Phillips to Retire in January After 20 Years as CEO

Longtime IPSCO Employee David Sutherland to Succeed Him

Lisle, Illinois, 29 October 2001 - IPSCO Inc. (NYSE/TSE:IPS) announced today that Roger Phillips, its President and Chief Executive Officer since 1982, will retire as previously planned at the beginning of January 2002. Succeeding him will be David Sutherland, currently Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Sutherland will also become a board member.

Commented Burton Joyce, IPSCO's Chairman of the Board, "Several years ago Roger indicated his desire to retire when he reached 62 years of age. Our board has gone through an extensive succession planning exercise since that time and we are pleased that someone of David's experience and competence will be succeeding him. David inherits a highly skilled senior management team to assist him in facing the ongoing challenges confronting the North American steel industry. Roger has long held the view that CEO's should not remain on their companies' boards after retirement and his wish is being respected. But after twenty years we wish to maintain our connection with him and consequently the board has appointed Roger an honourary director of IPSCO, effective with his retirement."

"IPSCO has dramatically changed over the past 20 years, more than tripling its steel production capacity in North America. It is a direct consequence of Roger's vision and leadership that IPSCO now enjoys its enviable position. In its chosen markets IPSCO is a leader in terms of its low production costs, high product quality, and its reputation for customer service. Through his period as CEO IPSCO also delivered financial returns to shareholders in the top quartile of industry competitors."

David Sutherland, age 52, was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and joined IPSCO in 1977. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Saskatchewan and an M.B.A. from the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. Sutherland initially served in IPSCO's personnel department and then filled increasingly important manufacturing roles in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, and Regina. In 1988 he moved to the United States and was responsible for IPSCO's first American pipe operations, residing in Lincoln, Nebraska, and later Camanche, Iowa. In 1992 he returned to Canada where he filled a number of lead roles prior to being promoted to Vice President and General Manager, Raw Materials and Coil Processing. In April 2000 Sutherland moved to the newly formed operational headquarters of IPSCO in Lisle, Illinois, in greater Chicago, and was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in April of this year. His career path has seen him work in all operating areas of IPSCO - steel, coil processing, and tubulars, in both manufacturing and sales. Sutherland is married with three children and resides in Naperville, Illinois. He will continue to make his office in Lisle. 

Phillips was named a director and president-elect of IPSCO in November 1981 and assumed the presidency in February 1982. When he became president IPSCO was characterized as a regional pipe company that also made steel, a difficult situation since the Canadian energy business was in the doldrums. In 1987 IPSCO replaced its obsolete Regina ingot-making facility with modern continuous slab caster, beginning its transformation to a bi-national steel company that today includes steel production facilities in Mobile, Alabama: Montpelier, Iowa: as well as its original Regina, Saskatchewan steelworks which has been extensively modernized. As a result IPSCO has experienced a compound annual growth rate of over 13 percent per annum in sales and 18 percent per annum in net income over the period 1986 to 2000. Installed steel production capacity has risen almost five-fold to 3.5 million tons per annum.

Despite its growth as a steelmaker, the tubular production side of the company has not been neglected. Since he became president IPSCO completed the building of a modern oil country tubular facility in Calgary, acquired and modernized a pipe mill in Red Deer, Alberta: acquired and modernized two pipe mills in the U.S. in Iowa and Nebraska, built a high speed pipe mill in Arkansas, a new mid-size electric resistance pipe mill in Regina, and modernized and expanded its Regina large diameter spiral mill installation. Total installed tubular capacity is now 1.75 million tons per annum.

From a single coil processing facility in British Columbia in 1982 IPSCO has grown to operate similar facilities in four other locations as well. Three of them, coil-processing plants in Houston, St. Paul, and Toronto include modern temper rolling mills. The combined processing capacity of the five coil processing operations is 1.1 million tons per annum.

In 1997 IPSCO became the first Canadian steel company to be listed on the New York Stock exchange.

Under Phillips IPSCO adopted the policy of donating 1.5 percent of its after tax profits to charitable and community support, one of the first Canadian companies to do so.

IPSCO is a leading edge electric furnace flat rolled steel producer with steelworks in Regina, Saskatchewan; Montpelier, Iowa; and Mobile County, Alabama having a combined annual design capacity of 3,500,000 tons. IPSCO operates modern coil processing facilities in Regina, Saskatchewan; Surrey, British Columbia; St. Paul, Minnesota; Toronto, Ontario; and Houston, Texas. A leader in the development of high strength steel and pipe, IPSCO operates pipe mills at six locations in Canada and the United States producing a wide range of tubular products including oil and gas well casing and tubing, line pipe, standard pipe and hollow structurals.

This news release contains forward-looking information with respect to IPSCO's operations and beliefs. Actual results may differ from these forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. These factors are outlined in IPSCO's regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those on IPSCO's Annual Report for 2000, its MD&A, particularly as discussed under the heading "Business Risks and Uncertainties", and Form 40-F.

Company Contact:
Burton Joyce, Chairman of the Board of Directors
Tel. 605-232-4666
Anne Parker, Vice President 
Tel. 630-810-4769
Release 01-43

Further Biographical Information on Phillips
Phillips, who turns 62 in December, is married and has one adult daughter, who practices medicine in New Hampshire where she lives with her husband and two children. Phillips and his wife plan initially to continue living in Regina, where his wife Ann Phillips, Q.C., practises law. He is currently a director of CP Rail, Fording Coal, and the TD Bank. 

Phillips has been active in volunteer charitable roles over the years including fund raising for Regina's Y.M.C.A. and its Mackenzie Art Gallery. He has served as chairman of Regina's Cancer 500 and was a member of the Quebec section of the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews when he lived in Montreal. After moving to Regina he spent five years as an active member of the Council for Canadian Unity, culminating in the role of Chairman of the Council in 1987-88. Joining the board of the Public Policy Forum in its formative years he was a board member until 1997. He has also served on the Economic Council of Canada (1990 to 1992) and is currently a board member of the C.D. Howe Institute and a trustee of the Fraser Institute. In 1999 Phillips was named an Officer of the Order of Canada, one of the country's highest honours. The citation read as follows: "He has done an outstanding job in building his company into one of the most efficient and productive steel producers in Canada. As well as being a successful business leader, he has dedicated his time and energy to a variety of organizations, has demonstrated an active interest in policies that impact on the economic performance of Canada and has been a contributor to the well-being of his community".

Born in Ottawa Phillips grew up in the Saguenay region of Quebec and speaks fluent French. He graduated from McGill University in 1960 with a B.Sc. degree, having specialized in physics and mathematics. At McGill he was editor of the McGill Daily. Upon graduation he joined the Alcan group, working in Kingston, Ontario; Toronto; and Montreal. He was successively chief operations officer of Alcan's Canadian fabricating facility, president of Alcan's Canadian metal producing subsidiary, and then Vice President of what is now Alcan Inc., responsible for research, engineering, and technology before joining IPSCO.

He was a governor of the Employers' Council of Quebec (Consel du Patronat) and in 1981 he became president of the Quebec Chamber of Commerce. After moving to Regina he has served to the present day as a director of the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce. Since 1992 he has been a member of the Business Council on National Issues and has served as a member of its policy committee since 1998.

Within the steel industry he is a director of the International Iron and Steel Institute, the American Iron and Steel Institute, and the Canadian Steel Producers Association. He has been co-chair of the Canadian Steel Trade and Employment Congress, an innovative labour-management organization aimed at promoting cooperation between the United Steelworkers' Union in Canada and steel company managements in such non-bargaining table issues as training, worker adjustment, and trade issues, since 1991.

Phillips has also maintained his professional interests as a physicist. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Physicists, the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, and the U.K. based Institute of Physics. The latter institute elected him a Fellow in 1997, an honour usually bestowed on academics or practising research scientists.

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