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Monday, June 07, 2004
Corporate Knights Recognizes Aliant as the 2004 Best Community Corporate Citizen in Canada

Atlantic Canada, June 7, 2004 — Aliant has been recognized as the Corporate Knights 2004 Best Community Corporate Citizen in Canada. Today the Corporate Knights, a Canadian-based organization focused on corporate social responsibility, released its third annual ranking of Canada’s Best 50 Corporate Citizens at a ceremony on Toronto’s Bay Street.

Corporate Knights compiled its ranking based on seven social and environmental categories including community, employee relations and diversity in the work place, product safety, business practices and international performance. The core research for the Corporate Knights Best 50 was sourced from Innovest Strategic Value Advisors.

To earn top marks in the community category, a company must do much more than make charitable donations. Companies that excel in this category demonstrate evidence of seeking and taking into account community input as well as a strong record of employee involvement in the community and local sourcing of suppliers to maximize the local economic impact.

“Aliant is a cornerstone of Atlantic Canada’s economy and it uses its power to effect change in Atlantic Canada’s communities more than any other company in any other region of Canada,” said Toby Heaps, Editor of Corporate Knights.

Some examples of why Aliant excelled in this category include their overall economic investment of more than $1 billion in Atlantic Canada each year and the tremendous work of the Aliant Pioneer Volunteers, a group of 8,000 employees and retirees who volunteered more than 185,000 community service hours in 2003.

“We are honored to be recognized as this year’s best Community Corporate Citizen in Canada,” says Jay Forbes, President and CEO, Aliant. “We believe the sustained success and growth of our business is directly linked to the health and well-being of the communities we serve. We strive every day to make a difference for Atlantic Canadians through not only our philanthropy and community programs, but also through responsible business practices.”

Corporate Knights is a business publication published quarterly that addresses the role of business in society. It publishes the annual ranking of the Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada.

This year Aliant will invest more than $5 million in communities throughout Atlantic Canada including financial support to charitable organizations and sponsorship of significant special events that deliver an economic return to the region. Additional information about Aliant’s involvement in the community can be found at www.aliant.ca/community.

About Aliant

From its home base in Atlantic Canada, Aliant delivers a wide variety of innovative and traditional communications services, including local and long distance telephony, wireless, Internet, e-commerce, interactive multimedia, data and managed network services, to more than two million consumers and over 80,000 enterprises. Aliant complements its industry-leading telecommunications business with strengths in information technology solutions and knowledge-services applications. The company's 9,000 employees build on Aliant's 100-plus year history by collaborating to deliver the highest quality of customer service, choice and convenience. Aliant is a TSX 100 company with a market capitalization of approximately $4 billion.

For more information, please contact:

Toby Heaps
Editor
Corporate Knights
416-203-4674

Dawn Boylan
Manager, Community Relations
Aliant
902-487-4738

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