By Pepper Parr
December 26th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
At the last meeting of City Council, Ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna said, “this will put Burlington on the map”. He was referring to the possible visit of a FIFA Caravan coming to Burlington.
Many scoffed at the Bentivegna remark.
What will make many in Burlington proud is the announcement that Nelson High School graduate Mark Wseman has been made the Canadian Ambassador to the United States. He will take up his role on February 15th, of 2026.
Prime Minister Mark Carney formally announced that Canada’s next ambassador to the United States will be Mark Wiseman, a plain-spoken dealmaker with deep business relationships who will head to Washington with the goal of securing trade peace.
Wiseman, is a close friend of the Prime Minister.
Wiseman, a former lawyer and pension-fund executive who has stewarded money for some of the world’s largest investors, is in a position of influence as Canada seeks to restore fraught trade and defence ties with the U.S.
Wiseman, is a close friend of the Prime Minister. His mandate will include helping the government boost foreign direct investment in Canada.
“Mark Wiseman brings immense experience, contacts, and deep commitment at this crucial time of transformation of our relationship with the United States,” Mr. Carney said.
“As a core member of our negotiating team, he will help advance the interests of Canadian workers, businesses, and institutions, while building opportunities for both Canada and the United States.”
Former colleagues lauded him as a strong pick for the post, though opposition politicians criticized the appointment on the basis of his past comments on supply management and his positions on immigration.
He has not served in government or diplomatic service, but several of his past jobs had a public-sector link, including his stint from 2012 to 2016 as chief executive officer of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which manages $778-billion for working Canadians and retirees.
Mr. Wiseman, 55, was born in Niagara Falls, Ont., studied at Queen’s University and earned his law degree and MBA from the University of Toronto. He was a Fulbright Scholar at Yale University and clerked for then-justice Beverley McLachlin at the Supreme Court of Canada. Ms. McLachlin later served as the top court’s chief justice.
“You can’t find a smarter person in Canada who will understand the intricacies of the American file. He is perfect for that,” Brent Belzberg, senior executive chairman of private equity firm TorQuest Partners and the founder of Harrowston, said in an email.
“He is also close to the Prime Minister who weighs in personally on this file. Canada is lucky that Mark will make the personal sacrifice to take this on.”
Wiseman spent four years at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan before he joined CPPIB in 2005, where he was later named CEO at the age of 42.
Mr. Wiseman was one of the earliest financial backers of Mr. Carney’s bid to lead the Liberal Party earlier this year, and had been appointed to the Prime Minister’s Canada-U.S. advisory council in March.
He spent four years at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan before he joined CPPIB in 2005, where he was later named CEO at the age of 42. More recently, from 2020 to 2023, he was chair of Alberta Investment Management Corp.
A Gazette reader brought this to our attention saying he was a student the day Nelson opened in 1957. “Later in life I was part of a selection committee to recognize grads who deserved recognition for outstanding work in their life on the” Nelson Wall of Distinction “.He will probably be on the Wall soon.”
I always have a chuckle when communities think that because a person has lived in that area for a very short time that they will in this case” put Burlington on the Map”.
Mr. Wiseman is considered to be a very smart individual and is a close acquaintance of Mr. Carney. They must share mutual goals for their vision of Canada.
Mr. Wiseman is a proponent of mass immigration as well as a critic of the dairy supply management system. Quebec will not be happy about this.
I have to agree with him on the dairy supply management system. I question mass immigration.
Canada has been dealing with a large influx of immigrants at one time ( Justin Trudeau’s gift). There is a lack of affordable housing, rents have skyrocketed because of the demand, our health care system( which was under strain previously) is unable to keep up with the demands.
Many Canadians have no primary care physician. Walk-In clinics are not open 24/7 and as a result hospital emergency rooms are overwhelmed with patients who should be treated elsewhere.
Let’s not forget the wait time to get a CT-Scan or MRI or Ultrasound. It can take months to see a specialist, or get a surgery date. In Burlington it is not uncommon to have to wait for 6 months or longer to see a specialist or get the diagnostic imaging that they need.
I know of a few people who were diagnosed with cancer after going to the Emergency Department. Why??? Because they were unable to get a timely appointment with a specialist or image screening and much time had elapsed to the point that their condition had worsened and they needed emergency care.
There is no simple fix with regard to our health care system. Throwing more money into it is not necessarily the answer. I certainly don’t know how to tackle it. Unfortunately It is a bottomless pit. I can’t imagine what Canadians will be dealing with when the “baby boomers” become older and require more care.
Years ago I remember attending a meeting that was put on by Joseph Brant Hospital to a seniors group where there was discussion of how overwhelmed the hospital system had become because of “the onslaught of seniors”.
My question to this person was “did they not see us coming. They had 65 years to figure this out”. However, we know that governments work in increments of 3-4 years. It might not be their government who has to deal with this.
There is a saying “be careful what you wish for”. In this case touting that Mr. Wiseman was a student at Nelson High School.
If Mr Wiseman is 55, that makes him born in 1970, so I somehow doubt he was a Nelson student in 1957
Read the paragraph more carefully – it was the Gazette reader who was at Nelson in 1957 when thew school opened.
A Gazette reader brought this to our attention saying he was a student the day Nelson opened in 1957. “Later in life I was part of a selection committee to recognize grads who deserved recognition for outstanding work in their life on the” Nelson Wall of Distinction “.He will probably be on the Wall soon.”