Great-West's ultimate owners, the Desmarais family, are also thought to be interested in moving beyond insurance and into banking.

ECONOMIST: Canadian insurance

And politically, as it happens, Mr Desmarais could scarcely be better connected.

ECONOMIST: Canadian insurance

The patriarch, Paul Desmarais, already controls Investors Group, the country's largest mutual-fund company, through his main vehicle, Power Financial Corporation, and through a series of holding companies.

ECONOMIST: Canadian insurance

Desmarais went from a bus business to controlling Power Corp.

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New director awards went to Canada's Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais for his dark comedy, Whitewash about a man trying to survive a harsh Canadian winter, and American Sean Dunne for Oxyana, set in a rural coal mining town riddled with an addiction to pain relief medication.

BBC: Tribeca honours Australian film The Rocket with top prize