Prime Minister announces Canadian membership of North American Competitiveness Council
Economics and Industry
Social Development Canada
Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced the Canadian membership of the North American Competitiveness Council, which was launched at the meeting of North American leaders in Cancun, Mexico, in March 2006.
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June 13, 2006

Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced

the Canadian membership of the North American Competitiveness Council, which was

launched at the meeting of North American leaders in Cancun, Mexico, in March

2006.The Canadian members of the Competitiveness Council are Dominic

D'Alessandro (Manulife Financial); Paul Desmarais, Jr. (Power Corporation of

Canada); David Ganong (Ganong Bros. Limited); Richard George (Suncor Energy

Inc.); Hunter Harrison (CN); Linda Hasenfratz (Linamar Corporation); Michael

Sabia (Bell Canada Enterprises); Jim Shepherd (Canfor Corporation); Annette

Verschuren (The Home Depot); and Rick Waugh (Scotiabank)."I am delighted

that these accomplished individuals have agreed to apply their considerable

private sector expertise to help us identify and pursue initiatives that will

create a more competitive North America," said the Prime Minister.The

Council comprises 30 senior private sector representatives, 10 from each

country, and has a mandate to provide governments with recommendations on broad

issues such as border facilitation and regulation, as well as the

competitiveness of key sectors including automotive, transportation,

manufacturing and services. The Council will meet annually with security and

prosperity ministers and will engage with senior government officials on an

ongoing basis. The Competitiveness Council is an initiative of the Security and

Prosperity Partnership of North America.Biographical notes are

attached.* * * *NORTH AMERICAN COMPETITIVENESS COUNCIL -

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTESDominic D'AlessandroDominic

D'Alessandro was born in Italy in 1947. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree

from Loyola College and qualified as a chartered accountant in 1971. He has been

President and Chief Executive Officer of Manulife Financial since

1994.Mr. D'Alessandro has had an extensive and varied background in the

financial services industry. From 1968 to 1975 he was employed by Coopers &

Lybrand, where he spent time in the firm's Paris office. In 1975, he joined

Genstar Ltd. and worked in Saudi Arabia as Director of Finance and subsequently

Manager, and was later based in San Francisco as Vice-President of the Materials

and Construction Group. He joined the Royal Bank of Canada in 1981 where he held

a number of positions, including Executive Vice-President. In 1988 he was

appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the Laurentian Bank of

Canada.Mr. D'Alessandro has been a member of several boards of directors

and was the 2001-02 Campaign Chair for the Salvation Army and for the Greater

Toronto United Way in 1998. He has received numerous honours, including Canada's

Outstanding CEO of 2002, Officer of the Order of Canada in 2003, and Canada's

Most Respected CEO in 2004.Paul Desmarais, Jr.Paul

Desmarais, Jr. was born in Sudbury, Ontario, in 1954. He obtained a Bachelor of

Commerce degree from McGill University and graduated from the European Institute

of Business Administration in Fontainebleau, France, with a master's degree in

business administration. Since 1996, he has been Chairman and Co-Chief Executive

Officer of Power Corporation of Canada (PCC) and has been Chairman of the

Executive Committee of Power Financial Corporation (PFC) since

2005.Prior to joining PCC in 1981, Mr. Desmarais was with S.G. Warburg

& Co. in London, England, and with Standard Brands Incorporated in New York.

He was President and Chief Operating Officer of PFC from 1986 to 1989, and

Chairman from 1990 to 2005. He is also a director and member of the

executive committee of many Power group companies in North America including

Great-West Lifeco and IGM Financial. In addition, he holds executive board

positions with several European companies, including Pargesa Holding S.A.

(Switzerland), Imerys (France), Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (Belgium), Total S.A.

and Suez (France).Mr. Desmarais is Chairman of the Board of Governors of

The International Economic Forum of the Americas, Founder and Chairman of the

International Advisory Committee of l'École des Hautes Études Commerciales and

Founder and Member of the International Advisory Board of the McGill University

Faculty of Management in Canada. He is a member of the International Council and

a director of the European Institute of Business Administration. He is also a

member of the International Advisory Board of the La Poste Group in

France.In 2005, Mr. Desmarais was named an Officer of the Order of

Canada and received the Executive of the Year Award from the Academy of

International Business.David A. GanongDavid Ganong

was born in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, in 1943. He received a B.A. from the

University of New Brunswick in 1965 and an M.B.A. from the University of Western

Ontario in 1970. He is President of Ganong Brothers Limited.Mr. Ganong

is a director of the Canadian Council of Chief Executive Officers, Sun Life

Financial and the Conference Board of Canada. He is also Chairman of the Board

of Governors of the University of New Brunswick and the New Brunswick Business

Council. Some of his previous positions include Chairman of the Confectionery

Manufacturers' Association of Canada, Chairman of the Board of Clarica Life

Insurance Co. and Chairman of the Young Presidents' Organization for Canada. He

has also been a director of the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation and Air

Canada.Mr. Ganong was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2005 and

was inducted into the Canadian Professional Sales Association Hall of Fame in

1999.Richard Lee GeorgeRick George was born in Brush,

Colorado, in 1950. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from

Colorado State University, a law degree from the University of Houston Law

School and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Program for Management

Development. He was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Suncor

Energy in 1991.Mr. George has held various positions with Sun Company

both in the U.S. and the U.K. in the areas of project planning, production

evaluation, exploration and production, and in the international oil business as

managing director of Sun Oil Britain Limited.Mr. George was named

Chairman of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives in 2003 and is Chair of the

2008 Governor General's Canadian Leadership Conference. He is also a member of

the board of directors of the U.S. offshore and onshore drilling company, Global

Santa Fe Corporation.He was named Outstanding CEO of the Year in 1999

and received the Canadian Business Leader Award in 2000.Hunter

HarrisonHunter Harrison was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1944. He

became President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian National Railway

Company (CN) in 2003.Mr. Harrison's railroad career began in 1964 when

he joined the Frisco Railroad (St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad) as a

carman-oiler while still attending school. He held positions of increasing

responsibility at the Frisco and Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) after BN

acquired the Frisco in 1980. He joined the Illinois Central Railroad in 1989 as

Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer and rose through the ranks to become

President and Chief Executive Officer in 1993. CN acquired IC in 1999. Prior to

his current position, Mr. Harrison was CN's Executive Vice-President and Chief

Operating Officer from 1998 to 2003 and he became a director in 1999.Mr.

Harrison is a member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and was named

North America's Railroader of the Year in 2002.Linda

HasenfratzLinda Hasenfratz was born in Guelph, Ontario, in 1966. She

holds an Honours Bachelor of Science from the University of Western Ontario and

completed an Executive M.B.A. from the Ivey School of Business at the same

university in 1997. She is Chief Executive Officer of Linamar

Corporation.Ms. Hasenfratz joined Linamar Corporation in 1990 and

embarked on an extensive training program to gain familiarity with all aspects

of the business, working as a machine operator, engineering technician and

production control coordinator. She was Materials Manager of the Traxie

subsidiary and in 1995 became Operations Manager for the start up of Comtech

Manufacturing Ltd. She was named General Manager of Comtech and Vehcom

Manufacturing in 1997. Ms. Hasenfratz was named Chief Operating Officer of

Linamar in 1997 and President in 1999, before assuming her current position in

2002.Ms. Hasenfratz is a member of the board of directors of the

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the Catalyst Canadian Board of Advisors, the

Royal Ontario Museum, and the Original Equipment Manufacturers

Association.Michael J. SabiaMichael Sabia was born in

St. Catharines, Ontario, in 1953. He received a B.A. in economics and politics

from the University of Toronto and an M.A., M.Phil. from Yale University. He is

President and Chief Executive Officer of Bell Canada Enterprises

(BCE).Mr. Sabia held a number of senior positions in the Canadian Public

Service, including Director General of Tax Policy in the Department of Finance,

and Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet in the Privy Council Office. He joined the

Canadian National Railway Company as Vice-President, Corporate Development, in

1993 and was appointed Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer in

1995. He joined the BCE group in 1999 and was appointed President and Chief

Operating Officer of BCE and Bell Canada in 2002.Mr. Sabia received an

honorary doctorate from the University of Ottawa in 2006.James A.

ShepherdJim Shepherd was born in Quebec City, Quebec, in 1952. He

graduated from Queen's University in 1974 with a degree in mechanical

engineering and is President and Chief Executive Officer of Canfor

Corporation.Mr. Shepherd has been employed in the forest products

business for more than 25 years in both Ontario and B.C., first with British

Columbia Forest Products Ltd. and then with Crestbrook Forest Industries Ltd. He

joined Slocan Forest Products Ltd. as President and Chief Operating Officer in

1999 and became Chief Executive Officer in 2000. In 2004, he became President

and Chief Executive Officer of Canfor.Mr. Shepherd is a member of the

Board of Governors of the University of Northern British Columbia, the Board of

Directors of the Council of Forest Industries, the B.C. Progress Board, the

Vancouver Board of Trade, and the Asia Pacific Trade Council, and is Chairman of

the Forest Products Association of Canada. He was Chair of the B.C. Forest

Safety Council and has participated in the United Way since

1995Annette VerschurenAnnette Verschuren was born in

North Sydney, Nova Scotia, in 1956. She holds a Bachelor of Business

Administration from St. Francis Xavier University. In 1996 she joined The Home

Depot Canada and is Division President of the company's Canadian operations.

Ms. Verschuren began her career as a development officer with the Cape

Breton Development Corporation in Sydney, Nova Scotia. She went on to work with

Canada Development Investment Corporation as Executive Vice- President and then

joined Imasco Ltd. as Vice-President of Corporate Development. Prior to joining

The Home Depot, Ms. Verschuren was President and co-owner of Michael's of Canada

from 1993 to 1996.She has been honoured with a doctorate from both Mount

Saint Vincent University and St. Francis Xavier University, and was named the

2005 Distinguished Canadian Retailer of the Year by the Retail Council of

Canada. Ms. Verschuren was installed as Chancellor of Cape Breton University and

she is currently on the board of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, Chair

of Habitat for Humanity's National President's Council and a member of the

Canadian Corporate Council on Volunteering.Richard E.

WaughRick Waugh was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1947. He holds a

Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from the University of Manitoba, and a Master of

Business Administration from York University. Since 2003, he has been President

and Chief Executive Officer of Scotiabank.Mr. Waugh began his career

with Scotiabank and served in a number of positions in the retail and

commercial, investment, corporate and international banking areas. He was

appointed Senior Vice-President, North American Corporate Banking in 1983. In

1985, he moved to New York where, for the next eight years, he played a pivotal

role in the development and expansion of the bank's U.S. activities. In

1993, Mr. Waugh returned to Toronto as Senior Executive Vice-President,

Corporate Banking. He was appointed Vice-Chairman, Corporate Banking in 1995,

and Vice-Chairman, International Banking and Wealth Management in

1998.Mr. Waugh is a Fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers, serves

on the Board of Directors of St. Michael's Hospital and is Campaign Chair of the

United Way of Greater Toronto's 2006 Campaign.