OTTAWA - Former New Brunswick premier Bernard Lord has been named as the new head of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, an industry group.
Lord, who was Conservative N.B. premier from 1999 to 2006, was most recently senior counsel at the McCarthy Tetrault law firm and also is a director for several corporate and non-profit organizations.
He was also a co-chair of the federal Conservative party's campaign for the Oct. 14 general election.
Lord becomes president and CEO of the wireless industry association, replacing Peter Barnes, who left after eight years at the helm.
"Wireless service has become a key enabler of economic growth and a new vehicle to deliver entertainment and information," said Almis Ledas, chairman of the Ottawa-based wireless association.
"We are delighted that such a eminent and dynamic Canadian has agreed to be a leader of the industry that is revolutionizing our information economy," Ledas said Friday in a statement.
The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association said the wireless industry generated more than $12 billion in 2007.
Lord was appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government as the head of a federal bilingualism panel and Lord recommended Ottawa should spend at least $1 billion over five years to promote Canada's two official languages -- English and French.
The former premier also is known for his work with the Council of the Federation, an organization of premiers and territorial leaders, and with the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers conferences and la Francophonie, the French-speaking equivalent of the Commonwealth.
At the end of March 2008, Canadian wireless phone subscribers numbered 20.1 million, representing a national wireless penetration rate of 62 per cent, the association said.
That penetration lags the United States, Western Europe and many of the more developed Asian countries.
But two-thirds of Canadian households have access to a wireless phone and Canadians send 54.1 million text messages per day, the association also says.
Recent research by the association estimates that wireless penetration in major urban centres has exceeded 70 per cent, with some greater metropolitan areas approaching the 80 per cent mark.
