Carney defends paying 2 CEO appointees upwards of $577,000 a year

Prime Minister Mark Carney participates in an announcement at a community centre in Ottawa, on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney is defending his decision to pay the CEOs of two new government offices annual salaries that are higher than those of his own cabinet ministers.

Douglas Guzman, the head of a new defence procurement office, and Dawn Farrell, the head of the new Major Projects Office, will each make more than $577,000 a year — not counting performance pay.

Carney says their responsibilities are enormous and include things like making major military procurement decisions and reviewing industrial development projects worth “tens and tens of billions of dollars of economic activity.”

In a social media post this week, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre criticized Carney’s appointment of Guzman, who formerly worked in senior positions at the Royal Bank of Canada and Goldman Sachs.

Poilievre said Carney is expanding the bureaucracy and giving new appointees “massive taxpayer-funded paycheques.”

But Carney said he needs the best people to deliver on important mandates, adding he believes their pay in the private sector was “substantially higher.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2025.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press