| David Collenette |
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David Collenette served as a Member of the Canadian House of Commons for more than 20 years, having been elected in the general elections of 1974,1980,1993,1997,and 2000. He served in the Cabinet under three Prime Ministers, Pierre Trudeau , John Turner and Jean Chretien , holding a number of portfolios: Minister of State-Multiculturalism (1983-84); Minister of National Defense (1993-96); Minister of Veterans Affairs (1993-96); Minister of Transport (1997-2003) and Minister of Crown Corporations (2002-03). He did not seek re-election in 2004. During the constitutional debates of the early 1980's, Mr.Collenette, as Parliamentary Secretary to the Government House leader, was assigned by the government to Westminister to represent Canada's interests. As Minister of National Defense, Mr.Collenette oversaw the reorganization, restructuring and reengineering of the department as the government confronted the severe financial deficit. During this period, the Canadain Forces were involved in challenging assignments in the Balkans, Rawanda and Haiti, as well as confronting the troubling issues relating to the earlier deployment to Somalia. As Transport Minister, Mr.Collenette, was proud to have authored a major policy document, Straight Ahead, which charted a course for Candian transportation policy over the next decade. In addition he was able to initiate a number of legislative changes, including the Canada Marine Act and amendments to the Competition Act to deal with the restructuring of the Canadian airline industry. Perhaps the most challenging period of his career was overseeing Canada's response to the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, and the subsequent issues related to transportation security. On Mr.Collenette's direction, the skies over Canada and the Canadian administered portion of the Atlantic Ocean were closed to all commercial and private air traffic. In the space of a few hours, 226 wide-bodied jets with 33,000 people aboard, landed at Canadian airports, mainly in the less populated areas of the east coast. The coordination of this effort in the air and on the ground proved to be an immense challenge to Mr.Collenette and the public servants working under his direction. In the following days, weeks and months he worked with his colleague, U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Minetta, the FAA, the U.S. Coast Guard and the newly created Department of Homeland Security to revise transportation security policies and regulations. In the last two years he served in Cabinet, Mr.Collenette was also responsible for 10 Crown Corporations, including Canada Post, which ranked number 30 in size in the country; VIA Rail, the national passenger rail corporation; Marine Atlantic, a constitutionally mandated service operating four passenger car/truck/ferries between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland; and the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, established post 9-11, to implement passenger and non-passenger screening at Canadian airports. He represented the shareholder in discussions with the relevant Boards of Directors and approved annual corporate plans as well as substantive structural transactions such as acquisitions, divestitures and tariff increases. In the private sector, Mr.Collenette has worked in the life insurance, plastics and executive recruitment fields. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and Master of Arts in political science from York University, Toronto. He served as Chancellor of the Royal Miltary College of Canada (1993-96) and since 1999 has been a member of the International Advisory Council, Institute of International Studies, Stanford University, California. From 1987-1991, while in the private sector, Mr.Collenette also worked in a volunteer capacity for the National Democratic Institute, Washington, D.C. He was involved in democratic development projects and election monitoring in Haiti, Chile, Romania and the Czech Republic. Since leaving elected politics in 2004 he has resumed his association with NDI and served as Co-Leader of its observer mission to the Ukrainian presidential run-off election on November 21st, 2004. Currently Mr.Collenette is Distinguished Fellow, Glendon College, York University, Toronto as well as having a number of business interests. Mr.Collenette is bilingual (English and French). He is married to Penny (Hossack) Collenette, a lawyer, corporate director and former Senior Fellow at the Centre for Business and Government, Kennedy School, Harvard University, Massachusetts. Currently she is Executive in Residence, School of Management and Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa. They have one son, Christopher, a graduate of Carleton University and government relations consultant.
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