CanWest nominates two new directors, including Tor Blue Jays CEO Paul Godfrey
Source : Canadian Press
December 17, 2003
WINNIPEG (CP) - CanWest Global Communications Corp. has nominated two new independent directors to the media company's board, including Toronto Blue Jays CEO Paul Godfrey and the University of Toronto's law school dean Ron Daniels.
Canada's biggest newspaper publisher and second-largest private broadcaster announced Wednesday the two new directors will stand for election at the Winnipeg company's annual meeting Jan. 29 in Montreal.
"Paul Godfrey and Ron Daniels will each bring unique and complementary skills, as well as vast experience, to CanWest's board, and we look forward to their wise counsel," said Frank McKenna, the former New Brunswick Liberal premier who chairs the CanWest board.
Godfrey, currently president and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays, was a former chief executive of Sun Media Corp. before the Toronto-based newspaper chain was sold to the Quebecor group. Before that, he was a prominent Toronto politician.
"I can't wait to tell the Sun guys about this," Godfrey said during a news conference Wednesday at SkyDome to introduce recent Jays signing Miguel Batista.
The Blue Jays president said CanWest CEO Leonard Asper asked him to join the board about three weeks ago and then he met with Asper's brother David, another senior CanWest executive, to finalize the details.
"It allows me to be affiliated with one of the great loves of my life, newspapers, as well as television," Godfrey said in an interview.
"Since my time at Sun Media I've enjoyed the business of newspapers. It allows my to at least stick my foot back in the water."
Daniels is the dean of the law faculty at the University of Toronto, where he has taught and written extensively on corporate and securities law, regulation and government reform.
In trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday, CanWest's shares(TSX:CGS.S) closed unchanged at $13.44.
