Edward Johnson

Edward Johnson, Chair Emeritus and a Founding Member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, has served as a Director since November 2011 and as Vice Chair since November 2018. He has served as chair of several of the Board's committees. He began his term as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Foundation on March 1, 2021. He is replaced as Chairman by Peter Sahlas.

Mr. Johnson's remarkable experience includes contributions in the fields of business, law, and government. He served as Special Assistant to the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Justice and Attorney General for Canada prior to becoming Executive Assistant to Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, a role he filled from 1980 until Mr. Trudeau's retirement from public office in 1984. Mr. Johnson returned to the practice of law with Lang, Michener in Toronto and subsequently joined Power Corporation of Canada where he served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary during a period of dynamic domestic and international growth. He served in the same role over that period at Power Financial Corporation and as a Director of several other Power Corp. subsidiaries. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of deHavilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd. 

Edward Johnson was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in December 2020. His volunteer duties have included serving as Chair of the Board of the National Theatre School of Canada, as Director of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, and as a Fellow and Vice President of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. 

He is a Fellow of the British Royal Geographical Society. He holds an Honours BA from the Ivey School of Business at Western University, a certificat d'études politiques from the Institut d'études politiques de Paris ("Sciences Po") and studied law at McGill University and Queen's University. He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1978.