May 14, 2002

GM dealers and Saturn retailers donate $109,000 in BC and Ontario

Toronto, Ontario - GM dealers and Saturn retailers have united to make donations of $43,700 to the BC Cancer Foundation and $65,600 to the Women's College Hospital Foundation. The donation are being givent as a tribute to Maureen Kempston Darkes, former President and General Manager of General Motors of Canada who is now GM Group Vice President and President, Latin America, Africa and Mid East Operations.

The dealer and retailer group which organized the collection of funds across Canada commented that, "As a group, we felt that Maureen was an outstanding leader in every sense of the word. Her involvement in various political and social issues in and for our country and in particular, our industry, were examples of this. The dealers and retailers share a great deal of admiration and respect for her."

"We selected the BC Cancer Foundation and the Woman's College Hospital Foundation to be recipients of these funds because we know that they, and the work that they do, are very close to Maureen's heart."

Mary McNeil, President and CEO of the BC Cancer Foundation in British Columbia, said that, "Without the very generous support of General Motors of Canada and Maureen Kempston Darkes, we would not have started construction of the new BC Cancer Research Centre on time for completion in late 2004.

"As Co-Chair of the Millennium Campaign she made a commitment to help the Foundation raise $100 million and we succeeded in this. She was also there to help raise an additional $10 million to support research at the Genome Sciences Centre in recognition of the late Dr. Michael Smith's seminal work in genome research.

Hollis F. Barry, Chair of the Women's College Hospital Foundation Board in Ontario, said: "When Maureen Kempston Darkes served as Chair of Women's College Opening Windows Corporate Campaign, she moved corporate Canada to be sensitive and supportive of women's health. She has a strong personal commitment to ensuring that the health system meets the needs of women. Her leadership opened doors and helped to raise $20,000,000.

"When Maureen mentioned the need for a forum where women could come together and talk about health and other important issues, we listened. The Women's Health Matters Forum & Expo is now recognized as the Greater Toronto Authority's most important women's health event of the year (more than 16,000 attendees in 2002), and General Motors has been Presenting Sponsor for six consecutive years," she said.

The announcement and presentation of the donations were made at a dinner honouring Kempston Darkes in Toronto, attended by dealers and retailers from all across Canada.

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