Six Canadians invited to secretive Bilderberg conference

Canadians invited to secretive Bilderberg conference include Loblaw’s Galen Weston, Indigo’s Heather Reisman, TD’s Ed Clark.

Indigo Books and Music founder Heather Reisman is one of six Canadians invited to this year's exclusive Bilderberg conference in Hertfordshire, England. 

By: Dana Flavelle Economy

Six Canadians are among the powerful group of business leaders, academics and media invited to this year’s highly secretive Bilderberg conference, according to the official guest list.

The annual conference, which starts Thursday in Hertfordshire, U.K., is a private, off-the-record event where participants can freely share thoughts about issues of mutual concern to Europe and North America, according to the group’s website.

The high-profile, invitation-only list this year includes such household names as Henry Kissinger, a former U.S. Secretary of State; David Petraeus, the U.S. army general who retired as head of the CIA amid a sex scandal; and Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon.com.

Among the Canadians are Loblaw Cos. Ltd. executive chairman Galen Weston; Indigo Books & Music Inc. chief executive officer Heather Reisman; and Ed Clark, president and chief executive officer of TD Bank Group.

Reisman and Clark also sit on the Bilderberg committee that prepares the conference program and selects the participants.

Other Canadians on this year’s guest list include Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall; Frank McKenna, a former New Brunswick premier who now chairs Brookfield Asset Management and Rob Prichard, chair of Torys LLP and former president and chief executive officer of Torstar Corp.

A seventh Canadian-born attendee, Marie-Josée Kravis, a senior fellow and vice-chair of the Hudson Institute, a Washington-based think tank, is listed as an American.

Topics this year will include jobs, entitlement and debt, according to the group’s website.

There is no detailed agenda, no resolutions, no votes and no policy statements, a level of secrecy that has fuelled conspiracy theories about the group’s goals — from capitalist domination to the creation of a world government.

Founded in 1954, the annual conference is named after the hotel in Holland where the first meeting took place, according to the Bilderberg web site.

It was designed to foster dialogue between Europe and North America in the aftermath of the two World Wars, the site says.

About 120 to 150 people participate, with two-thirds from Europe and the rest from North America, one third from politics and government and the rest from other fields, the site says.