Seizing the Future, Sharing Success:
Fiscal Priorities for Accelerating Growth
Thank you, Madame Chair. Let me begin by offering my best wishes to you as you take up the challenge of guiding the important work of this Committee. I also should note that while the faces appearing before you may be familiar, the name of our organization has changed. When the Canadian Council of Chief Executives last appeared before the Committee, we were still the Business Council on National Issues. At that time, smoke was still billowing from the rubble of the World Trade Center, and it was clear that Canada faced urgent new priorities and tough fiscal choices. There were real fears both for the security of Canadians and for the country’s economic prospects. We suggested that to recover from the crisis and forge ahead as rapidly as possible, Canadians would have to work together with prudence, creativity and determination. Today, the shadow of the terrible events of September […]
No Time to Lose, so Much to Gain:
Accelerating the Innovation Agenda
At your meeting with members of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives in Montreal on April 9, 2002, you expressed a strong desire to reinforce the Innovation Strategy outlined by the federal government in February. You acknowledged the importance of robust economic growth in maintaining and improving the quality of life of Canadians and to this end, you asked members of the Council for specific advice on actions that could be taken in the short term that would make a real difference in improving the environment for business and economic growth. While last year’s economic slowdown appears to be giving way to recovery, the war on terrorism did force the federal government to shift priorities in the December 2001 budget and defer consideration of many promising ideas for improving Canada’s competitiveness. Neither the economic cycle nor periodic crises, however, need deflect Canadians from a continuing and shared commitment to innovation, […]
Confidence and Economic Strength at Home
and Creative Engagement Abroad are the
Keys to Sovereignty, Security and Prosperity
Chief Executives Tell Deputy Prime Minister
Making Canada the best country in which to live, work, invest and grow, and punching above our weight in the global arena are the keys to sovereignty, security and prosperity the members of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) said at a lunch honouring John Manley, appointed this morning as Deputy Prime Minister, for his selection as Time Magazine’s Canadian Newsmaker of the Year for 2001. The lunch concluded the first Annual General Meeting of the Council, which is made up of the chief executive officers of 150 leading Canadian corporations. Formerly known as the Business Council on National Issues, it recently changed its name as part of a re-engineering of the organization to enable member chief executives to engage more effectively in public policy in North America and globally as well as within Canada. “Canada’s vital issues are now global issues,” said Jean Monty, Chairman of the Council […]
Enterprise and the Public Policy Challenge:
From Priorities to Action in 2002
Council Chairman, Jean Monty, has just reminded us of how Canada’s chief executives managed to make a real difference in most of the great policy challenges that our country faced over the past quarter century. Through our newly re-engineered organization, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, we will continue to demonstrate the best in policy entrepreneurship –in Canada, in North America and the world. It is in the context of this three-fold mandate that I wish to share with you this morning what I see as the key issues and challenges that we must be prepared to address in the months ahead. The primary task of moving forward with research, analysis and consultations in these areas will lie with our Council’s three new CEO-based policy committees: the National Policy Committee, co-chaired by Gwyn Morgan and Gordon Nixon, the North American Policy Committee, co-chaired by Derek Burney and Paul Tellier, and […]
Setting the Pace: Policy Entrepreneurship
and CEO Leadership in 2002
We are here this morning to mark the New Year with the launch of a new organization. As we prepare ourselves for the many challenges that lie ahead, I think it is important first to reflect for a few minutes on the roots of our past success. Back in the 1970s, Canada had no shortage of troubles. The decade’s oil shocks may have been a boon to the West, but they created economic divisions within the country that proved almost as damaging as the election of a separatist government in Quebec. Rising resource prices fuelled widespread inflation even as the economy stagnated. Governments desperate to stimulate growth and create jobs embarked on a two-decade love affair with borrowed money, one that was destined to rack up the better part of a trillion dollars in public debt and drive Canadian tax rates to unimagined heights. It was these trying circumstances that […]
Canadian Council of Chief Executives
Launches CEO Action Group on
Canada-United States Cooperation
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 […]
Budget Deals Effectively with Essentials but Proves that New Challenges Lie Ahead, says Canadian Council of Chief Executives
The federal budget unveiled today deals effectively with the immediate challenges to the economic and personal security of Canadians, but sets the stage for difficult fiscal choices in the years ahead, says the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE). “Finance Minister Paul Martin has succeeded in funding essential new measures in areas such as policing, security and border management, and he has done it without plunging the government back into deficit,” said Council President and Chief Executive Thomas d’Aquino. The CCCE, formerly the Business Council on National Issues, is a non-partisan and not-for-profit organization composed of the chief executive officers of 150 leading Canadian corporations. “In particular, I am pleased with the government’s determination to create a border with the United States that is ‘open for business but closed to terror’. The real challenge for all of us is to make sure that these excellent proposals are put in place […]
Canadian Council of Chief Executives to Pursue Policy Entrepreneurship in Canada, North America and the World
Canada’s Business Council on National Issues (BCNI) announced today that it will adopt a new name and a broader mandate. Effective immediately, the country’s pre-eminent business organization, composed of the chief executives of 150 leading corporations, will be known as the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE). Explaining the broader mandate, the Chairman of the Council’s Board of Directors, Jean Monty, said: “Canadian chief executives must be second to none in meeting the challenges of the 21st century. This was the central message emerging from the Council’s Canada Global Leadership Initiative which reported its findings last year. To meet these challenges, we must be thinkers and players in Canada, in North America and on a global basis.” Mr. Monty is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BCE Inc. “The re-engineered organization will build on twenty-five years of solid achievement,” said Thomas d’Aquino, the Council’s President and Chief Executive. “By repeatedly […]
Leaders from Canada and the United States call for a Zone of Confidence Between the two Countries
In a letter delivered today to United States President George W. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Jean ChrǸtien, twenty-one Canadian and United States leaders called for a “zone of confidence” between the two countries that would accommodate security concerns raised by the September 11 attacks. The leaders said as part of this zone, the United States and Canada could agree on desired outcomes to achieve a level of security that “works for both countries without having to adopt uniform immigration and asylum policies”. They pointed out that “because the two countries share so much common ground … it is very unlikely that sovereignty or security would be sacrificed through more bilateral co-operation focused on shared outcomes.” The signatories cited new short-term demands for border management. “For the immediate future,” they said, “we need sufficient staff at the border to move people and goods rapidly while meeting security requirements. Strong trade […]
Smooth Flow of People and Goods is Vital to North American Security
Dear President Bush and Prime Minister Chrétien, We are a group of individuals from the United States and Canada with a broad set of backgrounds and experiences. Over the past year, we have been meeting about the future of the economic relations of our two countries. A major issue is how to manage integration — and our common border — in order to secure the physical and economic security of both countries. We write to recommend ways of enhancing trade and economic security while meeting the challenges of terrorism more effectively. We respectfully submit these recommendations for your consideration. Your views and actions have underscored that the security and well being of people stand at the very pinnacle of governments’ responsibilities. Trade, economic, and security policies are central to fulfilling these responsibilities and — for Canada and the United States — our common border has traditionally been a focal point […]
Previous
