Mark McQueen is the President and CEO of CIBC Innovation Banking, who has been appointed to high-profile positions of public trust related to transport. In 2009, he was appointed chair of the

Toronto Port Authority The Toronto Port Authority (TPA), doing business as PortsToronto (PT), is a port authority that is responsible for the management of the Port of Toronto, including the International Marine Passenger Terminal, and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airpor ...

, and in 2014 he was appointed the chair of the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority.

Early years

In 1982, when McQueen was just 16, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

'' published a photo he took of

Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to: Queens regnant * Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland * Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022 ...

and

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from El ...

, when they were on an official visit to

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. In a 2009 profile in the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'', Linda Diebel noted that comments 21-year-old McQueen made from the floor during the 1986 convention that chose

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political ...

as the leader of Progressive Conservative Party had triggered an admiring reply from Mulroney, and had triggered coverage of McQueen in a column by

Dalton Camp Dalton Kingsley Camp, (September 11, 1920 – March 18, 2002) was a Canadian journalist, politician, political strategist and commentator, and supporter of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Although he was never elected to a s ...

Career

When Mulroney became Prime Minister, McQueen worked in the

Prime Minister's Office Prime Minister's Office may refer to: * Prime Minister's Office (Albania) * Prime Minister's Office (Australia) * Prime Minister's Office (Bangladesh) * Prime Minister's Office (Brunei) * Office of the Prime Minister (Cambodia) * Office of the ...

, as Chief of Staff

Hugh Segal Hugh Segal (born October 13, 1950) is a Canadian political strategist, author, commentator, academic, and former senator. He served as chief of staff to Ontario Premier Bill Davis and later to Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Segal resi ...

's executive assistant. After leaving the PMO in 1993, Matthew Barrett, then the chair of the

Bank of Montreal The Bank of Montreal (BMO; french: Banque de Montréal, link=no) is a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company. The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank; while its head office remains in ...

encouraged him to go into banking. McQueen worked briefly as a teller, before joining the bank's fund management department. In 2000 he founded his own investment fund,

Wellington Financial Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...

. In 2008 McQueen was appointed to the

. On July 30, 2014,

Lisa Raitt Lisa Sarah MacCormack Raitt (born May 7, 1968) is a former Canadian politician who served as a federal Cabinet minister and member of Parliament (MP) from 2008 to 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, Raitt was elected to the House of Common ...

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...

, appointed McQueen the chair of the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, together with two other directors, and the authority's President and CEO. While noting that McQueen and the other three appointees did have significant financial expertise, they noted that none of the appointees had ties to the Windsor region.

Tom Mulcair Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

leader of the opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

in the

Canadian Parliament The Parliament of Canada (french: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, the ...

, noted that three of the first four appointees were donors to the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...

. Ed Arditti, of the online news site ''

Windsor Square Windsor Square is a small, historic neighborhood in the Mid-Wilshire, Wilshire region of Los Angeles, California. It is highly diverse in ethnic makeup, with an older population than the city as a whole. It is the site of the official residence of ...

'' suggested McQueen's appointment was linked to the Mulroney administration's struggles with

Matty Moroun Manuel "Matty" Moroun (June 5, 1927 – July 12, 2020) was an American billionaire businessman, most notable as the owner of the Ambassador Bridge international crossing connecting Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario. The bridge, which Moro ...

, who owned the

Ambassador Bridge The Ambassador Bridge is a tolled international suspension bridge across the Detroit River that connects Detroit, Michigan, United States, with Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1929, it is the busiest international border crossing in North ...

, the original bridge over the Detroit River. McQueen was replaced as chair of the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority by former Liberal MPP

Dwight Duncan Dwight Duncan (born 3 January 1959) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2013 who represented ridings of Windsor—Walkerville, Windsor—St. Clair and Winds ...

on January 1, 2016.

References

Canadian financial businesspeople Businesspeople from Ontario University of Western Ontario alumni 1965 births Living people {{Canada-business-bio-stub