Charlie Milne's profile

Charles D. Milne

MBA - Marketing - McMaster University

Executive MBA - International Business – University of Western Ontario

BA - Economics & Business - University of Guelph

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President – charles milne & company inc. – government relations consulting for the agri-food sector

• Partner – Freeman Mandel & Milne Inc. – Strategic Counsel

With over 30 years experience Charlie knows how governments work. He’s not only worked with them; he’s also worked for them. He knows how they function, what it takes to get their attention, and most importantly, he knows how to reach win-win decisions. Over the years, he’s amassed a wealth of valuable experience in the structure, function and culture of governments, public policy development, domestic and international marketing, and successful lobbying.

Career highlights:

• He’s been actively involved with the Smart Regulation initiative, trade and border security issues; he was one of the founders of the Business Coalition on Cost Recovery. (He was instrumental in the passage into law of Bill C-212, an Act Respecting User Fees.)

• He served as VP, Government Affairs for CropLife Canada, focusing on policy development, federal government lobbying and building alliances among agri-food value chain stakeholders. Issues tackled were always frequently emotionally charged and subject to considerable public concern, NAFTA harmonization, intellectual property right protection and revisions to the Pest Control Products Act.

• Charles was Executive Director of the Agri-Food Competitiveness Council, designing, establishing, administering and recruiting a national stakeholder council of agri-food leaders to advise federal and provincial agriculture ministers on competitiveness, change management and policy. In this role he was in continual contact with Ministers and senior bureaucrats well as forging alliances among various agri-food organizations to focus common goals.

• He was Senior Advisor on Marketing and Trade for Agriculture Canada, an architect of “Growing Together”, Canada’s review of agri-food policy, and served as Secretary for the federal government’s Task Force on Competitiveness in the Agri-Food Industry.

• As the manager of the export market development, Charlie re-organized the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food’s approach to export by assigning commodity specialists to identify Ontario’s capacity to export and hired locally engaged market specialists to assess export market potential from the perspective of a resident in the targeted export markets.

• While with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, he played a significant role in the launch of the successful promotional campaign for Foodland Ontario, as well as leading trade delegations to and from the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the USA. He also organized the Ontario visit of Saudi Arabian investor Adan Khashoggi.

• Charlie’s expertise also includes market research analysis, having worked at A.C. Nielsen on packaged goods accounts including Warner-Lambert, Nestle, Hershey, Noxzema, Adams Brands, Bristol Myers and Parke-Davis.

• Charles began his career with John Deere Canada. where he held several positions in sales and marketing.