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                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1


                                  CERTIFICATION

I, Arnold M. Nemirow, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bowater
Incorporated, certify that:

 1.   I have reviewed this Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31,
      2004 of Bowater Incorporated;

2.    Based on my knowledge, this annual report does not contain any untrue
      statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to
      make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
      statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
      this report;

3.    Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
      information included in this report, fairly present in all material
      respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of
      the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.    The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for
      establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
      defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant
      and have:

             a)      designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
                     such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed
                     under our supervision, to ensure that material information
                     relating to the registrant, including its consolidated
                     subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those
                     entities, particularly during the period in which this
                     report is being prepared;

             b)      evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
                     controls and procedures and presented in this report our
                     conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure
                     controls and procedures, as of the end of the period
                     covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

             c)      disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
                     internal control over financial reporting that occurred
                     during the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the
                     registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual
                     report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably
                     likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal
                     control over financial reporting; and

5.    The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based
      on our most recent evaluation of internal controls over financial
      reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of
      registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
      function):

             a)      all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
                     design or operation of internal controls over financial
                     reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect
                     the registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and
                     report financial information; and

             b)      any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
                     management or other employees who have a significant role
                     in the registrant's internal controls over financial
                     reporting.

Date: May 10, 2004


           /S/ Arnold M. Nemirow
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Arnold M. Nemirow
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer