawn Farrell, you know, like Mark Carney, has a real economist background. You know, for Dawn Farrell, it's about working at the speed of markets, not at the speed of bureaucracy.

And I think the same can be said for the prime minister. You can look at that as a signal of, you know, this is how Kani is hoping to get things done faster by appointing someone who comes from a business space, does not come from a politics space, and knows how to get things over the line. I think it also is quite telling that the major projects office is located in Calgary. There are two points to that. One, Dawn Farrell did not want to move to Ottawa. Fair enough. Calgary is a beautiful city, everybody, and you should come visit.

But also, though, it does give a nod to the potential importance that natural resources will pay in the major projects office here, right? So obviously, Alberta, it's the beating heart of oil and gas. It's the epicenter of all that kind of investment and development in Calgary in particular. And I think there's also this notion that if you have an office in Calgary, and we've all heard everything about, you know, Western province. is feeling left out, it's a way to Ottawa to kind of throw us a bone. Let's put it that way. Yeah, is this an optics thing? Because I was thinking about that, because she has this background

in the private sector. She headed TMX. She's from Calgary. The office is in Calgary. So, yeah, is this something to appease Alberta? I mean, yeah, the optics are great. But also, she does seem like a perfect fit for this position. And I don't think you're going to be setting up the major projects office and suddenly, you know, Alberta separatism is no longer on the table. But when you look at it, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said, this is a great appointment. Nice one, Prime Minister. I'm really looking forward to working with Dawn Farrell in this role. So it's kind of bringing in all different elements of what the West kind of wants, needs and how it experiences Canada and bringing them into this major projects office that I think it was a pretty

smart move. What are some of the big challenges she'll face in this role? I think there will be a lot of challenges. I mean, first off, you're starting this major project's office from scratch. That's going to be tough. Dawn Farrell is going to have to develop really strong relationships with indigenous leaders and communities. She's already done that to a point through her role at Trans Mountain, of course. There is an indigenous advisory council already, but there has been criticism of the office from that front. Grand Chief Stuart Philip, who's the president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, he has already criticised the office saying that, you know,

the messaging from the Prime Minister has felt, and I'm going to quote him here, has felt less like an invitation to partnership and more like an ultimatum, get on board or get out of the way. So that's going to be one of the things that Dawn Farrell is going to have to wrestle in her new role. but I also think just generally overhauling approval processes and not necessarily the approval processes, but making sure things are funneled through as quickly as possible. And again, that idea of bringing them closer to market speed rather than the many years or decades that they take now while also balancing consultation and environment assessments.

I mean, this is going to be tough. But everyone I spoke with seems to think that Dawn Farrow will be up for it. And one person said, she's going to nail it. Oh, okay. I mean, yeah, it sounds like everyone is very on board with Don Farrell, lots of glowing things to say about her. But what about criticisms? Like, has anything come out with any concerns about her appointment? Yeah, of course.

I mean, you know, on Don Farrell's specifically conservative leader, Pierre Polyev, he pointed out that the Trans Mountain Pipeline was 300% over budget and years past the deadline. There, as I say, she did come in at the tail end of the project. And so, sure, while she has to wear some of that responsibility, a lot of the things that centred rocketing up in price did happen before her time at the helm there, NDPMP, Leah Gasm was also critical saying that the Big Oil, let me quote her, because I don't want to take out of context here, she said, the Big Oil CEO, gouging Canadians for the bungled Trans Mountain Pipeline is the best person to leave projects of national interest? When will the Liberals wake up and stop dumping money into the black hole of resource extraction during a climate crisis.

On the climate question, people are questioning this government's approach to climate. What do we know about Don Farrell's record? Yeah, that's a really interesting and I think a very important question. At Trans Mountain, and when she did speak with the Globe, she spoke about the plan to offset greenhouse gas emissions from the pipeline expansion itself. And she said at the time she really, really does believe that Canada's big oil sands companies, she believes in their stated goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. And she also plugged the Trans Mountain expansion as being,

you know, the number one pipeline in the world from an ESG perspective. So when asked those questions, she doesn't back down from them, but that is also from the oil perspective, I would say. And yes, Trans Mountain is obviously about oil. And I asked Mark Mackie this. He kind of bristled at the suggestion that someone overseeing a pipeline, therefore, is not interested in climate. I mean, he made the point that most of Dawn Farrell's career was actually in the electricity space, including that very real energy transition from coal to gas, and the fact she brought TransAlta into the renewable space, which was not a government policy, she just chose to take the company in that direction. But I think at the end of the day, what?

the decisions are at the major project's office will reflect the climate policy choices in Ottawa. I don't think that Dawn Farrell is just going to decide to take her own direction. I don't think she will be necessarily able to do that. So I think her role as CEO and indeed the work of the office will just reflect what is coming out of, you know, out of Carney's office. And I think that's pretty natural to expect that. So as you mentioned, Emma, there is a lot riding on this. office. This is going to be a tough job. And of course, Canadians want to see things get done,

I guess, as quickly as possible, whatever that means. But what will success look like for Don Farrell in this role? I think that's a really interesting question, because the office is brand new. So where does it go? We don't even quite know at this point. But I think just getting projects done and actually seeing projects happen quicker, seeing projects be able to be able to do. And I think just getting projects done, able to, I don't know, shed some red table, get through that approvals process a lot faster than they're otherwise able to. I think the goal is to bring it from however many years now down to one review over a couple of years, right? And if she can improve those timelines, but also somehow navigate the very difficult space of environmental approvals and, you know,

indigenous consultation and that is really where we're going to see success in her role if she can manage to get that because it's a difficult it's a really difficult needle to thread so the way that she does that I think will be really interesting to watch but at the end of the day major projects office that's the name of it right so you've got to see major projects or else your office has probably failed Emma it's great to have you on this show thanks for joining me today of course Cheryl's great to see you thanks so much That was Emma Graney, the Globe's energy reporter. That's it for today. I'm Cheryl Sutherland.

Our producers are Madeline White, Michal Stein, and Ali Graham. David Crosby edits the show. Adrian Chung is our senior producer, and Angela Pichenza is our executive editor. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll talk to you soon.