Environment Minister John Baird just announced a panel of advisors to give him advice as his government begins negotiations this week in Bali, Indonesia for a post-Kyoto climate change treaty.
The panel of advisors is led by former Quebec Premier Pierre-Marc Johnson and also includes Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Ian Morton, and Mary Simon.
Here’s their bios, as supplied by Baird’s office:
- Pierre-Marc Johnson is a lawyer, physician, lecturer, author, former Premier of Québec and former Professor of Law at McGill University. Since 1996 he has been with the prestigious law firm of Heenan Blaikie, where he acts as Lead Counsel in negotiations and mediations involving International Commercial Partnerships, International Trade, and Environment. He has wide experience in international negotiations with the United Nations on environmental and developmental issues and has advised NAFTA's Commission for Environmental Cooperation an international organization created by Canada, Mexico and the United States. He has lectured in North America, Latin America and Europe on the workings and effects of globalization, is the author of a textbook on trade and the environment in North America, has edited a book on international oversight of the implementation of the UN's Convention to Combat Desertification and has published many essays on issues related to the non-commercial side of globalization. He was founding member and Vice-Chairman of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy and chaired its Foreign Policy Committee from 1990 to 1997. Dr. Johnson has an honorary doctorate from Claude Bernard University of Lyon, France. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Grand Officier de l'Ordre de la Pléiade.
- Elizabeth Dowdeswell is currently president of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization. She has had an extensive career in government, education and international affairs and has been a member of numerous Canadian and international boards, advisory panels and commissions. She has served as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme; Assistant Deputy Minister of Environment Canada's national weather and atmospheric agency (where she played a leading role in global efforts to negotiate the treaty on climate change adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development); Canada's permanent representative to the World Meteorological Organization; principal delegate to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Visiting Professor in Global Health, Genomics and Ethics at the University of Toronto; Commissioner of the Commission on Globalization; and Associate Fellow of the European Centre for Public Affairs. She is the author of numerous publications in both the popular press and professional journals.
- Ian Morton, founder of the Clean Air Foundation and Chief Executive Officer of Summerhill Group, a Toronto agency that creates marketing strategies to help clients move the market toward better choices for consumers and the environment. He is a recognized leader on environment issues, responsible for creating some of the most innovative and effective public engagement programs on air quality, climate change, and healthy housing in Canada. Mr. Morton has won several awards for his work and was recently named by Strategy Magazine as one of seven marketing leaders to watch. He started Summerhill Group in 2001, after 16 years of working for a variety of environmental organizations. He brings an interdisciplinary approach to problem solving, and combines science, business, economics, policy, marketing, and communications in his strategies.
- Mary Simon, O.C., is the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), Canada's national Inuit organization. She is also an international advisor on the environment, human rights, scientific research and development, and peace. Ms. Simon was the first Canadian Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs during which she negotiated the establishment of the Arctic Council, which today has representatives from the indigenous peoples of eight countries in the circumpolar region, including Russia. Ms. Simon has served as Chancellor of Trent University, Chair of the Joint Public Advisory Committee of NAFTA's Commission for Environmental Cooperation, Ambassador to Denmark, Councillor for the International Council on Conflict Resolution with the Carter Center, and Special Advisor to the Labrador Inuit Association during the preparation of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement. Ms. Simon has been awarded the Order of Canada, the National Order of Quebec, the Gold Order of Greenland, the National Aboriginal Achievement Award, and the Gold Medal of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. She is a Fellow of the Arctic Institute of North America and of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society.