Paul Tellier

Paul Mathias Tellier, (born 1939) is a Canadian businessman and former public servant and lawyer.

Biography Born in Joliette, Quebec, Tellier earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Ottawa and his law degree from the University of Oxford. He entered Canada's civil service in the 1970s and rose through the ranks of the federal bureaucracy through several high-profile deputy minister portfolios, culminating as the nation's top civil servant from August 12, 1985 to June 30, 1992, when he was appointed Clerk of the Privy Council, in the Privy Council Office of Canada, during Brian Mulroney's ministry. Mulroney reduced Tellier's role as Clerk between 1986 and 1989, when he appointed Dalton Camp as his personal Deputy Minister. He also was responsible for hiring a management team that focused on making CN a "scheduled" freight railway, largely by promoting former Illinois Central president Hunter Harrison to a vice-president position at CN.

In January 2003, Tellier stepped down from CN, (Harrison assumed the presidency of the company) to take a three-year posting as the president and CEO of Bombardier. This was largely seen in the Canadian business community as an attempt by Bombardier to turn itself around following several lacklustre years of growth in the aerospace and passenger rail vehicle markets. Tellier oversaw Bombardier and sold its recreational vehicle production to the Beaudoin family, Bombardier's majority shareholders. Tellier also made several major cuts in the workforce and attempted to adjust and refocus the company on its core business activities. On December 13, 2004, it was announced that Tellier was leaving Bombardier, after he told the company that he did not want to stay for the full three years of his contract. Tellier also serves as an executive on the board of directors of Bell Canada and Rio Tinto Alcan.

In 1992, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.