Canada and the United States Must Work Together to Boost Free Trade and Economic Recovery, Washington CEO Summit Participants Agree

March 24, 2009

Canada and the United States face enormous economic challenges, but business leaders in both countries are working closely with governments to drive a rapid return to growth and prosperity in North America and around the world, says Thomas d’Aquino, Chief Executive and President of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives(CCCE).

Mr. d’Aquino was speaking at a special summit of Canadian and American business leaders and policy makers convened by the CCCE in Washington, D.C., on March 23 and 24, 2009.

Participants included: Lawrence Summers, Director of President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy; Ronald Kirk, newly confirmed United States Trade Representative; Jim Prentice, Canada’s Minister of the Environment; Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada; and Kevin Warsh, Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

“This is a time of transformation in the global economy, where governments around the world are scrambling to coordinate their responses to the most severe and synchronized downturn in generations,” Mr. d’Aquino said. “It is a time of transformation in the politics of the United States, where a charismatic new President has swept to power but faces daunting challenges at every turn. This in turn holds out the possibility of transformation on a third level, that of the vast and complex relationship between the United States and Canada.”

Summit participants heard from leading economists and academics and held frank discussions on the political as well as economic pressures weighing on business and governments around the world. “The economic mood is still grim, but there was unanimous agreement that free trade and efficient markets are essential to an early and sustained global recovery,” Mr. d’Aquino said.

The CCCE is Canada’s most influential business association, composed of 150 chief executives and leading entrepreneurs from all major sectors and regions of the country. Other participants at the CCCE’s Washington CEO Summit included:

• Paul A. Volcker, Chairman of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board;

• Lindsey O. Graham, Republican Senator from South Carolina;

• Howard Dean, Chairman Emeritus of the Democratic National Committee and former Governor of Vermont;

• Andrew H. Card, Jr., former Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush;

• Thomas F. (“Mack”) McLarty, III, former Chief of Staff to President William Clinton;

• Canadian Ambassador to the United States Michael Wilson and former United States Ambassadors to Canada David Wilkins and Gordon Giffin;

• John J. Castellani, President, Business Roundtable;

• Thomas J. Donohue, President and Chief Executive Officer United States Chamber of Commerce;

• Governor John Engler, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Association of Manufacturers.

CCCE members lead companies that collectively administer $3.5 trillion in assets, have annual revenues of more than $800 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: Chair, Gordon M. Nixon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Royal Bank of Canada; Honorary Chair Richard L. George, President and Chief Executive Officer of Suncor Energy Inc.; and Vice Chairs Dominic D’Alessandro, Paul Desmarais, Jr., Jacques Lamarre, Hartley T. Richardson and Annette Verschuren, the chief executives respectively of Manulife Financial, Power Corporation of Canada, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., James Richardson & Sons, Limited and The Home Depot Canada and Asia.