Biography
Born in Joliette,Quebec,Tellier earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Ottawa and his law degree from the University of Oxford. [1] He entered Canada's civil service in the 1970s and rose through the ranks of the federal bureaucracy through several high-profile deputy minister portfolios,culminating as the nation's top civil servant from August 12,1985 to June 30,1992,when he was appointed Clerk of the Privy Council,in the Privy Council Office of Canada,during Brian Mulroney's ministry. Mulroney reduced Tellier's role as Clerk between 1986 and 1989,when he appointed Dalton Camp as his personal Deputy Minister. [1]
In 1992,he left the civil service and was appointed by Mulroney as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Crown corporation Canadian National Railway (CN). Tellier was a driving force behind the successful privatization of the company in 1995 and was widely seen as being the principal instigator behind CN's purchase of Illinois Central,which saw the company expand its focus from an exclusively east-west orientation into a north-south one. As such it was one of the first companies to reap the benefits of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Following a failed bid to merge CN with BNSF Railway in 2000,Tellier oversaw the purchase and integration of Wisconsin Central. [2] He also was responsible for hiring a management team that focused on making CN a "scheduled" freight railway,largely by promoting former Illinois Central president Hunter Harrison to a vice-president position at CN. [3]
In January 2003,Tellier stepped down from CN,(Harrison assumed the presidency of the company) to take a three-year posting as the President and CEO of Bombardier. This was largely seen in the Canadian business community as an attempt by Bombardier to turn itself around following several lacklustre years of growth in the aerospace and passenger rail vehicle markets. Tellier oversaw Bombardier and sold its recreational vehicle production to the Beaudoin family,Bombardier's majority shareholders. Tellier also made several major cuts in the workforce and attempted to adjust and refocus the company on its core business activities. On December 13,2004,it was announced that Tellier was leaving Bombardier,after he told the company that he did not want to stay for the full three years of his contract. Tellier also serves as an executive on the board of directors of Bell Canada and Rio Tinto Alcan. [4]
In 1992,he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. [4] In 2004,the second St. Clair Tunnel was named in his honor.
Since November 2006,Paul Tellier has served as joint chairman on the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee on the Public Service of Canada. This committee gives advice to the Prime Minister and the Clerk of the Privy Council on the renewal of the Public Service,with the objective of shaping it into an institution geared to excellence,distinguished by highly engaged and highly skilled people performing critical tasks with professionalism and efficiency.
In October 2007,he was appointed by Prime Minister Harper to a panel responsible for reviewing Canada's military mission in the War in Afghanistan.
Paul Tellier is the son of Maurice Tellier,and the grandson of Sir Joseph-Mathias Tellier,who was the brother of Louis Tellier. He is also a third cousin of Luc-Normand Tellier. [5]
The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
Via Rail Canada Inc., operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada.
David Michael Collenette, PC OOnt is a former Canadian politician. From 1974, until his retirement from politics in 2004, he was a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. A graduate from York University's Glendon College in 1969, he subsequently received his MA, in 2004 and LL.D for education in 2015 from the same university. He was first elected in the York East riding of Toronto to the House of Commons on 8 July 1974, in the Pierre Trudeau government and returned to Parliament in 1993 representing Don Valley East.
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Laurent Robert Beaudoin is a Canadian businessman from Quebec. From 1979 to 2003, he was the CEO of the transportation company Bombardier.
The St. Clair Tunnel is the name for two separate rail tunnels which were built under the St. Clair River between Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan. The original, opened in 1891 and used until it was replaced by a new larger tunnel in 1995, was the first full-size subaqueous tunnel built in North America. It is a National Historic Landmark of the United States, and has been designated a civil engineering landmark by both US and Canadian engineering bodies.
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Ewing Hunter Harrison was a railway executive who served as the CEO of Illinois Central Railroad (IC), Canadian National Railway (CN), Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), and CSX Corporation. He is known for introducing precision scheduled railroading to the companies he ran. He died on December 16, 2017, two days after taking medical leave from CSX.
The Public Service of Canada is the civilian workforce of the Government of Canada's departments, agencies, and other public bodies.
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The Manley report, also known as the report of the Independent Panel on Canada's Future Role in Afghanistan, is a parliamentary report on the status of Canada in the War in Afghanistan. The report was transmitted in January 2008 to the Federal government of Canada by The Independent Panel on Canada's Future Role in Afghanistan. The chair of the panel was John Manley, who was joined by Derek Burney, Jake Epp, Paul Tellier, and Pamela Wallin.
