About Us
Canada 2020′s Mission
Canada 2020 is a non-partisan, progressive centre created to provide policy options and ideas for Canadian decision makers and leaders. Canada 2020’s goal is to create an environment of social and economic prosperity for Canada and Canadians by identifying and developing progressive policy ideas through the engagement of Canada’s business and political and community leaders.
Canada 2020 Advisory Board Members
| Tim Barber Ottawa André Beaulieu Gerald Butts William Charnetski Paul Corriveau Kenneth Courtis Satya Das Michael Decter Robert Evershed Scott Gilmore Alex Himelfarb Jascha Jabes Eugene Lang |
The Hon. John Manley Ottawa Ian Mallory John McArthur Donald A. McInnes The Hon. Anne McLellan Don Newman Thomas Pitfield Hon. Senator Hugh Segal Susan Smith Mark Stabile Kerry Stirton Jennifer Welsh |
Canada 2020 Advisory Board Biographies
Tim Barber is a founding partner of Bluesky Strategy Group, a full-service public affairs firm based in Ottawa and is one of the four founders of Canada 2020. A native of Montreal, Tim has spent nearly two decades providing strategic advice to clients both inside and outside of government. He has worked for the Privy Council Office, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of International Trade, in addition to coordinating and accompanying Canadian trade missions as part of the Canada China Business Council. As the co-founder of the “Cathay Club” dinners and the annual “Bluesky” sessions at Meech Lake, Tim is the driving force and Co-Founder of Canada 2020. He lives in Ottawa with his wife Nathalie and their two sons. 
Andre Beaulieu is a consultant with Bain and Company. He specializes is technology, telecom and private equity investment. He focuses on corporate strategy, operational excellence and change management and has worked extensively for business leaders in Europe, the United States and Canada. Prior to joining Bain, Andre was with AT Kearney in Paris and with the Privy Council Office in Ottawa. Andre is also the President of the Banff Forum, a leadership forum dedicated to public policy and debate.
Gerald is President and CEO of WWF Canada, the country’s largest environmental organization. WWF is a national charitable organization of 140 people, with six offices across Canada and an office in Havana, Cuba. WWF focuses its efforts and global resources on tackling our most significant conservation challenges, from freshwater to climate change, from species and wilderness preservation to helping Canadians live more sustainable lives.
Prior to joining WWF, Gerald was Principal Secretary to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty where he worked directly with the Premier, Cabinet and Public Service to develop, implement and communicate the government’s agenda. He was intimately involved in all of the government’s significant environmental initiatives, from the Greenbelt and Boreal Conservation plan to the coal phase-out and toxic reduction strategy.
Gerald holds an Honours B.A. and M.A. from McGill University, where he studied English Literature and Theology. He wrote his M.A. thesis on James Joyce’s Ulysses. Gerald has taught Literature, Communications and Political Science at McGill and York universities. An avid lover of the outdoors, Gerald and his wife Jodi have hiked, camped, canoed and kayaked many of North America’s National Parks and protected areas. They live in High Park with their two young children, Aidan and Ava.
William Charnetski is the Vice President, Corporate Affairs and General Counsel at AstraZeneca Canada Inc., one of Canada’s research based pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Charnetski joined AstraZeneca as the Vice President of General Counsel in June 2004 and in October 2004, took on additional responsibilities for the organizations Corporate Affairs team, including Corporate Communications, Stakeholder Relations, Government Relations and Business Development, as well as Legal Affairs. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Mr. Charnetski was Partner and Head of the Privacy Law Group in the Toronto office of Torys LLP, a leading North American corporate law firm, where his corporate and commercial law practice included mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, securities, public-private partnerships and privacy law. Prior to joining Torys, he worked in government as Special Advisor to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, the Hon. Allan Rock, and as Executive Assistant to the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of National Defence, the Hon. William Graham, when Mr. Graham was a Member of Parliament and Chair of the Standing Committee of the House of Commons on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Mr. Charnetski graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and the University of Toronto Law School. He and his wife, Tracey, have two children and reside in Toronto, Ontario.
A bilingual native of Montreal, Paul Corriveau has worked as a policy advisory to both Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Prime Minister Paul Martin. He has held senior positions at Monitor Group in Toronto, RTL Group in London, and Bell Canada Enterprises in Montreal. Paul holds degrees from McGill Law School and l’Ecole nationale d’administration in Paris, France.
Kenneth S. Courtis is Founding Chairman of Next Capital Partners, and of Next Capital Advisors. He is former Managing Director of Goldman Sachs, and Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs Asia, and continues to advise the firm globally. He is one of the world’s leading investment bankers and analysts of Asian economies. He has led a number of large, international corporate transactions centred on Asia, and pioneered in number of investment banking areas across the Asia Pacific.
Widely sought after by the heads of major corporations and investors for his knowledge of how global market forces, finance, politics, and corporate strategy interact, Mr. Courtis advises major clients throughout the Asia–Pacific region, as well as in Europe and North America. He received his undergraduate degree from Glendon College in Toronto and an M.A. in international relations from Sussex University in the United Kingdom. He earned an M.B.A. at INSEAD (the European Institute of Business Administration), and received a Doctorate with honours and high distinction, from L’Institut D’etudes Politiques, Paris.
With close to 30 years experience as an award winning editorialist, national media commentator and public policy advisor, Satya has substantial expertise in areas relating to governance, strategic planning, and public & economic policy. Satya has worked with all levels of government in such areas as: social policy development; issues management; public/private partnerships; intergovernmental relations; stakeholder consultations and program evaluation; international trade and aid policies and development; and international relations. He received the The Province of Alberta Human Rights Award in 1999, and the City of Edmonton conferred a 2001 Citation Award for lifetime services to human rights and culture. He is author of Dispatches from a Borderless World (1999) and of the bestselling The Best Country: Why Canada Will Lead the Future (2002).
Michael B. Decter is a Harvard trained economist with over two decades of experience as a senior manager. He is a leading Canadian expert on health systems, with a wealth of international experience. Michael served as Deputy Minister of Health for Ontario and Cabinet Secretary in the Government of Manitoba. Michael Decter authored the book: Healing Medicare: Managing Health System Change – The Canadian Way, published in 1994. His second health book, Four Strong Winds – Understanding the Growing Challenges to Health Care, was published in June, 2000. Michael Decter was an International Fellow of the King’s Fund in London, England. Chair of the Health Council of Canada, Michael also served as the Chair of the Canadian Institute for Health Information, is a Member of the Board of the National Ballet, Assessment Strategies Inc., Lawrence Decter Investment Counsel Inc., and The Public Policy Forum.
Mr. Evershed is a Principal and co-founder of Prospectus Associates. For the past 17 years, Mr. Evershed has been an effective and successful advocate for his clients in their dealings with governments in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, providing strategic advice to the senior management of some of the world’s largest multi-nationals. Mr. Evershed’s expertise spans many sectors. Some recent areas of focus have included international trade, defence procurement, pharmaceutical policy and environment technology development.
Mr. Evershed’s diverse practice includes working with multi-national pharmaceutical companies and their industry association to ensure that Canadians have access to world-class innovative health treatments; advising food sector clients on regulations relating to international trade in food commodities and the impact of trade sanctions on the food sector; working with some of the world’s largest aerospace companies in the area of defence procurement. He has also worked extensively in the areas of energy conservation and environmental technology, putting together consortiums of companies, large and small, established and start-up, to work with the federal and provincial governments on projects to commercialize technologies which reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote energy efficiency.
In 1987, Mr. Evershed moved from the Prime Minister’s Office to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to assist the Honourable John Crosbie, Minister for International Trade, with Canada-U.S. trade issues. In this capacity, Mr. Evershed briefed the Minister and Caucus on the negotiation and implementation of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. In 1991, Mr. Evershed moved to the Export Development Corporation, where he served in the Export Finance Division, working with Canadian exporters to finance transactions in Mexico, Chile and Europe. He also served as an advisor for trade policy as it affected Canada’s relationship with the OECD and the Consensus regulations. In 1992, Mr. Evershed co-founded Prospectus Associates. Mr. Evershed is a past member of the Executive Committee of the Government Relations Institute of Canada and a past member of the Board of Directors for the Ottawa Food Bank.
Mr. Evershed lives in the National Capital Region and is married with four children.
Scott T. Gilmore is one of the founders and Executive Director of Peace Dividend Trust (PDT). Scott is currently on leave from the Canadian diplomatic service, where he was most recently the Deputy Director for the South Asia division, leading the work on integrating Canada’s defence, development and diplomatic assistance to Afghanistan.
In 2001 he worked for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in East Timor (UNTAET) as the Deputy National Security Advisor responsible for the creation of the defence and security departments of the nascent Timorese government, as well as the development of the national economic security policy.
In 1998, Scott was posted to the Canadian Embassy in Indonesia as a Political and Economics Officer specializing in regional conflict and particularly East Timor. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he was the Executive Director of Mountain Parks Health Services, a private medical services firm.
Scott has owned and operated several small enterprises. Scott studied International Commerce at the University of Alberta and earned a M.Sc. at the London School of Economics. He lives in Ottawa with his wife Catherine McKenna, a lawyer and social entrepreneur, and his daughters Madeleine and Isabelle.
Mr. Himelfarb joined the Public Service in 1981 with the Department of the Solicitor General of Canada. He has held a number of positions of increasing responsibility since that time, including Director General, Planning and Systems Group, Planning and Management Branch with the Department of the Solicitor General of Canada; Executive Director of the National Parole Board; Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Social Policy Development with the Privy Council Office; and Associate Secretary of the Treasury Board. While serving as Associate Secretary of the Treasury Board, he also headed the federal Task Force on the Social Union. In June 1999, Mr. Himelfarb became Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage. He then served as Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet from May 2002 until March 2006 when he was nominated as Ambassador of Canada to the Italian Republic with concurrent accreditation to the Republic of Albania and the Republic of San Marino, and as High Commissioner for Canada to the Republic of Malta.
Before joining the Public Service, Mr. Himelfarb was a Professor of Sociology at the University of New Brunswick from 1972 to 1981. During this period, he undertook an Executive Interchange with the Department of Justice as Head of the Unified Family Court Project from 1979 to 1981.
Born in 1947, Alex Himelfarb is a graduate of the University of Toronto where he obtained a Ph.D. in Sociology. He is married to Frum Himelfarb.
Jascha is a senior manager at Scotiabank where he works on domestic strategy and government relations. He has previously served as a senior policy advisor to the Minister of Industry. He was educated at Queen’s University and holds a Master’s degree from London School of Economics. Jascha lives in Toronto and Ottawa. A native of Ottawa, Jascha has worked for the Privy Council Office, Industry Canada and the Treasury Board Secretariat on various social and economic files include native land claims, science and technology policy and public sector management reform. In addition, he has coordinated and accompanied various Canadian Minsiters for international meetings of the G-20, the Western Hemisphere Finance Ministers, and the OECD.
Eugene Lang is Vice President, Bluesky Strategy Group and co-founder of Canada 2020: Canada’s Progressive Centre.
Lang has more than fifteen years of experience at senior levels in large public and private sector organizations, most recently as Director, Government Affairs, Bell Canada. Prior to joining Bell, Lang served twelve years in the federal government in senior advisory roles, including; Chief of Staff to two Ministers of National Defence, Chief of Staff to the Secretary of State (Finance), Senior Economist, Finance Canada, Senior Policy Advisor (Economic) to the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada and Policy Advisor to the Solicitor General of Canada. In 2006-07, he was a Visiting Fellow at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto.
An award winning and best selling author, Lang has co-written two books on Canadian public policy and published over three-dozen articles and essays. A frequent contributor to the Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star,The Ottawa Citizen and The Mark News, Lang’s writings have also appeared in The National Post, The Montreal Gazette, The Calgary Herald, The Leader Post, Policy Options, e-Merge, MacLean’s, The Walrus, The Hill Times and Left Foot Forward. In 2008 his book The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar (co-authored with Janice Stein) won the Writer’s Trust Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for a book of outstanding literary merit that enlarges understanding of contemporary Canadian political and social issues. The Unexpected War was also short-listed for the 2008 Donner Prize for the best book on Canadian public policy, was named one of theGlobe and Mail’s top 100 books of the year, and was made into a documentary film for Global Television News. He has recently been doing work with the Centre for American Progress in Washington, D.C. and the Frederich Ebert Foundation in Berlin on cross national studies of progressive political parties.
Lang has appeared widely as a commentator, including on CBC radio and television, Radio Canada, Radio Canada International, CPAC and CTV, and he has been frequently cited in Canadian and foreign newspapers, including the International Herald Tribune, Bloomberg and the London Daily Mail. He has lectured at Queen’s University, The University of Ottawa, Royal Military College, Glendon College, York University and the Royal Canadian Military Institute. Lang was educated at the University of Western Ontario (B.A., M.A.), Queen’s University (M.P.A.) and the London School of Economics (M.Sc.), where he studied as a Chevening Scholar.
Married to Camielle Edwards Lang, Eugene and his wife live in Ottawa with their daughter Leah and son Joshua.
The Honourable John Manley, P.C., O.C., was appointed President and Chief Executive of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) effective January 1, 2010.
Mr. Manley is a former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada. He was first elected to Parliament in 1988, and re-elected three times. From 1993 to 2003 he was a Minister in the governments of Jean Chrétien, serving in the portfolios of Industry, Foreign Affairs and Finance, in addition to being Deputy Prime Minister.
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Mr. Manley was named Chair of a Cabinet Committee on Public Security and Anti-terrorism, serving as counterpart to Governor Tom Ridge, the first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. In recognition of the role he played following 9/11, TIME Canada named him “2001 Newsmaker of the Year”.
After a 16-year career in politics, Mr. Manley returned to the private sector in 2004. From 2004 to 2009 he served as Counsel to McCarthy Tétrault LLP, a leading Canadian law firm. In that capacity he provided strategic advice in matters relating to public affairs, including trade, telecommunications, security and finance.
Since leaving government, Mr. Manley has continued to be active in public policy, as a media commentator, speaker and adviser to government. In 2003, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty asked him to lead a review of the province’s electricity sector. In 2005, he co-chaired the Independent Task Force on the Future of North America for the Council on Foreign Relations, a non-partisan think tank based in New York City. In 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper named Mr. Manley to chair an Independent Panel on Canada’s Future Role in Afghanistan.
In addition to his role as President and Chief Executive of the CCCE, Mr. Manley serves on the boards of several publicly traded companies and is active in the not-for-profit sector.
Ian Mallory is President of Pickworth Investments LP, a venture capital and advisory firm based in Calgary specializing in energy and natural resources. He has extensive experience in international business and law. Ian has been an executive at three major Canadian energy companies, developing and executing projects in numerous countries. While at Westcoast Energy between 1995 and 2002, he built its Mexican subsidiary into Canada’s largest investor in the country. Prior to his experience in the energy sector, Ian was counsel to the treasury of the World Bank for four years. He is a graduate of Harvard, the University of Toronto, and Cambridge, and was called to the bar of Ontario in 1986. He is an officer of Sea NG Corporation and a director of various private companies in the energy and natural resource sectors. Ian has taught at the law school at Georgetown University and at the business school at the University of Calgary. He is on the Advisory Boards of the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Latin American Research Centre at the University of Calgary.
A native of Vancouver, John H. McArthur was Dean of the Faculty, Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration, from 1980 through 1995. He was a member of the Harvard Business School faculty from 1962, where he taught courses in corporate finance and related fields in several School programs while also engaging in research and course development in Europe and North America. In 1973, McArthur was appointed the Sylvan C. Coleman Professor of Financial Management, and in 1980, the George F. Baker Professor of Business Administration. Since 1996 he has served as Senior Advisor to the President of The World Bank.
Donald McInnes is the founder of Plutonic Power Corporation, a rapidly emerging British Columbian based green hydroelectric power development company. His background is in funding natural resource development through Canadian capital markets including the founding of Blackstone Ventures and Western Keltic Mines. In the last 18 months these companies have raised over $750 million in debt and equity. He serves on a variety of community and business association boards and is a frequent public speaker and contributor to public policy debate to both government and the public at large.
On May 12, 2006, the Honourable A. Anne McLellan, P.C. was appointed Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the University of Alberta and the first Distinguished Scholar appointed to the newly established Institute for United States Policy Studies at the University.
Anne McLellan served four terms as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre from 1993-2006. Ms McLellan was Deputy Prime Minister of Canada and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (December 2003 – January 2006). Ms McLellan also served as federal Minister of Health, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and Minister of Natural Resources and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians. From 1976 to 1980, Ms McLellan was an assistant professor of law at the University of New Brunswick. In 1980, she moved to Edmonton to take a position as associate professor of law at the University of Alberta. She served as associate dean of the Faculty of Law between 1985 and 1987 and was acting dean from July 1991 to June 1992.
Ms McLellan has also served on the boards of directors of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Alberta Legal Aid and was Vice-President of the University of Alberta’s Faculty Association.She holds Bachelor of Arts and Law degrees from Dalhousie University and a Master of Laws degree from King’s College, University of London.
Don Newman is a highly respected Canadian journalist and award-winning broadcaster. He is widely known and well-recognized for his incisive, balanced coverage, high journalistic standards and in-depth knowledge of politics, public policy and current events. Over his forty year career, he has reported from Ottawa and every Canadian province, as well as from Washington, London and the United Nations. For two decades, he served as Senior Parliamentary Editor of CBC Television News as well as anchor and host of a daily politics program and special live broadcasts on its all-news network. He was named to the Order of Canada over a decade ago and was recently made a life member of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery. He is also a recipient of a Gemini award for lifetime achievement in public affairs broadcasting, the Parliamentary Press Gallery’s Charles Lynch Award for outstanding coverage of national affairs, the Public Policy Forum’s Hyman Solomon Award for excellence in public policy journalism, and has received honorary degrees from Queen’s and Winnipeg universities.
Thomas Pitfield was a Senior Policy Advisor to the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Honourable Jack Austin. He is one of the four founders of Canada 2020. Previously, he worked in China for the Canada Chinese Business Council and as a business strategy consultant, specializing in Corporate Governance, for IBM Canada. After co-founding IBM’s Toronto Innovation Center, he worked as Policy Advisor to the Director of IBM’s Business Partner Channel.
Mr. Pitfield holds an honours degree in business from Queen’s University and a Masters Degree with Merit in Political Philosophy from the London School of Economics. He is currently President and CEO of Saraguay Group Inc. and sits as a member of the Advocacy Committee for Parkinson Society Canada.
Senator Hugh Segal was summoned by Her Excellency the Governor General to the Senate on August 2, 2005. He sits as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, and is one of the most recognized and influential figures in Canadian politics and public policy. He has been President of the Institute for Research on Public Policy of Canada (IRPP) since 1999, Canada’s oldest, non-partisan, public policy think-tank, based in Montreal. A graduate of the University of Ottawa, Mr. Segal is a Professor of Public Policy at the School of Business at Queen’s University, and senior fellow at the School of Policy Studies. He sits on the Boards of Directors of public and private companies in various sectors including, energy, engineering, construction, technology, beverage alcohol and marketing. In the community and public-service sector, he is a member of a series of boards, including The Atlantic Council of Canada, the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, the Canadian Advisory Board for the Ditchley Foundation, and chairs the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation. His fifteen years in the public sector included service as associate secretary of cabinet for federal provincial relations in Ontario, Principal Secretary to the Premier and Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister of Canada. In 2003, Hugh Segal was appointed a member of the Order of Canada, and in 2004, he was awarded a Doctorate in Laws (Honoris Causa) from the Royal Military College of Canada.
Susan Smith is one of the four founders of Canada 2020. She is a partner in Bluesky Strategy Group, a full service public affairs firm based in Ottawa. A veteran communications strategist, she has provided strategic advice and implementation to political and business leaders across Canada throughout her career as a communications consultant in Ottawa and Calgary. She has served as the senior communications advisory to the Minister of Transport, the Minister of Human Resources Development and the Leader of the Opposition. As a political “pundit”, she has appeared regularly on CTV Newsnet, CBC Newsworld, CPAC and in the Ottawa Citizen. She is a Co-Founder of Canada 2020. A bilingual graduate of Queen’s University, Susan lives with her son in Ottawa, Ontario.
Mark Stabile is the Director of the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto and Associate Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at the Rotman School of Management. His current research interests include the economics of child health, economics of health care and health insurance, and tax policy and health insurance. His work has been published widely in journals including the Journal of Health Economics; Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law, and American Economic Review, among others. Professor Stabile’s past honours include a 2007 and 2008 Excellence in Teaching Award from the Rotman School of Management, and he was the recipient of the John C. Polanyi Prize in Economics in 2003, and the Harry Johnson Prize in 2002. Professor Stabile received his B.A. from the University of Toronto, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University.
Kerry Stirton is currently Managing Director of Stellation Asset Management based in New York. His investment and advisory experience has included leadership positions at Goldman Sachs’ Global Equities Group, Sanford C. Bernstein, and Louis Dreyfus Corporation. Mr. Stirton’s research on multi-national corporations and global business strategy has been widely published by leading journals and print media, and he is currently co-authoring a book with the Harvard Business School Professor of Investment Management on the alternative investment industry. Prior to his investment career, Mr. Stirton was a senior executive with Bombardier Aerospace, and a former McKinsey & Company consultant. His charitable activities are focused on The Canadian Museum for Human Rights and Save the Children. He holds law degrees from Harvard Law School and Oxford University, as well as a degree in Politics from the University of Toronto. Mr. Stirton was formerly a Teaching Fellow at Harvard College, and a Rhodes Scholar.
Canadian-born Rhodes Scholar Jennifer Welsh is currently a professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford, and a consultant to a number of organizations including McKinsey and Co and the Government of Canada. She is also the author of five books; her latest entitled “At Home in the World: Canada’s Global Vision for the 21st Century”, where she provides an alternative vision for Canada’s role in International Relations and contends that Canada is a “Model Citizen” not a “Middle Power” in foreign affairs, Dr. Welsh suggests that Canada can play a major role in International policy if it provides a model for other countries to follow.
Loading ...