The Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Transport, today announced the appointment of Mr. Yves Desjardins-Siciliano of Montreal as President and Chief Executive Officer of VIA Rail Canada, for a term of five years.

Mr. Desjardins-Siciliano was appointed Chief Corporate and Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of VIA Rail Canada in April 2010. As an experienced lawyer and executive, his wide-ranging responsibilities have included managing the corporation’s major capital projects program and its public affairs, as well as legal matters, risk management and the governance of VIA’s board of directors.

Prior to this, Mr. Desjardins-Siciliano held a number of senior positions in private and publicly held companies in legal and government relations, corporate development, marketing and finance. He was Senior Vice-President, Law and Corporate Development at Bell Mobility and Vice-President, Law and Business Development, at Information Systems Management (ISM), a subsidiary of IBM. A graduate of the Université de Montréal and McGill University, Mr. Desjardins-Siciliano is a member of the Quebec Bar Association and a former president of the Quebec division of the Canadian Bar Association.

Quick Facts

VIA Rail Canada Inc., a Crown corporation, was created in 1977 and operates Canada’s national passenger rail service. The board of directors is responsible for overseeing the business activities and other affairs of the corporation.

Quote

"Mr. Desjardins-Siciliano’s strong leadership skills, legal expertise, and wide-ranging business experience, both at VIA and in the private sector, will be valuable assets to VIA, which provides passenger rail service for the travelling public, business and tourism.”
The Honourable Lisa Raitt,
Minister of Transport