Some people have trouble convincing one CEO to accept a plan.

Thomas d'Aquino has to sell his views to 150 of them. D'Aquino, CEO of the Ottawa-based Council of Chief Executives, has been guiding Canada's top executives since the early 1980s.

His council's mission, he says, is to make Canada the best place for people to work, live and grow.

You could call him Canada's general in the battle for global competitiveness.

Larry MacDougal, Business Edge
Thomas d'Aquino, CEO of the Council of Chief Executives, says Canada has weathered the economic storm in the U.S. surprisingly well.

But he would probably prefer to be called an agent of change ...

1. What did your parents do?

"My father was a businessman. He emigrated to Canada in the early 1920s, my mother in 1924. Both my parents came from Italy. My father ran a variety of businesses. He owned a small restaurant. He owned a hotel. He invested in the mining industry. My mother helped him with his businesses, particularly in the restaurant."

2. What was your boyhood dream?

"My boyhood dream was to be well travelled and to be able to do something for my country."

3. How did growing up in Nelson, B.C., prepare you for your current position?

"I wouldn't have traded growing up in Nelson for growing up anywhere. The schools and teachers were wonderful."

4. Who were your early mentors?

"I started studying the violin with Gladys Webb-Foster. I took my Royal Conservatory exams until Grade 6. It taught me a love for music, which I still have to this day. History has also been a passion of mine from early days. I travelled to Europe for extended periods ... I was president of my junior high school and class valedictorian. My days at the University of British Columbia were particularly good years."

5. What spurred your interest in becoming a lawyer?

Thomas d'Aquino

"I was interested in the constitution from my early reading of history ...

I was always interested in the law, not so much from real estate transactions, but from the way we live. I am still to this day a member of the bar of British Columbia. Reading has generated an interest in public policy, and public-policy business and the law have been cornerstones of my professional life. I've always seen myself as an agent of change. All my life, I have been involved in what I call intellectual entrepreneurship."

6. What was your first job?

"Actually, my first job was an overnight job washing down diesel engines in Nelson. My father thought it was a great idea. The one thing he did not want me to become was an effete scholar. While I did a lot of studying and did a lot of schooling, it was really very important (to him) that I be exposed to the real life, the working life. I look back on those days as wonderful experiences."

7. How did Intercounsel get started?

"For a period of time, I had two residences, one in London and one in Paris, and I was commuting between the two. When I came back to Canada, I set up Intercounsel as my own firm. It was incorporated in 1976 and got underway in 1977. At one point, I hired, and had working with me, nine to 10 people. But Intercounsel really, in many respects, forged new territory in Canada ... I marketed it as offering advice in the nexus between government, public policy, business and the law. If you really think about it, my career, going back now for almost 35 years, has really been a mixture of government, business strategy, public policy and the law."

8. What was it like working for the Trudeau government?

"Pierre Trudeau had just been elected and was an immensely popular prime minister. I was executive assistant to (then-cabinet minister) James Richardson for exactly one year, from September '68 to September '69, and then I was invited to join the prime minister's staff. I didn't leave until after the election of 1972. Canada was one of the first countries in the world to extend diplomatic recognition to China. It was a time when the Charter of Rights was introduced and the Constitution was very much talked about. It was also a time when the FLQ was a major threat in Quebec and Pierre Laporte, the cabinet minister, was murdered. There was the imposition of the War Measures Act - all of that happened when I was there. So it was a very heady and pretty exciting time, both in terms of the government's role internationally and what was happening on the domestic scene."

9. On more current issues, how do you think Canada can become an environmental superpower?

"In terms of natural resources, we're one of the most important countries in the world. We have huge water resources. Oil and gas. Coal. Uranium. Metals, from nickel to you-name-it. That creates a special obligation for Canadians to husband those resources properly, in a very environmentally responsible way. I've called for Canada to be an environmental superpower. What I mean by that is not only husbanding our resources in the most advanced way possible and with great sensitivity, but through a whole variety of other policies - doing the right thing to ensure that we reduce our carbon footprint in Canada.

"Do everything in terms of land, air, and water quality to keep what is pristine and take what we have that has been polluted and clean it up. It also means taking very seriously the challenge of global warming and climate change. It's not only a responsibility to our own citizens but to people around the world. If Canada can be an environmental superpower, we can teach other people how to be good environmentalists and how to build a model economy on the principles of sustainability."

10. Have biofuels lived up to your expectations?

"Not yet, but I have great hope and expectation that we will, with the tremendous biomass that we produce in this country, that we will be able to translate the product into a fuel which will be environmentally friendly. I'm a great advocate of wind and solar power, but I also see the enormous progress that the oil and gas and the oilsands industry has made. I'm also a great believer, while some people are very skeptical, that we should do everything possible to try and perfect the science of clean coal, because we have an abundance of coal."

11. What do you see as other potentially beneficial alternative fuels?

"Solar, biomass, wind, even tidal power, nuclear - I'm all for every source of energy we have, with a view that, with the right desire, vision and will, over time the right technologies will enable us to use these fuel and energy sources in a very environmentally friendly way. Building good environmental practices means that you're doing more with less. That's not only good environmentalism, but it's also good business."

12. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach responded if Canada were to achieve its emission-reduction targets, Alberta's economy would have to shut down. What's your response?

"Keep in mind that we talking about global numbers here, which have to allow for regional differentiation. For example, Quebec relies heavily on hydroelectric power and has a small carbon footprint.

Alberta, which relies primarily on oil and gas, has a bigger carbon footprint. I don't think we should penalize one part of the country at the expense of another. What we should do is achieve the highest levels of technology and environmental enhancement with the resources that we have ... We have to be able to react sensibly to where we live and the conditions we live (in)."

13. How would you describe Canada's level of business confidence today?

"Reasonably high, given that there's a very significant slowdown going on in the United States. While we will not have this year the same economic performance that we've had in the last six to seven years, because recessionary forces are at work, overall we are in excellent shape."

14. What do you see as some of the major issues facing the Canadian economy?

"The first one is to be able to cope with, and deal with, a slowdown in the global economy and a very significant slowdown in the U.S. economy. That, coupled with the weight of the sub-prime mess and the housing bubble that was at the heart of it. If you look at macro numbers, Canada is the only country in the G7 that has a surplus in its fiscal account and a surplus in its trade account. Our overall unemployment is one of the lowest we've had in the last 30 years. Inflation is still under control. We've got a Western economy that is just roaring - Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia - and we've got some pockets of difficulty in Ontario, obviously, and Quebec with manufacturing. Overall, Canada has weathered the storm in the U.S. surprisingly well. But I would say that skyrocketing oil prices are a two-edged sword for us - good for oil exports, not so good for consumers generally and manufacturers. The second issue is the importance of ensuring that Canada-U.S. trade, which is the largest two-way trading relationship in the world, is not impeded by American concerns about security. In many respects, we are facing more obstacles at the border. This is hurting both the Canadian and American economies. How we deal with protectionism in the U.S. and how we ensure that security does not trump trade, in the context of our two-way flow of goods and services, is one of our highest priorities."

15. What do you say to critics who claim that the recommendations of a competitiveness panel chaired by Lynton (Red) Wilson, which you endorse, will never be realized?

"The report underscores the need for action in a whole bunch of areas that, frankly, I've been talking about for over 20 years, and many people in the business community have been doing the same thing. Should Canada allow the free movement of people, goods and services within the country? Of course we should. We're an economic union. Why should it be impossible for you to get a job in Quebec or for me to get a job in Saskatchewan or in British Columbia? Another one of their recommendations was that we should be more welcoming of foreign investment in Canada. Who can possibly argue against that? Foreign investment is a reflection of confidence from the global community in what we have here. Safe streets. Good schools. The rule of law. A highly talented workforce. Good environment. That's what attracts foreign investment. So anyone who says no to foreign investment, frankly, is looking at the world upside down. Most countries would kill to have the degree of foreign investment that we do, and would kill to have more foreign investment. Foreign investment avoids a lot of countries, because they don't have any of the elements that I talked about. Foreign investment that creates jobs and creates opportunities is, certainly, to be welcomed - just as we as Canadians invest beyond our border. Nobody comes to us and says, don't invest in China, don't invest in Japan, don't invest in the U.S. That's how we build home-grown global enterprises. Just as we are warmly received because of talent and ability in other countries, we should be warmly welcoming foreign investment in Canada. Another area that the task force focuses on is the need for openness and compatibility in our regulations. I use the environment as an example. If you've got a country as small as Canada with only 32 million people, with a patchwork of regulations all on top of one another, which makes it very difficult for people to move from province to province and carry out business in a way that is not enormously costly, then, as the Red Wilson task force says, it's time to get our act together and get on with it."

16. Why has Canada been slow to adopt leading-edge research and technologies?

"When I say slow, we are not among the slowest. We are among the fastest in the world. But if we're in the top 15 in terms of technology absorption, I'd like us to be in the top three. It's just that I don't think we're fast enough."

17. How do you expect high fuel prices to influence Canada's economy in the future?

"High fuel prices are already doing a number of things.

"They're creating hardship for people who can't afford it, and that's lamentable. Whether you're moving planes, or moving cars or transportation of any kind, high fuel prices are going to make all of that more expensive. We're going to be living in a world in which the cost of fuel will be higher. We're just going to have to be very creative in terms of how we deal with that. There is a positive to higher fuel prices - they are a powerful price signal that, I think, will launch a new round of creativity. It's going to result in more investment in alternative fuels other than oil. It's going to promote more investment in environmental research. It may even spark a renaissance of our nuclear industry, which I would support. It may result in technology to deal with clean coal, again which I would support. The high cost of a carbon economy, inevitably, is going to drive our country and others to look at how we are going to power future generations on this planet. The steps that we take could lead to a much cleaner environment as we begin to roll (out) these new technologies."

18. What is your response to critics of the new Copyright Act?

"I'm a great believer in support of creativity, whether it be a musical artist, a scientist who has worked long and hard on an idea, or a particular service or product that people have spent tens or hundreds of millions of dollars developing. I just don't believe that we live in a world where people should not be compensated for their creativity. What you have with the Copyright Act is the ability to say to people: You start off with virtually nothing, you create it, you're working hard, you deserve to have some benefits that come from that creativity. While I'm a great supporter of an open economy and open ideas, I think that at some point you have to draw the line ... Those who worked their butts off and tried to create something, they do deserve some compensation for their work - and some protection for their work."

19. What will it take for Canada to offset the skilled-labour shortage?

"I would like to see us bring in more immigrants. I would like to see us target the immigrants that we bring in, in that we should shoot for people who are well educated, have lots of skills and are really committed to building a better country. Once upon a time, everybody wanted to come to Canada. Fortunately, many people still do, because we're such a great country. But now we've got competition from all over the world. We've got Indians who want to go back to India because there are huge opportunities there. Same with the Chinese. We've got many other countries that are doing very well, so we have to compete for talent. It's a global war for talent. The way we do that is to create the best possible living and working circumstances here. Safe streets. Education. Good environment. Good and well-qualified and well-paying jobs. These are all the things that we have to work very hard at, to ensure that we attract more immigrants and skilled immigrants."

20. If you weren't running the council of CEOs anymore, what would you do?

"First of all, I would certainly continue to work in the whole public-policy, business-strategy field. I would want to continue to work in the non-governmental area. I chair the National Gallery of Canada. I sit on a number of other foundations. I find that work extremely worthwhile, and I would want to join my wife in our beautiful garden and do more gardening. I'd want to go fly-fishing in all parts of the world and read a lot of books."

Thomas d'Aquino * Title: President/CEO, Canadian Council of Chief Executives.

* Born/raised/age: Trail, B.C./Nelson, B.C./67.

* Education: D'Aquino attended UBC, Queen's University, University College London and the London School of Economics. He holds BA, LLB, and LLM degrees. He also received honorary doctor of laws degrees from Queen's and Wilfrid Laurier.

* Family: Married for 40 years, no children, several godchildren.

* Career: After completing his studies in London, D'Aquino returned to Canada and became an adviser to then-justice minister Pierre Trudeau. After helping Trudeau win the Liberal leadership and become prime minister, D'Aquino worked for him as a policy adviser and speechwriter from 1969-72. After leaving the government, he served as an associate with an international management consulting firm in London and Paris. In 1976, he founded and became CEO of Intercounsel Ltd. The firm, still active today, mentors CEOs in public-policy strategies within the banking, energy, communications and technology sectors. In 1981, he joined the CCCE, then known as the Business Council on National Issues, in his current role. While with the CCCE, he has also served as an adjunct law professor at the University of Ottawa and a special counsel to law firm McCarthy and McCarthy on public-policy strategies.

* Moonlighting: D'Aquino is the CCCE's representative on the Geneva-based World Economic Forum. He also sits on the boards of Toronto-based Manulife Financial Corp. and CGI Group Inc., one of Canada's largest information technology companies, and Coril Holdings Ltd., a private Calgary-based company with interests in securities management, railway maintenance, real estate and natural resources. He also holds board and committee posts with several other private companies and federal government committees and chairs the National Gallery.

* Passions: Unusual travel, gardening, fly-fishing, ancient and medieval history and architecture, reading, music.

Canadian Council of Chief Executives * Brass: In addition to CEO Thomas d'Aquino, the members of the CCCE's executive committee are: Chair, Gordon Nixon, president and chief executive officer of the Royal Bank of Canada; honorary chair Richard George, president and chief executive officer of Suncor Energy Inc.; and vice-chairs Dominic D'Alessandro (Manulife Financial), Paul Desmarais Jr. (Power Corp. of Canada), Jacques Lamarre (SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.), Hartley Richardson (James Richardson & Sons Limited) and Annette Verschuren (The Home Depot Canada/Asia).

* Profile: The CCCE is composed of 150 CEOs from leading enterprises across Canada.

* Stats: The CCCE's member companies control $3.5 trillion worth of assets and post approximately $800 billion in annual revenues.

* Website: www.ceocouncil.ca * HQ: Suite 1001, 99 Bank Street, Ottawa, K1P 6B9 * Phone: (613) 238-3727 (Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)