David Collenette PC, LLD, FCILT, served as a Liberal Member of Parliament from Toronto for 21 years and as a Cabinet Minister under three Prime Ministers – Pierre Trudeau, John Turner and Jean Chretien – for a period of 11 years. He held several portfolios including Multiculturalism, National Defence, Veterans’ Affairs, Crown Corporations, Minister for the Greater Toronto Area and was Canada’s second longest-serving Minister of Transport (1997-2003). While at National Defence Collenette oversaw the reorganization, restructuring and re-engineering of the department as part of major government-wide budget cuts to address the deficit. During his time as minister, the Canadian Armed Forces served with the United Nations Protective Force (UNPROFOR) in the former Yugoslavia. This included the first-ever NATO air campaign with the bombing of Bosnian-Serb targets. (Operation Deliberate Force) which was an instrumental step towards a peace agreement (The Dayton Accords). On Canada’s behalf, he was a strong advocate at the North Atlantic Council for NATO enlargement through the Partnership for Peace Program (PfP). Since his retirement from Parliament, Collenette has worked as an advisor to many companies in the defence and transportation industries, including Senior Counsel, Hill+Knowlton Strategies. He has been a member of the International Advisory Board of the School of International Affairs at Stanford University, California; Senior Fellow at Ryerson University and Distinguished Fellow at Glendon College, York University. He has also been active on boards of directors for several non-profit and served on many democratic development missions around the world for the National Democratic Institute, Washington, DC. He was Chair of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in North America, (2012-2016) and Vice President of its International division (2012-2017).
Thursday, November 21, 2024
