Aecon Appoints David Smales as CFO

- - Scott Balfour to devote full-time to his role of President - -

TORONTO , Oct. 13 /CNW/ - Aecon Group Inc. (TSX: ARE) announced today that David Smales has been appointed to the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Aecon Group Inc. As CFO, Mr. Smales succeeds Scott Balfour , currently Aecon's President and CFO, who will be devoting full-time to his duties as President.

Mr. Smales will assume his new responsibilities on November 16 . He is currently Vice President and CFO of Vancouver-based Catalyst Paper Corporation (TSX: CTL), one of North America's largest producers of mechanical printing papers. A Chartered Accountant, Mr. Smales , 40, joined Catalyst in 2006 as Vice President Strategy and Analysis. He was appointed CFO a year later.

He moved to Vancouver from the United Kingdom in 2003 when he was appointed General Manager of Indalex International, an aluminum extrusion producer with operations in China and North America . Prior to assuming the leadership of Indalex International, Mr. Smales held a number of increasingly senior financial positions with Indalex's parent company, Novar plc, a diverse UK-based company with businesses in the building materials, aluminum and other sectors around the world.

"David will be a great addition to Aecon's executive team," said Scott Balfour , President and CFO, Aecon Group Inc. "In addition to his background as a public company CFO, he brings leadership experience as general manager of an operating division, and a focused strategic sense which he has demonstrated in all his previous assignments."

"The time has come for Scott to devote his full attention to his responsibilities as Aecon's President, and we are thrilled to have David working with him as our CFO," said John M. Beck, Chairman and CEO, Aecon Group Inc.

Aecon Group Inc. is Canada's largest, publicly traded construction and infrastructure development company. Aecon and its subsidiaries provide services to private and public sector clients throughout Canada and on a selected basis internationally. Aecon is pleased to be recognized as one of the 10 Best Employers in Canada as published by Report on Business Magazine, as well as one of the Top 100 Employers in Canada as published in Maclean's Magazine.

The information in this news release includes certain forward-looking statements. These statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties which are generally described in Section 3.2 "Risk Factors" in Aecon's Annual Information Form dated March 30, 2009 available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although Aecon believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct.

%SEDAR: 00004778EF

For further information: Mitch Patten, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Aecon Group Inc., [phone], [email protected], www.aecon.com