Business Leaders Gather at New War Museum to Honour Canada’s Armed Forces and the Contributions of Canadian Industry

May 26, 2005

Canadian business leaders, prominent academics and military experts will gather in Ottawa on Friday, May 27, for a series of roundtable discussions on the past, present and future of Canadian defence and foreign policy.

Organized and hosted by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), the one-day meeting is being held at the stunning new home of the Canadian War Museum, on the banks of the Ottawa River within sight of Parliament Hill. The Honourable William Graham, Minister of National Defence, will be the keynote speaker at a dinner in the museum’s LeBreton Gallery.

To mark the occasion, the CCCE is publishing a new paper by eminent Canadian historian J.L. Granatstein, a former Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian War Museum (1998-2001).  Titled Arming the Nation: Canada’s Industrial War Effort, 1939-1945, the paper documents the extraordinary contributions of Canadian workers and business leaders to the Allied victory in the Second World War. From a standing start in 1939, Canada’s production of military equipment and supplies – including tanks, aircraft, ships and munitions – rose to the point where Canada ranked fourth among the Allies, behind only the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. “For a nation of just 11 million people, this was little short of amazing,” Dr. Granatstein writes.

In addition to Dr. Granatstein, participants in the roundtable discussions will include: David Bercuson, Director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary; Douglas Bland, Chair in Defence Management Studies at Queen’s University; Derek Burney, former Canadian Ambassador to the United States; Andrew Cohen, Associate Professor at Carleton University’s School of Journalism; and Thomas Homer-Dixon, Director of the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto.

“As business leaders, we pay tribute to Canada’s armed forces and to the millions of men and women who have served our country faithfully at home and abroad,” said Thomas d’Aquino, the CCCE’s Chief Executive and President. “The new Canadian War Museum honours the memory of all those whose sacrifices helped to define the Canada of today – a country that in war did much to defeat the forces of tyranny and in peace helped to build a new internationalism founded in democratic values and the peaceful resolution of disputes.”

The CCCE, founded in 1976, is Canada’s premier business association, with an outstanding record of achievement in matching entrepreneurial initiative with sound public policy choices. During the past quarter century, the Council has contributed actively to thinking and debate on defence and foreign policy issues. Its member chief executives head companies that collectively administer close to $2.5 trillion in assets, have annual revenues of more than $600 billion and account for a significant majority of Canada’s private sector investment, exports, training and research and development.

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, Gwyn Morgan and Gordon Nixon, the chief executives respectively of Manulife Financial, Power Corporation of Canada, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., EnCana Corporation and Royal Bank of Canada.