It’s an old model getting a new lease on life.

They started in 1989 under Brian Mulroney’s government — an experiment by a government facing economic pressures to innovate and deliver results more efficiently.

Over the next few years, the federal government created more than a dozen special operating agencies (SOAs) like Passport Canada or the Translation Bureau. However, over the past 30 years, the government appeared to cool on the idea, only creating a couple SOAs.

Until now.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has turned to the decades-old model to spearhead its efforts to strengthen Canada’s economy in the face of the tariff war launched by U.S. President Donald Trump. Three new special operating agencies — Build Canada Homes, the Defence Investment Agency and the Major Projec

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