Canadian Council of Chief Executives Launches CEO Action Group on Canada-United States Cooperation

December 13, 2001

The Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) today announced the creation of the CEO Action Group on Canada-United States Co-operation, co-chaired by Derek Burney and Paul Tellier, respectively the chief executives of CAE and Canadian National.

The creation of the CEO Action Group comes one day after the signing of The Smart Border Declaration by John Manley, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Ad Hoc Cabinet Committee on Public Security and Anti-Terrorism, and Governor Tom Ridge, Director of the Office of Homeland Security in the United States.

“The Action Group has a two-fold mission,” said Mr. Burney. “First, it will provide private sector leadership in ensuring the rapid implementation of the 30-point action plan laid out in the Smart Border Declaration. Second and more fundamentally, it will reassess Canada’s broader strategy for managing its relationship with the United States.”

“The Smart Border Declaration marks an important step forward by laying out concrete short-term measures to ensure the secure flow of people and goods, improve border infrastructure and increase the level of coordination and information sharing,” said Mr. Tellier. “But over the longer term, Canadians also need to develop a more confident vision of who we are and what we want our country to be. We need fresh thinking and bold ideas for shaping Canada’s role in North America that go beyond our current arrangements.”

“Canada must take the lead in efforts to reshape the relationship between our two countries or risk further integration on a piecemeal and one-sided basis,” added CCCE President and Chief Executive Thomas d’Aquino. “Our contributions to the war on terrorism have created an important opportunity to articulate a new vision of the relationship that will enhance Canada’s sovereignty and competitiveness within a highly integrated North American economy.”

The Canadian Council of Chief Executives, formerly the Business Council on National Issues, is an association of business leaders committed to the shaping of sound public policy in Canada, North America and the world. The launch of the CEO Action Group represents the first in a series of initiatives of its North American Policy Committee.

The Council’s member chief executives head companies that administer in excess of $2.1 trillion in assets, have annual revenues of more than $500 billion and account for a significant majority of Canada’s private sector investment,