Latest news with #Sabia
Edmonton Journal
04-07-2025
- Business
- Edmonton Journal
'Happy coincidence' or master plan: How Carney's team full of Quebecers wants to govern Canada
Article content While some believe Carney has an electoral debt to pay to Quebec, Harder said it's important to look broadly at the key players in a government as a collective. 'Public service is a team sport,' he said. Article content National Post spoke with more than a dozen sources for this article to gain insight into Carney's new team, with a focus on the Quebec angle. Sabia did not comment for this story. Several suggested that the influx of senior officials from that province is largely a coincidence, that they got their jobs simply because of experience and talent. Article content If so, it's a happy coincidence for Carney, a prime minister who grew up mostly in Edmonton, has spent much of his career in Ottawa, and speaks French as a second language. But some academics and other Ottawa insiders suggest that the prime minister is well aware that his connections to Quebec are fragile. Article content Article content 'Quebec is important,' said a source in the prime minister's office that spoke on background. 'The prime minister is not from Quebec, and it is important that he have this perspective. Quebec has its own culture, its own identity, and its own language.' Article content The key question centres on the possible effects of this Quebec-heavy contingent in the Carney government, both in terms of policy and politics. Will it help, for example, earn support for pipelines or ports that require Quebec to be on board? Article content Or could it mean new models or ways of looking at these major projects, such as the use of pension funds as a financial tool? Article content Either way, the Quebec element in the Carney government is, perhaps surprisingly, a marked change from the previous regime. Former prime minister Justin Trudeau, despite being a bilingual Quebecer, was often criticized because people from his home province held a limited number of the top jobs in his government. Article content Article content And so far, no matter the ingredients in the recipe or the motivations behind the government plan, it's clearly working. Carney is widely seen as the most popular politician in Quebec, despite his limited connections to the province. A recent Léger Poll placed him and Joly as the two most popular politicians in Quebec. Article content One of his first moves was to hire the Ontario-born Sabia, one of the best-known and most-respected business leaders in Quebec, to lead the government's swelling public service. Article content When Sabia was appointed head of the CDPQ in 2008, former business journalist Pierre Duhamel, who now advises business people at HEC Montréal, didn't like the hire. Like many other Quebecers at the time, Duhamel was unconvinced by the idea of appointing a 'Canadian' executive with a telecom background to lead Quebec's financial rock. Article content Article content A few years later, Duhamel described Sabia's tenure at such a complex institution as 'remarkable.' After a difficult period in the 2000s, Sabia diversified investments, globalized the Caisse, and launched CDPQ Infra, an infrastructure arm that oversees major infrastructure projects such as Montreal's light rail network, and enabled the pension fund to achieve strong performance. Article content 'But what I admire most are Mr. Sabia's management skills and political acumen,' he wrote in L'Actualité. Article content The Caisse is a public pension fund that has been enshrined in Quebec's economy, culture and politics since 1965. Today, it has 11 offices around the world and $473 billion in assets. Article content The Caisse is also the most recent employer of Carney's new chief of staff, Blanchard, who was a vice-president and head of CDPQ Global. Article content Duhamel said during an interview that he suspected that the two men had not been recruited because of their connections to Quebec, but rather to help facilitate new infrastructure projects that Carney would like to help finance through pension funds or private investors. Article content 'I saw that he was looking for people who knew this world, who were able to assess its potential, but also its constraints,' he said. Article content Sabia has said recently at a public event, however, that the major pension funds — Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the CDPQ — are likely not the best candidates to help finance most infrastructure projects because they can be too risky for pension funds and are unlikely to deliver strong returns in the early years. Article content Article content Instead, early-stage capital mechanisms that aren't as risk averse need to be developed to get these projects started. Pension funds are more likely to get involved once a project is off the ground and producing returns. Article content Since pension funds are responsible for investing in ways that generate returns for their beneficiaries, which often means investing outside Canada, Trevor Tombe, a economics professor at the University of Calgary, believes they 'should not be seen as a vehicle for economic development.' Article content Quebec has a dual mandate within its public pension plan, he added, but the Canada Pension Plan is different. Article content 'Whether or not the prime minister wants the CPP to invest more in Canada, he can't do it unilaterally,' he added. 'But I think he should ask himself what the underlying reasons are for why capital is sometimes deployed elsewhere.' Article content Article content It all depends on the economic context in the country. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre recently told The Hub that he couldn't care less about the origins of Carney's aides, but said he fears the ideology of what he sees as a state-run economy. Article content 'It's a central planning model that has failed every time it's been implemented around the world. It significantly enriches a small group of very influential insiders.' Article content Another possible policy implication from the strong Quebec voices is that the proposed high-speed rail project from Windsor to Quebec City could get stronger support. It could also mean greater advocacy for the province's energy sector, government procurement that could bolster Montreal-area aerospace companies, and prioritizing the health of the aluminum industry in trade talks with the U.S. Article content For Sandra Aubé, Joly's former chief of staff at Foreign Affairs and a former Trudeau advisor, if Carney really wants to make Canada the G7's strongest economy, he has no choice but to create a more unified economy that includes Quebec. Article content 'We must not delude ourselves that Canada's biggest challenge in achieving all this is having energy. If we don't have the necessary electricity, for example, we won't be able to carry out any transformation whatsoever,' said Aubé, now a vice-president at TACT Conseil. Article content Another possible effect is that the high-ranking Quebecers may also be asked to play a unique role in advancing the government's agenda if the government needs to 'sell' the notion of some of the government's proposed big infrastructure projects in that province, according to Lori Turnbull, a political science professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Article content The odds of success regarding, for example, running a pipeline through Quebec are greater if high-profile Quebecers are playing a leading role in promoting the idea, she said. Article content Beyond the policy, there are also no doubt political implications of the strong Quebec voice in the Carney government, a wide range of sources say. Article content Article content Firstly, many in Quebec expect that these senior figures, in conjunction with a Quebec caucus of 44 Liberal MPs — more than one quarter of the total Liberal contingent in the House of Commons — will be able to take good care of their home province over the next few years. Article content Quebec Premier Francois Legault stated the case clearly. 'Mark Carney owes one to Quebecers,' he said after the Liberals claimed their best result in a federal election there since 1980. Article content But the flip side, that Carney expects these Quebecers to also help execute the government's agenda in their home province, is likely also true. Article content Beyond who will be best able to deliver for whom, there's also the intangible sense of understanding a part of a country or region. In an interview, Legault's intergovernmental affairs minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said in Carney's government 'there really is a positive change in attitude' and an 'openness toward Quebec' that wasn't always the case with the Trudeau government. Article content Article content Both in Quebec City and Ottawa, there is, at least for now, a feeling that having people from Quebec around the prime minister who know the province, its particularities and positions on language, culture, state secularism and immigration will facilitate a relationship that has often been rocky. Article content The province wants Ottawa to understand its sense of autonomy, but also the need for investments in the province that 'Quebec has its share,' said Jolin-Barrette. 'We sense a greater openness. There is an openness in Ottawa. There is a better understanding of Quebec's issues now, with Mr. Carney.' Article content Turnbull said Carney is clearly trying to show that Quebec is not at a disadvantage because he's from elsewhere. Article content 'There's some politics behind those parts of it,' she said. Article content The Joly and Champagne appointments may have in part been rewards for supporting Carney during the Liberal leadership race, Turnbull said, when either could have been legitimate candidates themselves.
Calgary Herald
04-07-2025
- Business
- Calgary Herald
'Happy coincidence' or master plan: How Carney's team full of Quebecers wants to govern Canada
Article content While some believe Carney has an electoral debt to pay to Quebec, Harder said it's important to look broadly at the key players in a government as a collective. 'Public service is a team sport,' he said. Article content National Post spoke with more than a dozen sources for this article to gain insight into Carney's new team, with a focus on the Quebec angle. Sabia did not comment for this story. Several suggested that the influx of senior officials from that province is largely a coincidence, that they got their jobs simply because of experience and talent. Article content If so, it's a happy coincidence for Carney, a prime minister who grew up mostly in Edmonton, has spent much of his career in Ottawa, and speaks French as a second language. But some academics and other Ottawa insiders suggest that the prime minister is well aware that his connections to Quebec are fragile. Article content Article content 'Quebec is important,' said a source in the prime minister's office that spoke on background. 'The prime minister is not from Quebec, and it is important that he have this perspective. Quebec has its own culture, its own identity, and its own language.' Article content The key question centres on the possible effects of this Quebec-heavy contingent in the Carney government, both in terms of policy and politics. Will it help, for example, earn support for pipelines or ports that require Quebec to be on board? Article content Or could it mean new models or ways of looking at these major projects, such as the use of pension funds as a financial tool? Article content Either way, the Quebec element in the Carney government is, perhaps surprisingly, a marked change from the previous regime. Former prime minister Justin Trudeau, despite being a bilingual Quebecer, was often criticized because people from his home province held a limited number of the top jobs in his government. Article content Article content And so far, no matter the ingredients in the recipe or the motivations behind the government plan, it's clearly working. Carney is widely seen as the most popular politician in Quebec, despite his limited connections to the province. A recent Léger Poll placed him and Joly as the two most popular politicians in Quebec. Article content One of his first moves was to hire the Ontario-born Sabia, one of the best-known and most-respected business leaders in Quebec, to lead the government's swelling public service. Article content When Sabia was appointed head of the CDPQ in 2008, former business journalist Pierre Duhamel, who now advises business people at HEC Montréal, didn't like the hire. Like many other Quebecers at the time, Duhamel was unconvinced by the idea of appointing a 'Canadian' executive with a telecom background to lead Quebec's financial rock. Article content A few years later, Duhamel described Sabia's tenure at such a complex institution as 'remarkable.' After a difficult period in the 2000s, Sabia diversified investments, globalized the Caisse, and launched CDPQ Infra, an infrastructure arm that oversees major infrastructure projects such as Montreal's light rail network, and enabled the pension fund to achieve strong performance. Article content 'But what I admire most are Mr. Sabia's management skills and political acumen,' he wrote in L'Actualité. Article content The Caisse is a public pension fund that has been enshrined in Quebec's economy, culture and politics since 1965. Today, it has 11 offices around the world and $473 billion in assets. Article content The Caisse is also the most recent employer of Carney's new chief of staff, Blanchard, who was a vice-president and head of CDPQ Global. Article content Duhamel said during an interview that he suspected that the two men had not been recruited because of their connections to Quebec, but rather to help facilitate new infrastructure projects that Carney would like to help finance through pension funds or private investors. Article content 'I saw that he was looking for people who knew this world, who were able to assess its potential, but also its constraints,' he said. Article content Sabia has said recently at a public event, however, that the major pension funds — Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the CDPQ — are likely not the best candidates to help finance most infrastructure projects because they can be too risky for pension funds and are unlikely to deliver strong returns in the early years. Article content Article content Instead, early-stage capital mechanisms that aren't as risk averse need to be developed to get these projects started. Pension funds are more likely to get involved once a project is off the ground and producing returns. Article content Since pension funds are responsible for investing in ways that generate returns for their beneficiaries, which often means investing outside Canada, Trevor Tombe, a economics professor at the University of Calgary, believes they 'should not be seen as a vehicle for economic development.' Article content Quebec has a dual mandate within its public pension plan, he added, but the Canada Pension Plan is different. Article content 'Whether or not the prime minister wants the CPP to invest more in Canada, he can't do it unilaterally,' he added. 'But I think he should ask himself what the underlying reasons are for why capital is sometimes deployed elsewhere.' Article content Article content It all depends on the economic context in the country. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre recently told The Hub that he couldn't care less about the origins of Carney's aides, but said he fears the ideology of what he sees as a state-run economy. Article content 'It's a central planning model that has failed every time it's been implemented around the world. It significantly enriches a small group of very influential insiders.' Article content Another possible policy implication from the strong Quebec voices is that the proposed high-speed rail project from Windsor to Quebec City could get stronger support. It could also mean greater advocacy for the province's energy sector, government procurement that could bolster Montreal-area aerospace companies, and prioritizing the health of the aluminum industry in trade talks with the U.S. Article content For Sandra Aubé, Joly's former chief of staff at Foreign Affairs and a former Trudeau advisor, if Carney really wants to make Canada the G7's strongest economy, he has no choice but to create a more unified economy that includes Quebec. Article content 'We must not delude ourselves that Canada's biggest challenge in achieving all this is having energy. If we don't have the necessary electricity, for example, we won't be able to carry out any transformation whatsoever,' said Aubé, now a vice-president at TACT Conseil. Article content Another possible effect is that the high-ranking Quebecers may also be asked to play a unique role in advancing the government's agenda if the government needs to 'sell' the notion of some of the government's proposed big infrastructure projects in that province, according to Lori Turnbull, a political science professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Article content Beyond the policy, there are also no doubt political implications of the strong Quebec voice in the Carney government, a wide range of sources say. Article content Article content Firstly, many in Quebec expect that these senior figures, in conjunction with a Quebec caucus of 44 Liberal MPs — more than one quarter of the total Liberal contingent in the House of Commons — will be able to take good care of their home province over the next few years. Article content Quebec Premier Francois Legault stated the case clearly. 'Mark Carney owes one to Quebecers,' he said after the Liberals claimed their best result in a federal election there since 1980. Article content But the flip side, that Carney expects these Quebecers to also help execute the government's agenda in their home province, is likely also true. Article content Beyond who will be best able to deliver for whom, there's also the intangible sense of understanding a part of a country or region. In an interview, Legault's intergovernmental affairs minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said in Carney's government 'there really is a positive change in attitude' and an 'openness toward Quebec' that wasn't always the case with the Trudeau government. Article content Article content Both in Quebec City and Ottawa, there is, at least for now, a feeling that having people from Quebec around the prime minister who know the province, its particularities and positions on language, culture, state secularism and immigration will facilitate a relationship that has often been rocky. Article content The province wants Ottawa to understand its sense of autonomy, but also the need for investments in the province that 'Quebec has its share,' said Jolin-Barrette. 'We sense a greater openness. There is an openness in Ottawa. There is a better understanding of Quebec's issues now, with Mr. Carney.' Article content Turnbull said Carney is clearly trying to show that Quebec is not at a disadvantage because he's from elsewhere. Article content 'There's some politics behind those parts of it,' she said. Article content The Joly and Champagne appointments may have in part been rewards for supporting Carney during the Liberal leadership race, Turnbull said, when either could have been legitimate candidates themselves.
Ottawa Citizen
04-07-2025
- Business
- Ottawa Citizen
'Happy coincidence' or master plan: How Carney's team full of Quebecers wants to govern Canada
Article content While some believe Carney has an electoral debt to pay to Quebec, Harder said it's important to look broadly at the key players in a government as a collective. 'Public service is a team sport,' he said. Article content National Post spoke with more than a dozen sources for this article to gain insight into Carney's new team, with a focus on the Quebec angle. Sabia did not comment for this story. Several suggested that the influx of senior officials from that province is largely a coincidence, that they got their jobs simply because of experience and talent. Article content If so, it's a happy coincidence for Carney, a prime minister who grew up mostly in Edmonton, has spent much of his career in Ottawa, and speaks French as a second language. But some academics and other Ottawa insiders suggest that the prime minister is well aware that his connections to Quebec are fragile. Article content Article content 'Quebec is important,' said a source in the prime minister's office that spoke on background. 'The prime minister is not from Quebec, and it is important that he have this perspective. Quebec has its own culture, its own identity, and its own language.' Article content The key question centres on the possible effects of this Quebec-heavy contingent in the Carney government, both in terms of policy and politics. Will it help, for example, earn support for pipelines or ports that require Quebec to be on board? Article content Or could it mean new models or ways of looking at these major projects, such as the use of pension funds as a financial tool? Article content Either way, the Quebec element in the Carney government is, perhaps surprisingly, a marked change from the previous regime. Former prime minister Justin Trudeau, despite being a bilingual Quebecer, was often criticized because people from his home province held a limited number of the top jobs in his government. Article content Article content And so far, no matter the ingredients in the recipe or the motivations behind the government plan, it's clearly working. Carney is widely seen as the most popular politician in Quebec, despite his limited connections to the province. A recent Léger Poll placed him and Joly as the two most popular politicians in Quebec. Article content One of his first moves was to hire the Ontario-born Sabia, one of the best-known and most-respected business leaders in Quebec, to lead the government's swelling public service. Article content When Sabia was appointed head of the CDPQ in 2008, former business journalist Pierre Duhamel, who now advises business people at HEC Montréal, didn't like the hire. Like many other Quebecers at the time, Duhamel was unconvinced by the idea of appointing a 'Canadian' executive with a telecom background to lead Quebec's financial rock. Article content A few years later, Duhamel described Sabia's tenure at such a complex institution as 'remarkable.' After a difficult period in the 2000s, Sabia diversified investments, globalized the Caisse, and launched CDPQ Infra, an infrastructure arm that oversees major infrastructure projects such as Montreal's light rail network, and enabled the pension fund to achieve strong performance. Article content 'But what I admire most are Mr. Sabia's management skills and political acumen,' he wrote in L'Actualité. Article content The Caisse is a public pension fund that has been enshrined in Quebec's economy, culture and politics since 1965. Today, it has 11 offices around the world and $473 billion in assets. Article content The Caisse is also the most recent employer of Carney's new chief of staff, Blanchard, who was a vice-president and head of CDPQ Global. Article content Duhamel said during an interview that he suspected that the two men had not been recruited because of their connections to Quebec, but rather to help facilitate new infrastructure projects that Carney would like to help finance through pension funds or private investors. Article content 'I saw that he was looking for people who knew this world, who were able to assess its potential, but also its constraints,' he said. Article content Sabia has said recently at a public event, however, that the major pension funds — Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the CDPQ — are likely not the best candidates to help finance most infrastructure projects because they can be too risky for pension funds and are unlikely to deliver strong returns in the early years. Article content Article content Instead, early-stage capital mechanisms that aren't as risk averse need to be developed to get these projects started. Pension funds are more likely to get involved once a project is off the ground and producing returns. Article content Since pension funds are responsible for investing in ways that generate returns for their beneficiaries, which often means investing outside Canada, Trevor Tombe, a economics professor at the University of Calgary, believes they 'should not be seen as a vehicle for economic development.' Article content Quebec has a dual mandate within its public pension plan, he added, but the Canada Pension Plan is different. Article content 'Whether or not the prime minister wants the CPP to invest more in Canada, he can't do it unilaterally,' he added. 'But I think he should ask himself what the underlying reasons are for why capital is sometimes deployed elsewhere.' Article content Article content It all depends on the economic context in the country. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre recently told The Hub that he couldn't care less about the origins of Carney's aides, but said he fears the ideology of what he sees as a state-run economy. Article content 'It's a central planning model that has failed every time it's been implemented around the world. It significantly enriches a small group of very influential insiders.' Article content Another possible policy implication from the strong Quebec voices is that the proposed high-speed rail project from Windsor to Quebec City could get stronger support. It could also mean greater advocacy for the province's energy sector, government procurement that could bolster Montreal-area aerospace companies, and prioritizing the health of the aluminum industry in trade talks with the U.S. Article content For Sandra Aubé, Joly's former chief of staff at Foreign Affairs and a former Trudeau advisor, if Carney really wants to make Canada the G7's strongest economy, he has no choice but to create a more unified economy that includes Quebec. Article content 'We must not delude ourselves that Canada's biggest challenge in achieving all this is having energy. If we don't have the necessary electricity, for example, we won't be able to carry out any transformation whatsoever,' said Aubé, now a vice-president at TACT Conseil. Article content Another possible effect is that the high-ranking Quebecers may also be asked to play a unique role in advancing the government's agenda if the government needs to 'sell' the notion of some of the government's proposed big infrastructure projects in that province, according to Lori Turnbull, a political science professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Article content Beyond the policy, there are also no doubt political implications of the strong Quebec voice in the Carney government, a wide range of sources say. Article content Article content Firstly, many in Quebec expect that these senior figures, in conjunction with a Quebec caucus of 44 Liberal MPs — more than one quarter of the total Liberal contingent in the House of Commons — will be able to take good care of their home province over the next few years. Article content Quebec Premier Francois Legault stated the case clearly. 'Mark Carney owes one to Quebecers,' he said after the Liberals claimed their best result in a federal election there since 1980. Article content But the flip side, that Carney expects these Quebecers to also help execute the government's agenda in their home province, is likely also true. Article content Beyond who will be best able to deliver for whom, there's also the intangible sense of understanding a part of a country or region. In an interview, Legault's intergovernmental affairs minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said in Carney's government 'there really is a positive change in attitude' and an 'openness toward Quebec' that wasn't always the case with the Trudeau government. Article content Article content Both in Quebec City and Ottawa, there is, at least for now, a feeling that having people from Quebec around the prime minister who know the province, its particularities and positions on language, culture, state secularism and immigration will facilitate a relationship that has often been rocky. Article content The province wants Ottawa to understand its sense of autonomy, but also the need for investments in the province that 'Quebec has its share,' said Jolin-Barrette. 'We sense a greater openness. There is an openness in Ottawa. There is a better understanding of Quebec's issues now, with Mr. Carney.' Article content Turnbull said Carney is clearly trying to show that Quebec is not at a disadvantage because he's from elsewhere. Article content 'There's some politics behind those parts of it,' she said. Article content The Joly and Champagne appointments may have in part been rewards for supporting Carney during the Liberal leadership race, Turnbull said, when either could have been legitimate candidates themselves.
Montreal Gazette
24-06-2025
- Business
- Montreal Gazette
Opinion: Will Hydro-Québec's Michael Sabia really ‘kick ass' in his new Ottawa post?
'No man should be viceroy of India for whom the position is an honour,' the early Victorian historian and politician Thomas Macaulay reportedly said. A rough contemporary translation might be that really big jobs require impressive CVs. Like the prime minister he will support, Canada's soon-to-be clerk of the Privy Council, Michael Sabia — who ends his term as Hydro-Québec's president and CEO on July 4 — can boast an awe-inspiring CV of senior public and private sector jobs. Sabia's appointment from outside the ranks of the senior public service has been perceived as a bold departure for a system that typically turns to the usual suspects. In the words of one supporter, the new clerk's mission in Ottawa will be to push the public service to advance Mark Carney's priorities and 'kick its ass.' Not every commentator has been as gleeful. Journalist Paul Wells declared himself a 'rare Cassandra' on Sabia, suggesting his big-bang beginnings have sometimes ended in a fizzle. Sabia's private sector work is beyond my ken, though I will note that perhaps his most celebrated success, the turnaround of the Caisse de dépôt's fortunes following the financial debacle of 2008, was arguably consistent with the broad trends of the market, though he did steer that fund toward more international investment. Of more immediate relevance are Sabia's recent and conspicuously brief stints as head of the Canada Infrastructure Bank (2020-21) and federal deputy minister of finance (2020-23), in which capacity he helped establish the Canada Growth Fund. Both the infrastructure bank and the growth fund involved leveraging private sector investment in ways Carney appears to favour, but neither has been a triumph. Sabia was reportedly frustrated at the Finance Ministry, where he can hardly be blamed for the ballooning deficits of the COVID era. But the experience is a reminder that no one walks on water. In full disclosure, Sabia was my first director at Finance Canada. I lean heavily toward assessing him as very smart. And there can be little doubt that he is committed to helping Carney advance his priorities, including spending less on government operations. I'm also told the two are on good personal terms. But how will they work together? Both are used to being the smartest guy in the room (or thus perceived) and neither seems prostrate with modesty or undue gentleness. And while Sabia, like Carney, has a long record of dedicated public service and a reputation to uphold, he does not need the job for the sake of his pension. I'm crossing my fingers that this dynamic produces a frank and lively exchange of perspectives and a departure from the tradition of public servant as courtier. And what of the public service that will advise on and implement this agenda? Carney has given his ministers a single mandate letter, not the detailed instructions that have grown more prescriptive over the years. Instead, Carney has said ministers 'will be expected and empowered to lead, and to bring new ideas, clear focus and decisive action.' Will what ministers, and by extension the public servants who support them, lose in explicit direction be made up for with an opportunity to generate ideas and show initiative? Carney has already demonstrated a confident willingness to depart from expectations, and Sabia seems similarly unwedded to the status quo. Perhaps each will be a one-man show in his respective sphere, but it's also possible that both will be open to genuinely innovative ideas from the people who advise them. However, I wouldn't anticipate an abundance of patience from either. Translation: They may well kick ass. As for Macaulay's viceregal admonition, beyond impressive CVs, he may also have been speaking of the importance of being less concerned with one's own prestige than with the public good. On this score, and despite two significant egos at the top, I remain hopeful.
Ottawa Citizen
18-06-2025
- Business
- Ottawa Citizen
Will Michael Sabia really 'kick ass' in the public service?
'No man should be viceroy of India for whom the position is an honour,' the early Victorian historian and politician Thomas Macaulay reportedly said. A rough contemporary translation might be that really big jobs require impressive CVs. Article content Like the prime minister he will support, Canada's soon-to-be clerk of the Privy Council, Michael Sabia, can boast an awe-inspiring résumé of senior public and private sector jobs between which he is usually said to have moved 'seamlessly.' Common adjectives for Sabia include 'smart' and 'disruptive' (which in the private sector often means willing to cut jobs). Sabia's appointment from outside the ranks of the senior public service has been perceived as a bold (though not unprecedented) departure for a system that typically turns to the usual suspects. In the words of one supporter, the new clerk's mission in Ottawa will be to push the public service to advance Carney's priorities and 'kick its ass.' Article content Article content Article content Not every commentator has been as gleeful. Journalist Paul Wells notably declared himself a 'rare Cassandra' on Sabia, suggesting that his big-bang beginnings have sometimes ended in a dubious fizzle. Sabia's private sector work is beyond my ken, though I will note that perhaps his most celebrated success, the turnaround of the Caisse de Depot's fortunes following the financial debacle of 2008, was arguably consistent with the broad trends of the market,though he did steer that fund towards more international investment. Article content Of more immediate relevance were Sabia's recent and conspicuously brief stints as head of the Canada Infrastructure Bank (2020-2021) and as deputy minister of Finance (2021-2023) where he helped establish the Canada Growth Fund. Both the infrastructure bank and the growth fund involved leveraging private sector investment in ways Carney appears to favour, but neither has been a triumph. Sabia was reportedly frustrated at Finance, where he can hardly be blamed for the ballooning deficits of the COVID era, especially given the priorities of the then-prime minister and minister of Finance. But the experience is a reminder that no one walks on water. Article content Article content In full disclosure, Sabia was my first director at Finance Canada and one of two people who interviewed me for the job. Based on that experience (however much he may have regretted it) and personal observation, I lean heavily towards assessing him as very smart. And there can be little doubt that he is committed to helping Carney advance his priorities, including spending less on government operations. I'm also told that they are on good personal terms. But how will these two work together? Both are used to being the smartest guy in the room (or thus perceived) and neither seems prostrate with modesty or undue gentleness. Article content
