Report on Business Television Interviews Thomas d’Aquino on the CCCE’s Policy Agenda for 2004

January 16, 2004

Canada’s senior business community should not expect preferential treatment from Prime Minister Paul Martin, says Thomas d’Aquino, President and Chief Executive of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE).

Interviewed on Report on Business Television after the CCCE’s New Year Members’ Meeting in Toronto, Mr. d’Aquino said it would be folly for business leaders to assume that Mr. Martin, a former CEO of Canada Steamship Lines, will cater to the interests of the business community.

“We should be under no illusions that somehow life is going to be easy for us or that we’re just going to get whatever we want,” Mr. d’Aquino told ROB-TV host Amanda Lang. “Now the business of Paul Martin is politics, not business, and therefore we should not be running around assuming that we have an enormously business-friendly Prime Minister. We’re still going to have to make our case, have to argue our briefs, as well and perhaps even harder than in the past.”

In the interview, Mr. d’Aquino discussed a wide range of issues that are likely to drive the Canadian political agenda in 2004, including the country’s fiscal situation, the debate over tax levels and relations between Canada and the United States.