Recalibrating Relations: Canada’s ties with China and the Asia Pacific
Webcast with Sarah Kutulakos, Guy Saint-Jacques & Rob Stewart
C.D. Howe Institute events and webcasts are open to members and their guests.
Please follow this link or contact events@cdhowe.org to register.
Sarah Kutulakos, Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer, Canada China Business Council
Sarah Kutulakos joined the Council in 2007 and has revitalized CCBC’s role as Canada’s premier bilateral trade and investment organization by reinvigorating the Council’s mandate to support more and better business between Canada and China. Under her leadership, membership has more than doubled, and the Council has added three new chapters, growing to seven across Canada and in China.
Prior to CCBC, Sarah worked for 11 years in marketing, product development, and management with Eastman Kodak Company, where she had multiple assignments involving China. Sarah has led both established and start-up businesses within the context of a global corporation and has broad emerging market business experience. She has been involved in the Greater China region since the late 1980’s when she lived and worked in Taiwan and gained a deep understanding of Chinese business practices at a high-tech startup firm.
A fluent Mandarin speaker, Sarah has an MBA from the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester. She frequently speaks on China issues, including marketing, trade, investment, and Canada-China relations.
Guy Saint-Jacques, Former Canadian Ambassador to China
Guy Saint-Jacques provides strategic advice on China. He sits on the board of directors of Xebec Adsorption Inc. and of the Foundation of the Montreal Clinical Research Institute. He is a Fellow of the China Institute of the University of Alberta, the Institute of International Studies of Montreal and the C.D. Howe Institute. In addition, he is the Honorary Chairman of the China Policy Centre in Ottawa. Previously, Mr. Saint-Jacques worked for Global Affairs Canada for nearly forty years, serving in Kinshasa, Hong Kong, Beijing, Washington, DC and London. He has served as Deputy High Commissioner in London and as Deputy Head of Mission in Washington. In Ottawa, among other things, he has worked in the divisions dealing with Science and Technology and Energy and Environment, in the Associate Deputy Minister’s Office and has been Director of Assignments and Director General of Personnel Management. In addition, Mr. Saint-Jacques was Canada’s Chief Negotiator and Climate Change Ambassador from 2010 to 2012 and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in the People’s Republic of China from 2012 to 2016. Mr. Saint-Jacques speaks Mandarin.
Rob Stewart, Deputy Minister, International Trade
Rob Stewart was appointed deputy minister of international trade effective October 17, 2022. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Stewart served as deputy minister of public safety for 3 years. During this time, he provided leadership on a variety of issues related to national security, community safety and countering crime, Indigenous policing, firearms, border security and emergency management, including requests for federal assistance related to the pandemic and major natural disasters. Mr. Stewart has spent most of his public service career at the Department of Finance Canada, starting in 1993. He held the role of the Government of Canada's finance deputy for the G7 and G20 and for the Financial Stability Board from 2016 to 2019. He provided leadership and policy advice to the government on a wide range of financial sector and international trade and finance matters. He was previously the assistant deputy minister of financial sector policy for 2 years, prior to which he held the position of assistant deputy minister, international trade and finance for 4 years. Before joining the Department of Finance Canada, Rob worked at Export Development Canada and in the Canadian sport system. He holds a BA from Carleton University (1981) and an MBA from the University of Ottawa (1987).
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