Looking Ahead "Attracting And Retaining Employees" Intensifies As A Major Priority For CEOs

Toronto, ONTARIO - Looking ahead the priorities of Canada's CEOs have transformed quite a bit since last year, with a higher percentage of CEOs now pointing to "attracting and retaining high calibre employees" (+10) and "expanding into new products or services" (+9) as major priorities for their company, while fewer point to "increasing short-term profitability" (-2) and "ensuring trust from shareholders" (-6) as major priorities.

A strong majority of Canadian CEOs (86%) agree with the statement that "my business has what it takes to compete in the global marketplace". Only 11% disagree with this point of view And a majority of Canadian CEOs (63%) agree with the statement that "it is more important for my company to solidify in its current market than to expand into new markets". This is down slightly (-8) from the 71% of CEOs who agreed with this statement in 2003.

These are the findings from the Tenth Annual Canada's Most Respected Corporations Survey sponsored by KPMG and conducted by Ipsos-Reid. The survey was conducted between September and November, 2004. The survey involved interviews of 263 of the leading CEOs in Canada. Please open the attached PDF to view the factum and detailed tables.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900