The logo of the Progressive Conservative party can be seen in a screen during the opening the weekend PC pre-election convention at the Toronto Congress Centre on Dixon Rd., Toronto May 27, 2011.Fernando Morales/The Globe and Mail
Pension fund OMERS may be short an infrastructure executive if Rick Byers is successful in an attempt to become the next leader of Ontario's Progressive Conservative party.
Mr. Byers confirmed that he is looking at running, which would bring him back into politics after a few years on the sidelines doing deals at OMERS Borealis arm.
Mr. Byers, who worked at BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. before joining OMERS, brings Bay Street connections and financial savvy to a race that will likely turn on the an answer to this key question: How will you fix Ontario's fiscal problems?
Mr. Byers has run for seats in both the provincial and federal legislatures under the Conservative, but has yet to win. Mr. Byers, running as a Conservative, finished second behind a Liberal in the 2004 Canadian federal election. In 2007, Mr. Byers ran provincially and finished second, again to a Liberal.
At Borealis, Mr. Byers job is finding other investors who are interested in teaming with OMERS to buy make large infrastructure investments, and then managing those relationships. While at BMO, Mr. Byers specialized in government finance. That brought him into the loop on numerous infrastructure sales, including Highway 407, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Nav Canada and the sale of federal office buildings.
Before that, he was in Ottawa as a policy adviser to the federal Finance Minister at the time, Michael Wilson.