RC121 NovDec 2025 - Magazine - Page 8
LEADERSHIP
MR. INFRASTRUCTURE
Tim Murphy has spent a lifetime navigating
both sides of the public-private partnership
by John Tenpenny
EW CAREERS REFLECT the intersection of law, politics, and
infrastructure as completely as that of Tim Murphy.
Over four decades, Murphy has built a résumé that
spans Ontario and federal politics, and the boardrooms
of some of the most in昀氀uential companies involved
in Canada’s construction and infrastructure industry.
Today, as an executive at Aecon, the former chair of the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA), remains a key voice in
how Canada conceives, 昀椀nances, and delivers major public
projects.
“Whether you’re in government, law, or
construction, the principle is the same.
You look down at the piece of paper, but
you also look up at the horizon. You can’t
just react—you have to lead.”
John Tenpenny is the
editor of ReNew Canada.
john@actualmedia.ca
8—RENEW CANADA – NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2025
From the legislature to law
Murphy’s path into public life was anything but linear. After
graduating from Queen’s University, he entered Queen’s
Park as a legislative intern in 1982-83—a formative experience that set him on a trajectory toward politics and policy.
“I worked for a Conservative and a New Democrat and
ended up a Liberal,” he jokes, describing an early immersion
in political partisanship that would later serve him well.
When the Liberals formed government in 1985, Murphy
joined Sean Conway, Ontario’s Minister of Education, as a
sta昀昀er—taking a year o昀昀 from University of Toronto law
school to do so. He returned to complete his law degree but
continued working part-time for then-Attorney General Ian
Scott. By the early 1990s, Murphy was balancing legal practice with campaign management, helping to run leadership
and election e昀昀orts for both federal and provincial Liberals.
“I’d take my holidays to run campaigns,” he recalls. “It was
a bit of a juggling act.”
In 1993, Murphy was elected as an Ontario MPP, representing St. George-St. David, the same riding where he had
once volunteered. Though his time at Queen’s Park was
brief—he lost his seat in the 1995 election that saw Mike Harris’ PCs swept into power—it gave him 昀椀rst-hand experience
in the political trenches and a network that would prove
invaluable later. Afterward, he returned to private practice,
joining McCarthy Tétrault as a litigator. There, his portfolio
began to expand beyond politics and into the world of construction law, a 昀椀eld that would ultimately de昀椀ne his career.
“One of my 昀椀rst clients in that space was a predecessor
company to Aecon,” Murphy recalls. “They were involved in
a lawsuit at Terminal 3 at Pearson, and that really started my
connection to construction and infrastructure.”
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