Rogers hires former industry minister as Shaw integration gets underway

Rogers Communications Inc. hired Navdeep Bains, a former cabinet minister turned banker, to an executive role as the wireless and cable firm begins to absorb the assets of Shaw Communications Inc.

Bains, who served as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first minister of industry, will be Rogers’ chief corporate affairs officer. He’s joining Rogers from Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, where he took an investment banking role after leaving politics in 2021. 

Rogers, Canada’s largest wireless provider, closed its $20 billion acquisition of Shaw earlier this month, more than two years after it was announced. The deal was delayed, first by a legal challenge and then by Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne — Bains’s successor — who sought to extract concessions from Rogers. 

Champagne approved the deal after Rogers agreed to put a number of pledges in writing, including a promise to spend at least $2.5 billion to expand 5G wireless coverage in Western Canada over five years and another $3 billion in other investments, in its cable network. Rogers faces potential fines of as much as $100 million a year if it breaks those commitments.