Business Leaders Host Australian Prime Minister, Welcome Call for Closer Cooperation

May 19, 2006

Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s visit to Canada this week is an important milestone on the road to ever-closer economic and security cooperation between Australia and Canada, says Thomas d’Aquino, Chief Executive and President of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE).

“Under Prime Minister Howard’s leadership, Australia has truly become a country of achievement, a country that punches well above its weight,” Mr. d’Aquino said in welcoming the Australian leader to a special working luncheon hosted by the CCCE in Ottawa.

Among the participants in the luncheon were: David Emerson, Minister of International Trade; Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety; Senator Trevor Eyton; former Deputy Prime Minister John Manley; and former CCCE Vice-Chairman Derek Burney, who led Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s transition team.

CCCE members in attendance included: Leonard J. Asper, CanWest Global Communications Corp.; Craig L. Dobbin, CHC Helicopter Corporation; James D. Fleck, ATI Technologies Inc.; James S. Kinnear, Pengrowth Management Limited; Robert A. Milton, Air Canada; and Gordon Reid, Giant Tiger Stores Limited. Also represented were other CCCE member companies including CAE Inc., CGI Group Inc., Manulife Financial, Nortel Networks Corporation, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. and TransCanada Corporation.

The Council last hosted Prime Minister Howard in Vancouver in 1997 on the occasion of the first-ever APEC CEO Summit.

On behalf of the Council, Mr. d’Aquino praised Prime Minister Howard for expanding Australia’s influence in the Asia-Pacific region while at the same time building an enduring, close relationship with the United States of America. “Australians, as we all know, are blessed with strength of character and a strong sense of purpose,” he said. “Prime Minister, your nation and your people have forged a strong position in Asia and close friendships in North America while continuing to build on your ancestral ties to Europe. You know where you want to be and who you are as a society and a people.”

Echoing Prime Minister Howard’s remarks in the House of Commons a day earlier, Mr. d’Aquino said that Canada and Australia share many of the same challenges and opportunities and should strive to work together much more closely, particularly in the areas of: security and counter-terrorism operations; policies on energy security and climate change; as well as efforts to bring a successful conclusion to the Doha Round of negotiations on multilateral trade and investment liberalization at the World Trade Organization.

Founded in 1976, the CCCE is strongly committed to enhancing Canada’s role and influence in the world, and has been Canada’s private sector leader in the promotion of international trade and investment liberalization. Member CEOs of the Council lead companies that collectively administer close to $3 trillion in assets, have annual revenues of more than $650 billion, and are responsible for the vast majority of Canada’s exports, investment, research and development, and training.

In addition to Mr. d’Aquino, the members of the CCCE’s Executive Committee are: Chairman Richard L. George, President and Chief Executive Officer of Suncor Energy Inc.; Honorary Chairman A. Charles Baillie; and Vice-Chairmen Dominic D’Alessandro, Paul Desmarais, Jr., Jacques Lamarre, Gordon M. Nixon and Hartley T. Richardson, the chief executives respectively of Manulife Financial, Power Corporation of Canada, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., Royal Bank of Canada and James Richardson & Sons, Limited.