analysis

Shipping containers in the Port of Montreal on Sept. 11. The Calgary-based Major Projects Office is at the heart of Canada's effort to expedite the creation of new infrastructure and strengthen the country's economic autonomy.

Rarely has a new government agency received so much hype, with so little known about it.

When first promised by Prime Minister Mark Carney last spring, the Major Projects Office appeared to have a relatively narrow purpose: To handle the regulatory fast-tracking of large energy, mining and infrastructure investments under the controversial Bill C-5 , which allows projects to bypass normal legal requirements if deemed by Ottawa to be in the national interest.

Since high-profile energy executive Dawn Farrell was announced in August as the MPO’s first c

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