Jean C. Monty Elected Chairman of Business Council on National Issues

October 22, 2001

Jean C. Monty, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BCE Inc., has been elected Chairman of the Business Council on National Issues (BCNI). A non-partisan and not-for-profit organization composed of the chief executive officers of 150 leading Canadian enterprises, the BCNI is the senior voice of Canadian business on public policy issues in Canada and abroad.

Mr. Monty said that as in the great crises and national challenges of the past, Canada’s business leaders are committed to working closely with governments to ensure the security as well as prosperity of Canadians. “The terrorist attacks of September 11 mean that Canada must give immediate priority to strengthening defence and security and to managing relations with the United States and other allies globally.”

He added, however, that today’s circumstances also highlight the need for great fiscal prudence. “Canadians sacrificed too much over the past decade to risk a return to repeated deficits. Ensuring the security of Canadians at a time of great economic uncertainty will require real creativity in addressing other key issues, including tax policy, regulation, innovation, skills and learning, health care and the environment.”

As Chairman of the BCNI, Mr. Monty will oversee a significant re-engineering of the organization in the months ahead under the leadership of BCNI President and Chief Executive, Thomas d’Aquino, one that will both reinforce its ability to engage in domestic policy issues and ensure that Canadian chief executives can meet the demands of the rapidly changing business and policy environment globally. “Now more than ever it is vital for business leaders to work together, both within Canada and across borders,” Mr. Monty said.

Mr. Monty succeeds David P. O’Brien as Chairman of the BCNI. Mr. O’Brien, formerly Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Pacific Limited and now Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PanCanadian Petroleum Limited, becomes the BCNI’s Honorary Chairman.

In addition to Mr. d’Aquino, the remaining members of the BCNI’s Executive Committee are Vice Chairmen A. Charles Baillie, Robert E. Brown, Derek H. Burney, David L. Emerson and Richard L. George, the chief executives respectively of TD Bank Financial Group, Bombardier Inc., CAE, Canfor Corporation and Suncor Energy Inc.

The BCNI’s member chief executives head companies that represent every major sector of the Canadian economy and are responsible for a majority of private sector investment, exports, training, and research and development. These companies employ about 1.3 million Canadians, administer about $2.1 trillion in assets and have annual revenues of more than $500 billion.