August 8, 2002
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien today announced the appointment of Harvey Mead as Chairperson of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy. This appointment is effective immediately.

The Round Table is an independent advisory body that provides decision makers, opinion leaders and the Canadian public with advice and recommendations on promoting sustainable development. It brings together distinguished Canadians from all sectors of society -- government, industry, labour, academia, environmental organizations and aboriginal groups -- dedicated to the promotion of sustainable development in Canada.

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Biographical information attached.

PMO Press Office: (613) 957-5555

Harvey Mead has been active in environmental issues at the provincial, national and international level over the past thirty-five years. He was founding President of the "Union québécoise pour la conservation de la nature (UQCN)" and has served as its President for most of the past twenty years. He has held a variety of other positions, including National Director and Vice-President of the Canadian Nature Federation in the 1980s, Assistant Deputy Minister for Conservation and Sustainable Development in the Quebec Department of Environment in 1990 - 1991, member of the Quebec (1987 - 1989) and Canadian (1994 - 1997) Round Tables on Environment and Economy, and has been President of the Advisory Committee to St. Lawrence Vision 2000 since 1996. He was project officer for a NGO-based project of the UQCN in Honduras from 1992 - 1998 and is presently a member of the Joint Public Advisory Committee for the Chile Canada Agreement on Environmental Cooperation. He is the founding President (2000-2001) of the Fonds d’action québécois sur le développement durable, an independent organization endowed with $45M by the Quebec government to fund sustainable development projects. He has been an environmental advisor to the Canadian chemical industry over the past fifteen years, and is presently an external verifier for its Responsible Care initiative.