Women to outnumber men on Ottawa’s influential council of economic advisers

Another sign of the Government’s commitment to diversity and inclusion:

Women will outnumber men on what could turn out to be the most influential group of people around Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau.

The Canadian Press has learned that Morneau will unveil the federal government’s new advisory council Friday – a team that will help draw up a plan designed to get Canada’s economy out of a rut.

In total, the lineup of business and academic leaders will include eight women and six men.

The advisers, who will be paid a salary of $1, are responsible for helping the government prepare a long-term growth strategy that will be released by the end of the year.

The council members’ names are being made public just days before the release of the Liberal government’s first budget.

The budget, to be tabled next Tuesday, is expected to spell out much of Ottawa’s plans to spend billions of dollars on measures – such as infrastructure – aimed at boosting the country’s productivity and economic growth.

Last month, Morneau announced that the advisory council would be chaired by Dominic Barton, the global managing director of consulting giant McKinsey & Company.

At the time, Morneau said council members would meet with him regularly and provide advice “on concrete policy actions to help create the long-term conditions for economic growth focused on the middle class.”

The council will also include prominent business figures such as Canada Pension Plan Investment Board president and CEO Mark Wiseman and Michael Sabia, CEO of the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, the province’s largest pension fund manager.

Other council members:

• Elyse Allen, president and CEO, General Electric Canada
• Katherine Barr, general partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures
• Jennifer Blanke, chief economist, World Economic Forum
• Kenneth Courtis, chairman, Starfort Investment Holdings
• Brian Ferguson, president and CEO, Cenovus Energy Inc.
• Suzanne Fortier, principal and vice-chancellor, McGill University
• Carol Anne Hilton, CEO, Transformation
• Carol Lee, CEO and co-founder, Linacare Cosmotherapy Inc.
• Christopher Ragan, associate professor of economics at McGill University and chair of the Ecofiscal Commission
• Angela Strange, partner, Andreessen Horowitz
• Ilse Treurnicht, CEO, MaRS Discovery District

“I look forward to working with the council members, whose diverse backgrounds and impressive expertise will inform our work as we develop and implement a strategy that will build on the foundation we will lay with budget 2016,” Morneau said in a statement.

One visible minority by my count.

Source: Women to outnumber men on Ottawa’s influential council of economic advisers – The Globe and Mail