Advisory Committee
Under Ratna’s leadership, Maytree has gained international recognition for its expertise in developing, testing, and implementing programs and policy solutions related to immigration, integration and diversity.
Ratna also serves as a director of the Toronto City Summit Alliance, and is a member of the board of the Tamarack Institute. She was the first executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council and is currently the chair of its Board of Directors.
Ratna is a Fellow of Centennial College, and received an honorary diploma from George Brown College. In 2006, Ratna was appointed to the Order of Ontario.
Roy Romanow was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan in the 1967 provincial election in the riding of Saskatoon Riversdale. From 1971 to 1982, he served as deputy premier of Saskatchewan. In 1991, while head of the provincial NDP, he was elected Premier of Saskatchewan. Mr. Romanow retired from politics in 2001, and was replaced as leader of the NDP and Premier by Lorne Calvert.
On April 4, 2001, Romanow was appointed to head the Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, on the advice of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. He released the Romanow Report in 2002, which outlined suggestions to improve the health care system.
In 2003 he was sworn in as a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada by Governor General Clarkson, again on the advice of Prime Minister Chrétien. He was also made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. Romanow's official portrait was unveiled at Saskatchewan's Legislative Assembly in 2005, when he received the Commemorative Medal for the Centennial of Saskatchewan from Lieutenant Governor Dr. Lynda Haverstock.
Mr. Bhardwaj is the President and CEO of the Toronto Community Foundation. He was formerly a corporate lawyer with a leading Canadian law firm, Vice President of the Toronto 2008 Olympic Bid, and then CEO of United Way of York Region.
His long history of community service includes serving as a Board Member of the Stratford Festival of Canada, George Brown College, and Community Foundations of Canada, and United Way Toronto. He also served Chair of the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, among others.
In 2007, Rahul was named by the National Post as one of the "Next Generation of Toronto Civic Leaders." In 2008, Rahul was named as a member of Toronto Mayor David Miller's "Blue Ribbon Fiscal Review Panel." Recently, the Province of Ontario appointed Rahul to the Board of Metrolinx.
Rahul is a popular presenter and speaker, particularly on issues relating to the city, community and leadership as well as Toronto’s Vital Signs Report. He has been featured in local Toronto media as well as international media including CBC Newsworld, CNN, and the national Daily News in China.
Ken Boessenkool is an Executive Fellow at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary and provides Senior Counsel through the communications firm GCI Canada. Ken has been a senior policy advisor to three party leaders and two Alberta Finance Ministers and a policy chair for three winning national party leadership campaigns and one provincial leadership campaign. He has also played senior strategic and policy roles in two national election campaigns and formal advisory roles for Preston Manning, Stockwell Day , Stephen Harper and Jim Dinning .
Ken has written for the C.D. Howe Institute, the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, the Institute for Research on Public Policy, the Montreal Economic Institute, the Fraser Institute, the Canada West Foundation, the Institute for Intergovernmental Relations (Queens University), The School for the Study of State and Markets (University of Toronto), the Institute for Public Economics (University of Alberta) and the School of Public Policy (University of Calgary). He is a volunteer board member on The Canada-Israel Committee; The Cantos Music Foundation and the Canadian Friends of Hebrew University. Ken has been a senior regulatory economist and an independent economic consultant. Ken has an undergraduate degree from the University of Lethbridge and a graduate degree in economics from the University of Toronto. He and his wife Tammy have four daughters and live in Chestermere, Alberta.
Mel Cappe began his term as President and CEO, Institute for Research on Public Policy on June 1, 2006.
Prior to joining the IRPP, Mr. Cappe spent more than 30 years in the Canadian public service, most recently as the High Commissioner for Canada to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Prior to that, he was Canada’s top public servant as Clerk of the Privy Council, Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of the Public Service. He assumed those responsibilities in January 1999, relinquishing the position in May of 2002 to become Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Canada before leaving for the UK later that year.
He has also held senior economic and policy positions in various federal government departments in Ottawa, including the Treasury Board Secretariat, Department of Finance, and Consumer and Corporate Affairs. He has served as Deputy Secretary to the Treasury Board, Deputy Minister of the Environment, Deputy Minister of Human Resources Development, Deputy Minister of Labour and Chairman of the Employment Insurance Commission.
Born in 1948, Mr. Cappe has a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Western Ontario and did doctoral studies at the University of Toronto. He has honourary doctorates from the University of Toronto and University of Western Ontario. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and Professor at the School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Toronto. He is married to Marni, and they have two adult children and a grandson.
Ian Clark became Professor at University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy and Governance in 2007 after nine years as President of the Council of Ontario Universities. Clark has served on the executive board of the International Monetary Fund and in six different departments in the Government of Canada, including as Deputy Secretary in the Privy Council Office, Deputy Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, and Secretary of the Treasury Board. He is currently chair of the Departmental Audit Committee for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and of Statistics Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Postsecondary Education Statistics. He is a member of the board of the Institute for Research on Public Policy, the Canadian Urban Institute and the Ontario Innovation Trust, the Canadian Public Administration Journal, and the Departmental Audit Committee for Health Canada. Clark has a BSc from the University of British Columbia in 1966, a DPhil from Oxford in1969 and an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School in 1972 and an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Victoria in 2008. He is a member of the Order of Canada. In 2009, Clark co-authored with Greg Moran, Michael Skolnik and David Trick, the book Academic Transformation: The Forces Reshaping Higher Education in Ontario .
Don Drummond was born and raised in Victoria, British Columbia, where he graduated from the University of Victoria. He subsequently received his M.A. in Economics from Queen's University.
Mr. Drummond joined the federal Department of Finance upon completing his studies at Queen's. During almost 23 years at Finance, Mr. Drummond held a series of progressively more senior positions in the areas of economic analysis and forecasting, fiscal policy and tax policy. His last three positions were respectively, Assistant Deputy Minister of Fiscal Policy and Economic Analysis, Assistant Deputy Minister of Tax Policy & Legislation and most recently, Associate Deputy Minister. In the latter position, Mr. Drummond was responsible for economic analysis, fiscal policy, tax policy, social policy and federal-provincial relations. In particular, Mr. Drummond coordinated the planning of the annual federal budgets.
Mr. Drummond joined the TD Bank in June 2000 as Senior Vice President and Chief Economist and led TD Economics' work in analyzing and forecasting economic performance in Canada and abroad. For Canada, this work is conducted at the city, provincial, industrial and national levels. TD Economics also analyzes the key policies which influence economic performance, including monetary and fiscal policies.
Mr. Drummond currently travels widely across Canada and abroad, speaking to various groups about the Canadian economy and its prospects and he is frequently quoted by the media on economic and policy issues.
Bill Fearn, a founding Partner and Managing Director of Delta Capital, has been delivering investment banking, corporate finance, business strategy and operational advisory services, both nationally and internationally, for over twenty years. He has provided clients with strategic business and financial advice on financings, divestitures, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, business reorganizations and integrations, IPO's and going private transactions. He has worked with or advised businesses in virtually all industrial sectors in Canada.
Bill has also been a senior operating and financial executive across a wide range of industries and with government of Newfoundland. His broad base of experience and access to senior business people across Canada provide great value to the organizations he is involved with.
He served as Deputy Minister and Comptroller of Finance for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. In addition, he has held senior positions with N. M. Rothschild Canada, TD Bank Financial Group as well as having been Chief Financial Officer of Aetna Canada, Kidd Creek Mines (now Xstrata) and the Shawinigan Group (now SNC Lavalin). He began his business career with Ernst & Young and worked with Fednav Group in Montreal.
He has served as a director of private, public and crown corporations, a director and treasurer of a hospital foundation and is currently a director of the Canadian Opera Company, the Chair of the Canadian Opera Foundation and a director of several private companies. He is also a senior, pro bono, advisor with the MaRS centre in Toronto, where he works with a variety of start up ventures and their entrepreneur founders. He has a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University and is a Chartered Accountant.
Danny has had a twenty-year career with many accomplishments in the fields of business, law, public policy and politics. Danny was called to the Nova Scotia Bar in 1989.
Danny has extensive criminal litigation experience before the Provincial Court, the Supreme Court of Canada, the National Parole Board, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. He has also practiced corporate commercial law and has worked at the head office of Atlantic Canada's largest real estate developer. Danny has been engaged in advancing high-profile public policy reforms in youth justice and anti-terrorism in Canada. He has also worked with the UN to establish restorative justice in member states.
Danny was a National Executive Member of the Criminal Justice Section of the CBA, Vice President and Treasurer of the CBA, Nova Scotia Branch and a Member of Council of the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society. He was Chair of the Nova Scotia Restorative Justice Steering Committee and Director of the Nova Scotia Legal Aid Commission. Danny was Leader of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party (2002-2004) and is also active in his community as Chair of Envision Halifax and the Autism Golf Ball.
CentrePort is Canada’s first inland port and encompasses 20,000 acres in the North West quadrant of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Mrs. Gray previously worked for the Province of Manitoba from 1995 to 2009 and served as Deputy Minister of Finance, Deputy Minister of Federal-Provincial and International Relations, and Deputy Minister of Trade.
Mrs. Gray is a graduate of the University of Manitoba's and University of Winnipeg's Joint Master of Public Administration Program and has an undergraduate degree in political studies from the University of Manitoba.
Ron Jamieson, a Mohawk from Six Nations, held senior executive positions in the financial services industry for ten years prior to being appointed Vice-President, Aboriginal Banking, Bank of Montreal in September, 1992. He assumed the position of Senior Vice-President in 1996 and retired in 2006.
Throughout his career, he has been active in economic development initiatives for Aboriginal communities across Canada. He is a member of the Conference Board of Canada’s Council on the Corporate Management of Aboriginal Affairs and he was a member of the Economic Task Force advising National Chief Matthew Coon Come of the Assembly of First Nations.
In addition, he was Chairman of the Royal Commission on Economic Matters affecting Aboriginal People in Canada and a member of the Whitehorse Mining Initiative - Finance and Taxation Issue Group. Since 1996, Ron has been on the Board of Directors of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards for Canada and a member of the Aboriginal Program Council for The Banff Centre. In 2001, Ron accepted an appointment to Co-Chair the Innu Healing Foundation. He has recently been appointed to the board of the Ontario Power Authority.
The Hon. Frances Lankin, PC, LLD (HC) has been the President and CEO of United Way Toronto since 2001. Under her leadership, United Way has become a leading community builder that works to meet urgent needs and address the root causes of Toronto’s social problems.
Frances has spent a lifetime in service to the community through her work in public office, the labour movement and the social service sector. She has been widely recognized for her contributions to the community, and most recently received honorary Doctorates of Laws from Queen’s University and Ryerson University.
She has served on several not-for-profit boards including the Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation. She is also currently a member of the Toronto City Summit Alliance Steering Committee and the External Advisory Board of the City Institute at York University.
Prior to joining United Way in 2001, Frances was the MPP for Beaches-East York for eleven years. She has served as Ontario’s Minister of Health, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, and Minister of Government Services.
In 2009, Frances became a member of the Queen’s Privy Council of Canada and was appointed to the Security Intelligence Review Committee. She is currently leading the Ontario government’s review of social assistance programs – the largest such review of these services in twenty years. The review, started in January 2011, is expected to be completed in June 2012.
Bill MacKinnon is originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He completed his B.Comm. Honours degree at the University of Manitoba in 1967, achieved his Chartered Accountant designation in 1971 and was appointed a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario in 1994.
A partner at KPMG in 1977, Bill was the Managing Partner for KPMG’s Toronto office from 1988 to 1993, when he became the Managing Partner for the Toronto Region until 1997. He then became Vice Chairman, National Consulting until 1999 and the Chief Executive Officer of KPMG Canada. Bill retired in December of 2008.
From the beginning of his career, Bill was an active member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario. He was a lecturer for a ten-year span starting in 1975, and served on the ICAO’s education committee from 1978 to 1982.
Bill is also very active in his community and an avid supporter of the arts in Toronto. He was the Treasurer and Director of the Canadian Stage Company for almost a decade (1988 to 1997) and was the CSC’s President and Chairman from 1998 to 2000. Bill has served on the United Way Cabinet Campaign from 2002 until 2008 and was Chair of the United Way Annual Fundraising Campaign in 2008, and served as Co-chair, Special Gifts Group, for the Salvation Army’s Circle of Caring Campaign in 2001. He is currently a Director of the Toronto East General Hospital, the C. D. Howe Institute, the Toronto Board of Trade, the Toronto Community Foundation and Roy Thomson Hall and also serves as a Director of several corporate boards including Telus Corp and Pioneer Petroleum.
Bill became the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants in September of 2008.
The Honourable R. Roy McMurtry, Q.C., has a long-standing record of public and community service. McMurtry practiced law as a trial counsel for 17 years before being elected to the Ontario legislature in 1975. Upon election, he was appointed to the Cabinet of Premier William G. Davis as the Attorney General of Ontario, a position he held until 1985.
As Attorney General, he oversaw important reforms to Ontario's justice system including bilingualism in the courts, multiculturalism and family law reform. He took an active part in the negotiations that led to the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution and the creation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. During that period he also served for four years as the Solicitor General for Ontario.
In 1985, McMurtry was appointed Canada's High Commissioner to Great Britain, a post which he held until late 1988. In 1991 he was appointed Associate Chief Justice of the Superior Court in Ontario and then Chief Justice of that court in 1994. In February 1996 he was appointed Chief Justice of Ontario, a capacity in which he served for over 11 years until May 30, 2007.
Mr. McMurtry was selected as a recipient of the Order of Ontario in 2007 and an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2009. He has been the chancellor for York University since 2008.
Alain Noël is a professor of political science at the Université de Montréal. He works on social policy in a comparative and international perspective, as well as on federalism and on Quebec and Canadian politics. His articles have appeared in various journals, including the American Political Science Review, the Canadian Journal of Political Science, Canadian Public Policy, Comparative Political Studies, the Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, Global Social Policy, International Organization, and the Revue française des affaires sociales.
His latest book, Left and Right in Global Politics, co-authored with Jean-Philippe Thérien, was published in June 2008 by Cambridge University Press. He also edited Labour Market Policy and Federalism: Comparing Different Governance and Employment Strategies and Forging a Canadian Social Union: SUFA and Beyond.
Alain Noël is currently president of the Centre d’étude sur la pauvreté et l’exclusion of the Quebec government and vice-president of the Fonds québécois de recherche sur la société et la culture. Previously, he was a member of Quebec’s Commission on Fiscal Imbalance, and a visiting professor at the Institut d’études politiques de Grenoble, at the Institut d’études politiques de Lyon, and at the School of Social Welfare of the University of California at Berkeley.
He regularly comments on current political events in the media, and he writes a monthly column in Policy Options, the magazine of the Institute for Research on Public Policy.
Susan Pigott is the Vice President, Communications and Community Engagement at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto
Susan trained as a nurse at the Wellesley Hospital School of Nursing in Toronto and then worked as Registered Nurse for ten years in Toronto and abroad in Australia and Papua New Guinea.
In 1978, she earned a Masters in Social Work at the University of Toronto. Since then, she has worked in the non-profit human services field in Toronto for over 25 years. For nine years, she was the Chief Executive Officer of St. Christopher House, a community-based multi-service agency that operates in the west end of Toronto. Prior to that she spent seven years at the United Way of Greater Toronto, first as Allocations Director and then as Vice President of Fundraising. In 2006/7 she took a leave of absence from St. Christopher House to serve as the Executive Lead for Citizen Engagement, supporting the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform.
Susan is an active volunteer having served on several boards including the Community Social Planning Council and the Hospital for Sick Children. She is currently a board member of the Toronto City Summit Alliance and the Soul Pepper Theatre Company. Susan also co-chaired the Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults Task Force (MISWAA) with David Pecaut in 2006.
Robbie Shaw is President of the IWK Health Centre Foundation. Robbie joined the IWK Foundation in 2006 bringing with him solid and recognized management expertise, bolstered by years of community service and corporate directorships. Most recently he served as Managing Director of the Nova Scotia Community College’s $125 million expansion project. He has also previously held senior leadership positions with Nova Scotia Power Inc., KPMG Consulting, National Sea Products and Dalhousie University. Robbie has proven himself as a valuable contributor in corporate, academic and not-for-profit venues throughout his career.
