Carney appoints past colleague Doug Guzman to $679K defence post

Prime Minister Mark Carney has appointed former colleague Doug Guzman, a longtime Bay Street executive and former Royal Bank of Canada deputy chair, as CEO of the new Defence Investment Agency.

Source: Wikimedia Commons, Canada.ca

Prime Minister Mark Carney has appointed former colleague Doug Guzman, a longtime Bay Street executive and former Royal Bank of Canada deputy chair, as chief executive officer of the new Defence Investment Agency. This post comes with a salary of up to $679,100 per year.

Guzman previously worked with Carney at Goldman Sachs in New York and Toronto.

The appointment was approved by the Governor in Council on October 1, according to federal records. Guzman will serve a three-year term as CEO of the new Defence Investment Agency, beginning Nov. 12, 2025. His compensation will range from $577,300 to $679,100.

Guzman has also been a vocal admirer of Carney’s career.

In a past interview with the Ottawa Citizen, he praised Carney’s qualifications to lead the Bank of Canada, saying: “If you took a blank piece of paper and wrote a definition of what a bank governor is today, you would need someone who is analytical, can exist in the public eye and who has worked on three continents. That’s Mark. You almost couldn’t have anyone better.”

In a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office on October 2, the government described Guzman as a “Canadian business leader with three decades of experience in global banking, wealth management, and financial services.”

The PMO highlighted Guzman’s leadership roles at RBC, where he served as group head of wealth management and insurance before being named deputy chair.

Before joining the bank, Guzman was a managing director at Goldman Sachs, co-heading the global metals and mining and Canadian investment banking businesses.

The PMO didn’t mention his ties with the prime minister or that his post would become the highest-paid position in cabinet.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre criticized the appointment, describing it as “creating new government bureaucracies to give banker buddies massive taxpayer-funded paycheques.”

As CEO, Guzman will manage billions in military procurement and infrastructure spending under the Department of Public Works and Government Services.

The Defence Investment Agency was established earlier this year to oversee large-scale defence acquisitions and streamline approvals.