PRIME MINISTER ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF NEW CHAIRPERSON TO THE CANADA MILLENNIUM SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION

June 10, 2002
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Gérard Veilleux as Chairperson of the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, effective June 29, 2002. Mr. Veilleux succeeds Mr. Jean Monty, whose four year term has come to an end.

The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation is a private, autonomous body created by an Act of Parliament on June 18, 1998, to provide a $2.5 billion endowment. It is part of the Canadian Government’s economic plan to help students acquire the knowledge, skills, and qualifications needed to compete in the global economy and build a bright economic future for Canada. The Foundation’s mandate is to help reduce the debt load of Canadian students, and to improve access to post-secondary education by granting scholarships to deserving students in financial need.

The Prime Minister takes the opportunity to thank Mr. Monty, the Foundation’s first Chairperson, for his dedication and contribution over the past four years.

Résumé attached

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PMO Press Office: (613) 957-5555

GÉRARD VEILLEUX, O.C.

Mr. Veilleux was born in 1942 in East Broughton, (Beauce) Quebec. He attended Laval University in Quebec, where he obtained a Bachelor of Commerce Degree, and later graduated with a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Carleton University in Ottawa.

Mr. Veilleux has had a long and distinguished career in both the public and private sectors. Over the years, he has held such positions as Director General, Federal-Provincial Relations in the Quebec Department of Intergovernmental Affairs; Assistant Deputy Minister, Federal-Provincial Relations and Social Policy, Department of Finance; Secretary to the Cabinet for Federal-Provincial Relations; Secretary of the Treasury Board; and President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). He is currently President, Power Communications Inc., a position he has held since 1994.

Mr. Veilleux has been, and still is, active in a number of government, professional and cultural organizations. He has sat on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Research on Public Policy and on the Board of Trustees of the Ottawa Civic Hospital. He is currently serving on the Board of Governors of McGill University and has also been a member of the National Advisory Committee of the Banff School of Management.

Mr. Veilleux is the recipient of an honorary doctorate degree (Administration) from the University of Ottawa. He has been honoured with the Outstanding Achievement Award, the highest award in the Public Service of Canada, and the prestigious Prix Hermès, bestowed by the Faculty of Administration of Laval University. In November 1995, Mr. Veilleux was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.