Private sector companies have loaned 17 employees to work at the federal Major Projects Office, according to a document provided to the House environment committee.
The employees come from various positions at banks, railways and energy companies, according to the document — a copy of which CBC News has obtained. The Toronto Star first reported the news.
The MPO, a key policy proposal from Prime Minister Mark Carney, was established to speed up permitting for projects considered in the national interest. A handful of projects have already been referred to the MPO, including a new oil pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast.
In addition to the 17 workers from the private sector, two dozen MPO employees have been seconded from other institutions, including federal departments and provincial and territorial governments.
Seconding employees from various institutions into federal organizations isn’t a new exercise. But a briefing note obtained by CBC News indicates that “participating companies will cover 100 per cent of their employees’ salaries and benefits” while they’re working with the MPO.
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Four seconded employees come from three large banks: Scotiabank, Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada. CN Rail and CPKC railway have loaned one employee each to the MPO.
The list also includes businesses from the energy sector, including ATCO EnPower, TC Energy and TransAlta.
Pembina Pipeline Corporation, which currently owns a 10 per cent stake in the West Coast oil pipeline project, has also loaned one worker to the MPO. No company has loaned more than two employees, the document says.
The involvement of private sector workers in the MPO raised concerns among Conservative MPs who questioned CEO Dawn Farrell and Internal Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc during a parliamentary committee last week.
Both Farrell and LeBlanc said all employees seconded from the private sector were subject to government conflict of interest rules and no employee would be involved in a project that their parent company has an interest in.
But when Conservative MPs questioned whether the government should release the names of the companies, LeBlanc seemed hesitant.
“These are people who work for these institutions who decide to step up and serve their country and help build their country,” LeBlanc told the committee.
“I think there’s a danger in saying that company X provided employee Y. Then there will be a whole artificial, fabricated gotcha moment … I think we’ve got to be careful not to cast aspersions on either the companies or the individuals.”
