Can>Win 04 brings together leading CEOs, policy makers and academics at summit on Canadian competitiveness

Speakers include Microsoft President and CEO Steve Ballmer, leading Canadian CEOs, Provincial Premiers McGuinty and Lord and Former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore

Mississauga, ON, February 11, 2004 — An elite group of speakers and a select group of 250 Canadian executives will participate in CAN>WIN 04, the third annual business summit on Canadian competitiveness hosted by Microsoft Canada Co.

CAN>WIN 04: Canada, the United States and New Global Challenges to Business Leadership, February 26^th at Toronto’s Liberty Grand, will address business and leadership issues such as security, labour and mobility of intellectual capital, the Canada/US relationship and new challenges from emerging economies.

CAN>WIN 04 is hosted by Microsoft Canada and sponsored by the Public Policy Form and HP Canada.

Canadian executives taking part in panel discussions include: Robert Milton, President and CEO, Air Canada, Rick Waugh, President and CEO, Scotiabank, and Hal Kvisle, President and CEO, Transcanada Corporation.

CAN>WIN 04 will also welcome Premiers Dalton McGuinty of Ontario and Bernard Lord of New Brunswick and Former United States Vice President Al Gore.

Other speakers will include Michael Adams, author of Fire and Ice – The United States, Canada and the Myth of Converging Values and Janice Stein, Director of the Munk Centre for International Studies at University of Toronto and advisor to governments around the world, Jim Stanford, Chief Economist, Canadian Auto Workers, Mark LePage, Executive VP, Genome Canada and Charles Armstrong, President S.A. Armstrong.

Microsoft Canada president Frank Clegg will open CAN>WIN 04 and Allan Gregg, host and contributing editor to TVO Studio 2's Allan Gregg in Conversation With, will host the event for a second year. 

“We plan to tackle some of the issues that pose the greatest challenges to Canadian business leaders today,” said Frank Clegg, President of Microsoft Canada. “As a successful global company that’s facing many of these issues ourselves, we feel we can share our experiences and do our part to help our Canadian peers succeed on the international stage.”

The idea for CAN>WIN grew out of a discussion at Microsoft Canada about the most important concerns shared by Canadian business leaders. One consistent theme that emerged was their ability to win globally – to be competitive and deliver successful results to shareholders, employees and the country.

This third CAN>WIN summit follows highly-successful events in 2001 and 2002. Past participants have included Bill Gates, Microsoft Corporation Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Charlie Baillie, former TD Bank Financial Group Chairman and CEO, Paul Tellier, former Canadian National Railways President and CEO, Gary Hamel, author of Leading the Revolution, New Brunswick Premier Frank McKenna and Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter.

CAN>WIN 04 attendance is by invitation only.

Agenda
The one day summit will take place at the Toronto’s Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex, 25 British Columbia Rd., Exhibition Place from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

All speakers, panels, topics and times are subject to change without notice.

Accreditation
All media must be accredited to attend the event.  Media accreditation begins February 11, 2004 and closes February 18, 2004 at 5:00 p.m.  To be accredited, journalists must register online at:
www.microsoft.ca/canwin04/media_accreditation.asp

Media availability for speakers to be determined.

About Microsoft Canada Co.
Established in 1985, Microsoft Canada Co. is the Canadian subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq "MSFT") the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. Microsoft Canada provides nationwide sales, marketing, consulting and local support services in both French and English. Microsoft Canada is headquartered in Mississauga, with MSN.CA offices located in Toronto and eight regional offices across the country dedicated to empowering people through great software - any time, any place and on any device. Visit Microsoft Canada’s web site at www.microsoft.ca.

© 2004 Microsoft Corporation.  Microsoft is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

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